Andrew Robinson
“Box office successes” can be measured in a few different ways. Pure money made, money made + inflation, tickets purchased, profit. Here, as to avoid just loading the article with Infinity War, we will focus on the profit.
Thus, taking into account the budget for the film and the money made. Last week, we tackled the biggest box office failures of all-time. This leads us to the three biggest box office successes of all-time.
Info received from
https://www.pajiba.com/seriously_random_lists/percentagewise-the-20-most-profitable-movies-of-all-time.php
NOTE: Only non-documentaries will be included here due to the lack of budget for many documentaries.
3. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
Budget: $600,000
Revenue: $248 million
Percent: 20,592%
The Blair Witch Project may have been thought to be a documentary by some at the time, but it is not. Following three college students who travel into a Maryland forest in search of the Blair Witch, a local legend, The Blair Witch Project scared up $248 million despite a very limited budget. It probably helped that many actually believed the actors involved to be dead.
Note: There are discrepancies between the budget of The Blair Witch Project. Some outlets have it at a mere $60,000. That would make the film the most profitable of all-time.
2. Mad Max (1979)
Budget: $200,000
Revenue: $99.7 million
Percent: 24,838%
The first of four movies regarding the vengeful policeman, Mad Max was a huge success for its producers. Making nearly $100 million on less than a $1 million budget, the film exceeded all reasonable expectations to become one of the most profitable films ever.
1. Paranormal Activity (2007)
Budget: $15,000
Revenue: $193 million
Percent: 645,802%
This is utter insanity. A 645,800% increase on the original budget for the first film in what has become one of the most recognizable horror movie series of all-time is absolutely ridiculous to think about. The actors must have made next-to-nothing to make the film – which reportedly took just 10 days to film in its entirety – yet it went on to make nearly $200 million. The fifth installment of the franchise, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, was produced on a budget of $10 million in 2015. Oh, what the success of one film can do for its successors.
Note: If ranking solely by gross, the films present on the list would be Titanic ($2.19 billion), Avatar ($2.790 billion), and The Avengers: Infinity War ($2.796 billion), as courtesy of Box Office Mojo.
