Movies With Lowest Budgets to Earn $1 Million at US Box Office

	Release Date		Movie	Distributor	Budget	US Gross	Worldwide Gross
1	2/26/1993		El Mariachi	Columbia	$7,000	$2,040,920	$2,041,928
2	9/25/2009		Paranormal Activity		$15,000	$107,918,810	$196,681,656
3	8/1/1991		Slacker	Orion Classics	$23,000	$1,227,508	Unknown
4	8/1/1997		In the Company of Men	Sony Classics	$25,000	$2,883,661	Unknown
5	6/30/1972		Deep Throat	Damiano	$25,000	$45,000,000	Unknown
6	10/19/1994		Clerks	Miramax	$27,000	$3,073,428	$3,894,240
7	3/16/2001		Gabriela	Power Point	$50,000	$2,335,352	Unknown
8	8/9/1995		The Brothers McMullen	Fox Searchlight	$50,000	$10,426,506	Unknown
9	5/7/2004		Super Size Me	IDP/Sam Goldwyn	$65,000	$11,529,368	$29,529,368
10	7/10/1998		Pi	Artisan	$68,000	$3,221,152	$4,678,513
11	8/30/1972		The Last House on the Left		$87,000	$3,100,000	Unknown
12	9/29/2006		Facing the Giants	Samuel Goldwyn	$100,000	$10,178,331	Unknown
13	3/1/1987		Hollywood Shuffle	Samuel Goldwyn	$100,000	$5,228,617	Unknown
14	1/1/1977		Eraserhead		$100,000	$7,000,000	Unknown
15	9/17/1920		Over the Hill to the Poorhouse		$100,000	$3,000,000	Unknown
16	2/8/1915		The Birth of a Nation		$110,000	$10,000,000	$11,000,000
17	10/1/1968		Night of the Living Dead		$114,000	$12,000,000	$30,000,000
18	11/16/1942		Cat People		$134,000	$4,000,000	$8,000,000
19	12/20/1989		Roger & Me	Warner Bros.	$140,000	$6,706,368	Unknown
20	10/18/1974		The Texas Chainsaw Massacre	New Line	$140,000	$26,572,439	Unknown

Most Profitable Movies, Based on Absolute Profit on Worldwide Gross

	Release Date		Movie	Distributor	Budget	Worldwide Gross	Profit
1	12/18/2009		Avatar	20th Century Fox	$237,000,000	$2,783,918,982	$1,154,959,491
2	12/19/1997		Titanic	20th Century Fox	$200,000,000	$1,842,879,955	$721,439,978
3	7/15/2011		Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II	Warner Bros.	$125,000,000	$1,328,111,219	$539,055,610
4	12/17/2003		The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	New Line	$94,000,000	$1,141,408,667	$476,704,334
5	6/11/1993		Jurassic Park	Universal	$63,000,000	$923,863,984	$398,931,992
6	6/15/1994		The Lion King	Buena Vista	$79,300,000	$952,880,140	$397,140,070
7	5/19/2004		Shrek 2	DreamWorks SKG	$70,000,000	$919,838,758	$389,919,379
8	5/19/1999		Star Wars Ep. I: The Phantom Menace	20th Century Fox	$115,000,000	$1,006,863,310	$388,431,655
9	5/25/1977		Star Wars Ep. IV: A New Hope	20th Century Fox	$11,000,000	$797,900,000	$387,950,000
10	6/11/1982		ET: The Extra-Terrestrial	Universal	$10,500,000	$792,965,326	$385,982,663
11	12/18/2002		The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	New Line	$94,000,000	$927,048,984	$369,524,492
12	6/29/2011		Transformers: Dark of the Moon	Paramount Pictures	$195,000,000	$1,123,745,628	$366,872,814
13	11/16/2001		Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone	Warner Bros.	$125,000,000	$974,755,371	$362,377,686
14	7/1/2009		Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs	20th Century Fox	$90,000,000	$886,968,695	$353,484,348
15	11/19/2010		Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I	Warner Bros.	$125,000,000	$956,399,711	$353,199,856
16	5/30/2003		Finding Nemo	Buena Vista	$94,000,000	$867,894,287	$339,947,144
17	11/15/2002		Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets	Warner Bros.	$100,000,000	$878,979,634	$339,489,817
18	7/3/1996		Independence Day	20th Century Fox	$75,000,000	$817,400,878	$333,700,439
19	6/18/2010		Toy Story 3	Buena Vista	$200,000,000	$1,064,404,880	$332,202,440
20	12/19/2001		The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring	New Line	$109,000,000	$869,390,266	$325,695,133

Note: The profit and loss figures are very rough estimates based on the assumption that 50% of box office receipts were returned to the studio. They don't include ancillary (video, TV etc.) earnings, and serve only as a guide.

Most Profitable Movies, Based on Return on Investment

	Release Date		Movie	Distributor	Budget	Worldwide Gross	Percentage Return
1	9/25/2009		Paranormal Activity		$15,000	$196,681,656	655,505.52%
2	3/21/1980		Mad Max	Filmways	$200,000	$99,750,000	24,837.50%
3	5/7/2004		Super Size Me	IDP/Sam Goldwyn	$65,000	$29,529,368	22,614.90%
4	7/14/1999		The Blair Witch Project	Artisan	$600,000	$248,300,000	20,591.67%
5	2/26/1993		El Mariachi	Columbia	$7,000	$2,041,928	14,485.20%
6	10/1/1968		Night of the Living Dead		$114,000	$30,000,000	13,057.89%
7	11/21/1976		Rocky		$1,000,000	$225,000,000	11,150.00%
8	10/17/1978		Halloween		$325,000	$70,000,000	10,669.23%
9	8/11/1973		American Graffiti		$777,000	$140,000,000	8,909.01%
10	10/19/1994		Clerks	Miramax	$27,000	$3,894,240	7,111.56%
11	5/16/2007		Once	Fox Searchlight	$150,000	$18,997,174	6,232.39%
12	7/25/1969		The Stewardesses		$200,000	$25,000,000	6,150.00%
13	6/11/2004		Napoleon Dynamite	Fox Searchlight	$400,000	$46,140,956	5,667.62%
14	8/6/2004		Open Water	Lion's Gate	$500,000	$55,116,982	5,411.70%
15	5/9/1980		Friday the 13th	Paramount Pictures	$550,000	$59,754,601	5,332.24%
16	12/15/1939		Gone with the Wind	MGM/UA	$3,900,000	$390,525,192	4,906.73%
17	2/8/1915		The Birth of a Nation		$110,000	$11,000,000	4,900.00%
18	1/6/2012		Devil Inside The		$1,000,000	$99,661,944	4,883.10%
19	1/1/1925		The Big Parade		$245,000	$22,000,000	4,389.80%
20	10/29/2004		Saw	Lion's Gate	$1,200,000	$103,096,345	4,195.68%

Note: The profit and loss figures are very rough estimates based on the assumption that 50% of box office receipts were returned to the studio. They don't include ancillary (video, TV etc.) earnings, and serve only as a guide.

Biggest Money Losers, Based on Absolute Loss on Worldwide Gross

	Release Date		Movie	Distributor	Budget	Worldwide Gross	Loss
1	3/9/2012		John Carter		$300,000,000	$254,439,100	-$172,780,450
2	3/11/2011		Mars Needs Moms		$150,000,000	$39,549,758	-$130,225,121
3	4/27/2001		Town & Country	New Line	$105,000,000	$10,364,769	-$99,817,616
4	7/29/2005		Stealth	Sony	$138,000,000	$76,416,746	-$99,791,627
5	8/16/2002		The Adventures of Pluto Nash	Warner Bros.	$100,000,000	$7,094,995	-$96,452,503
6	12/17/2010		How Do You Know?		$120,000,000	$48,668,307	-$95,665,847
7	7/11/2001		Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within	Sony	$137,000,000	$85,131,830	-$94,434,085
8	8/27/1999		The 13th Warrior	Buena Vista	$125,000,000	$61,698,899	-$94,150,551
9	3/30/2012		Wrath of the Titans		$150,000,000	$114,030,512	-$92,984,744
10	6/17/2011		Green Lantern	Warner Bros.	$200,000,000	$222,001,172	-$88,999,414
11	6/22/2007		Evan Almighty	Universal	$175,000,000	$173,219,280	-$88,390,360
12	4/8/2005		Sahara	Paramount Pictures	$145,000,000	$121,671,925	-$84,164,038
13	11/24/2010		The Nutcracker in 3D		$90,000,000	$12,606,721	-$83,696,640
14	12/22/1995		Cutthroat Island	MGM/UA	$92,000,000	$18,517,322	-$82,741,339
15	11/23/2011		Hugo	Warner Bros.	$155,000,000	$148,501,137	-$80,749,432
16	4/9/2004		The Alamo	Buena Vista	$92,000,000	$23,911,362	-$80,044,319
17	2/12/2010		The Wolf Man	Universal	$150,000,000	$142,634,358	-$78,682,821
18	9/2/2005		A Sound of Thunder	Warner Bros.	$80,000,000	$6,300,451	-$76,849,775
19	6/14/2002		Windtalkers	MGM/UA	$115,000,000	$77,628,265	-$76,185,868
20	7/29/2011		Cowboys and Aliens	Universal	$163,000,000	$175,001,224	-$75,499,388

Note: The profit and loss figures are very rough estimates based on the assumption that 50% of box office receipts were returned to the studio. They don't include ancillary (video, TV etc.) earnings, and serve only as a guide.

Biggest Money Losers, Based on Return on Investment

	Release Date		Movie	Distributor	Budget	Worldwide Gross	Percentage Return
1	10/25/2002		All the Queen's Men	Strand	$15,000,000	$22,723	-99.92%
2	8/28/2009		The Open Road	Anchor Bay	$10,000,000	$19,716	-99.90%
3	9/17/1999		Taxman	Phaedra	$3,500,000	$9,871	-99.86%
4	3/26/2010		Ca$h	Roadside	$7,000,000	$46,488	-99.67%
5	5/17/2002		Harvard Man	Cowboy	$5,500,000	$56,653	-99.48%
6	10/30/2009		Gentlemen Broncos		$9,500,000	$118,482	-99.38%
7	1/28/2005		Fascination	United Artists	$5,000,000	$83,356	-99.17%
8	7/18/2003		This Thing of Ours	Small Planet	$2,000,000	$37,227	-99.07%
9	11/14/2007		Southland Tales	Samuel Goldwyn	$17,000,000	$364,607	-98.93%
10	7/14/2006		Edmond	First Independent Pictures	$10,000,000	$241,719	-98.79%
11	1/23/2009		Outlander	Third Rail	$50,000,000	$1,250,617	-98.75%
12	9/3/2010		San qiang pai an jing qi	Sony Classics	$12,000,000	$310,946	-98.70%
13	12/17/2004		Imaginary Heroes	Sony Classics	$10,000,000	$290,875	-98.55%
14	8/21/2009		World's Greatest Dad	Magnolia	$10,000,000	$295,750	-98.52%
15	10/29/2010		Welcome to the Rileys		$10,000,000	$312,857	-98.44%
16	12/3/2010		All Good Things	Magnolia	$20,000,000	$645,024	-98.39%
17	2/17/2006		Winter Passing	Focus Features	$3,500,000	$113,783	-98.37%
18	9/20/2002		Eye See You	DEJ Productions	$55,000,000	$1,807,990	-98.36%
19	8/4/1999		The Gambler	Legacy	$3,000,000	$101,773	-98.30%
20	12/31/2010		I Come with the Rain		$18,000,000	$627,422	-98.26%

Note: The profit and loss figures are very rough estimates based on the assumption that 50% of box office receipts were returned to the studio. They don't include ancillary (video, TV etc.) earnings, and serve only as a guide.