8 Insane Ways Movies Tried To Save Money

Another attempt to capitalise on the YA novel adaptation craze of the late 2000s/early 2010s, the Divergent movie series got off to a healthy enough start, with the first film making almost $300 million worldwide on an $85 million budget. The sequels, however, were a story of diminishing returns.

Insurgent - the second film - cost a lot more to produce, but didn't make a lot more overall, while threequel Allegiant absolutely tanked, making less than $180 million at the end of its run. This lack of franchise growth caused concern for Lionsgate, putting the production of the next film in jeopardy.

The studio still wanted to push ahead with this fourth, concluding chapter, but thanks to Allegiant's poor box-office performance, they insisted that its budget must be slashed by several millions of dollars. The studio then tried to save even more money by making the fourth film a straight-to-TV affair, which would cut all theatrical distribution costs, as well as (presumably) reducing its effects and marketing budgets, since that cinematic, blockbuster sheen would no longer be needed.

Launching the film on TV would have been far cheaper than developing film prints and sending out hard drive copies, but it was a bizarre thought that this once-blockbuster franchise might be relegated to an unceremonious small-screen release. In the end, the film was canned altogether, a cost-cutting measure if there ever was one.