After winning five Academy Awards, Sean Baker’s “Anora,” which was made on a $6 million budget, is shining a brighter spotlight on the possibilities of indie filmmaking. “If you’re trying to make independent films, please keep doing it,” producer Alex Coco said during his best picture acceptance speech. “We need more. This is proof.”
The history of independent cinema is filled with these leveling-up moments, and the hope is that each film inspires an entirely new generation of hungry moviemakers to pick up a camera. Let’s look back at 10 of the most successful indie films of all time.
“Night of the Living Dead” (1968)
George A. Romero’s tale of the dead rising from their graves changed horror forever. It not only established the tropes of the zombie genre and started a major franchise, but it also influenced practically every major horror filmmaker to follow. John Carpenter, Wes Craven, and Sean S. Cunningham have all cited “Night of the Living Dead” as an influence on “Halloween,” “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” and “Friday the 13th,” respectively. Beyond that, it was also a major financial success; the film was made for around $114,000 and earned roughly $30 million, making it one of the most profitable movies of all time.
“Easy Rider” (1969)
Dennis Hopper’s “Easy Rider” was not only a box office hit; it helped usher in the so-called New Hollywood era, when a portion of the major studios’ power gave way to more experimental, independent projects. The road film, about motorcyclists Wyatt (Peter Fonda) and Billy (Hopper) driving across America, was heavily inspired by European filmmaking. However, more than Arthur Penn’s “Bonnie and Clyde” and Mike Nichols’ “The Graduate” (two films from 1967 that are also credited with changing Hollywood), “Easy Rider” brought the 1960s counterculture to the big screen. In the wake of the movie’s success—grossing $60 million off a budget of around $400,000, and earning two Oscar nominations—studios were more willing to let filmmakers take liberties with avant-garde techniques.
“Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song” (1971)
Perhaps no other film did more for African American cinema than Melvin Van Peebles’ action-thriller about a Black man on the run from “the man” because of a murder he didn’t commit. “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song” is largely credited as pioneering the blaxploitation genre—despite the fact no major studio wanted to make it. Van Peebles financed the film himself (with some help from Bill Cosby), and thus had total control over the story. He served as writer, director, co-producer, star, and editor. The result? A casual $10 million gross off a $500,000 budget.
“A Woman Under the Influence” (1974)
John Cassavetes is generally considered the father of indie films in America. Though he acted in several studio pictures, the movies he wrote and directed were anything but traditional. He wanted to tell small, intimate, raw stories that tackled difficult subject matters. In “A Woman Under the Influence,” Cassavetes explored mental illness and its effects on family, largely through the Oscar-nominated lead performance by Gena Rowlands as mother and wife Mabel Longhetti. The film was a modest success at release. But in the decades since, a wide range of artists including Paul Thomas Anderson, Aubrey Plaza, and Winona Ryder have cited the grounded, personal drama—and Rowlands’ portrayal in particular—as an inspiration.
“Eraserhead” (1977)
“Eraserhead” introduced the world to the surrealist mindscape of David Lynch. Self-financed and constructed over the course of five years, the film became an instant cult classic. It tells the story of a man, Henry Spencer (Jack Nance), left to care for a deformed baby, and the Kafkaesque descent into hell that follows. Not since the surrealist work of Luis Buñuel had viewers been taken on such a weird, horrific journey. “Eraserhead” brought the idea of a “midnight movie” to a wider audience, allowing films with a surrealist, dream-logic approach to find more acceptance outside of niche circles. Comedy legend Mel Brooks loved “Eraserhead” so much, he produced Lynch’s first studio film, 1980’s “The Elephant Man.”
“Slacker” (1990)
The 1990s were a turning point for independent cinema, and it all started with Richard Linklater’s “Slacker.” Gen X’s coming-out party, the film chronicles a day in the life of various people in Austin, Texas. Relying less on plot than it does on vibes, “Slacker” has a do-it-yourself feel that showed what you could accomplish with a mere $23,000. It opened the eyes of countless aspiring filmmakers as to what a shoestring budget and sparse equipment could create—including Kevin Smith, who followed with the equally bare-bones “Clerks” four years later.
“Pulp Fiction” (1994)
Perhaps no independent movie was more influential and successful in the ’90s than Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction.” So much has been written about the crime film over the years—its use of dialogue, the non-linear timeline, the pastiche and homage to other movies and genres. “Pulp Fiction” shifted the game, period. It is violent, it is funny, it is campy, and it is philosophical; it also spawned so many imitations in its wake. Of course, earning over $200 million off an $8 million budget and a best screenplay Oscar isn’t bad either.
“The Blair Witch Project” (1999)
Horror comes up a lot in this conversation—and for good reason. More than any other genre, horror films lend themselves to the DIY aesthetic and have seen huge returns on low-budget productions since the beginning. Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick’s “The Blair Witch Project” exemplifies that fact more than any other entry on this list. Putting the “found footage” format on the map, “Blair Witch” relied on an amateur documentary style, improv-heavy acting, and a genius marketing campaign that convinced countless moviegoers that what they were seeing was real. The cultural phenomenon came together like gangbusters, earning close to $250 million on a $60,000 budget and spearheading an entirely new visual language for future horror filmmakers.
“My Big Fat Greek Wedding” (2002)
Compared to the other entries on this list, Joel Zwick’s “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” doesn’t seem like a groundbreaking indie film. At its core, it’s a fun, colorful romantic comedy with a great cast and loveable characters. But underneath that sheen is the unlikely story of writer and star Nia Vardalos, who developed the movie from her one-woman monologue workshop. Despite a limited release from an indie studio with the almost-completely unknown Vardalos in the lead, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” became the sleeper hit story of 2002, grossing over $368 million on a $5 million budget—one of the most profitable runs of all time. It also earned Vardalos an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay and launched a franchise of its own, including two sequels and a TV show.
“The Passion of the Christ” (2004)
Despite the many controversies of the creative team, it’s impossible to have this conversation without mentioning “The Passion of the Christ,” the highest-grossing independent film of all time. Because of its runaway success, it’s easy to forget it was an indie at all. “The Passion of the Christ” was entirely financed by director Mel Gibson and his company, Icon Productions. Creating a Biblical epic will always be difficult, and to do so on a $30 million budget seems almost Sisyphean. But the film went on to earn more than $600 million, a feat that will be hard to top.
