10 Films That Flopped At The Box Office Despite Mammoth Budgets, And 9 Low-Budget Movies That Made Hefty Profits

Production Budget: $600,000

Box Office: $248,300,000

The Blair Witch Project was a masterpiece in movie making and marketing. In terms of filming, co-director Daniel Myrick explained the bizarre process and shooting schedule: 

“It wasn’t like a normal film: the actors would work the cameras, filming each other all the time. Using GPS, we directed them to locations marked with flags or milk crates, where they’d leave their footage and pick up food and our directing notes.” – These directions included things such as “Heather, you’re absolutely sure that to get out of this mess you go south. Don’t take no for an answer.”

In terms of marketing, the buzz that was surrounding the movie as it headed to Sundance was party due to the website they’d created that suggested the student filmmakers in the movie had actually gone missing. Daniel spoke about this, saying: “I got a call from a New York police officer who had worked in Maryland for years and wanted to help. I had to tell him it was all fake.” 

The film’s realistic aura contributed to its great success – even actor Heather Donahue”s parents were concerned for her when she got initially cast, as actor Joshua Leonard explained: “Heather’s parents were worried Ed and Dan might be taking her out into the woods to make a snuff movie.”