World's most profitable film: Made in Rs 6 lakh, earned Rs 800 crore; it's not Saw, Barbie, Kashmir Files, Kerala Story

Over the years, there have been several low budget films that have surpassed expectations to register big successes at the box office. Both in India and overseas, many small budget films have become blockbusters, rivalling the collections of bigger tentpole films. For instance, The Kashmir Files recently registered a 2000% profit when it earned Rs 341 crore on a Rs 15-crore budget. But this is nothing compared to the astonishing 13,30,000% profit registered by one Hollywood film from 2007, which makes it the most profitable film ever.

World’s most profitable film ever

In 2007, filmmaker Oren Peli wrote, shot, directed, and produced a low-budget horror film called Paranormal Activity. Following the example of the 1999 hit The Blair Witch Project, the film used a found footage format and was entirely filmed on amateur handheld cameras or CCTV. The film’s skeletal crew and cast of only four people kept the budget limited to $15,000 (Rs 6 lakh by 2007 exchange rate). After it was acquired by Paramount Pictures, the ending was changed and some post-production work was added, which took its total budget to $215,000 (Rs 90 lakh). The film was a sleeper hit, registering a monumental worldwide gross of $193 million (nearly Rs 800 crore). This gave it the highest budget-to-collection ratio in the history of cinema.

Paranormal Activity’s legacy

The success of Paranormal Activity spawned a franchise, which saw six sequels and spinoffs. The seven films in the Paranormal Activity franchise have a combined worldwide gross of $890 million (Rs 7320 crore), on a budget of just $28 million (Rs 230 crore). Again, no other franchise has such a big success rate. It also popularised the found footage genre, which was used by several independent filmmakers in the horror genre. Some examples include The Last Exorcism, Apollo 18, The Devil Inside, and the V/H/S series.

World’s most profitable films

Before Paranormal Activity, this tag had been held by The Blair Witch Project. The 1999 film had been made on a budget of $200,000 (Rs 85 lakh) and grossed $243 million (Rs 1045 crore) worldwide. The 2003 film Tarnation was made on a shoestring budget of just $218 (Rs 10,000) and went on to earn $1.2 million (Rs 5.5 crore). The 1972 pornographic film Deep Throat was made on a budget of $25,000 (Rs 1.9 lakh) and went on to gross $22 million (Rs 17 crore). The final spot on this list is held by the 1977 horror film Eraser Head. Made on a $10,000 budget (Rs 87,000), it earned $7 million (Rs 6 crore) at the box office.