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36 Ingenious (and Idiotic) Ways That Movies Dealt With a Minuscule Budgets

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36 Ingenious (and Idiotic) Ways That Movies Dealt With a Minuscule Budgets

January 20, 2024

If there’s one thing Hollywood bigwigs know, it’s that they want to make more, with less. Some filmmakers are up for the challenge, while others crumble under the pressure.

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James Cameron didn't have a filming permit for The Terminator, so the crew had to avoid cops. THE IMPROVISATION: They shot at night so they had less chance of running into police. And to save extra money, they used convenient clouds of pesticide as fog. THE RESULT: A dark neo-noir visual style that helped make the movie a classic. CRACKED.COM — Source

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Alfred Hitchcock shot Psycho as an episode of his TV show. THE IMPROVISATION: Hitchcock shot Psycho with the crew and assets of his TV show Alfred Hitchcock Presents, because the studio didn't want to give him a cent for a new movie. THE RESULT: An instant classic that influenced pretty much all later horror films. CRACKED.COM — Source

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36 Ingenious (and Idiotic) Ways That Movies Dealt With a Minuscule Budgets — Source

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The Purge's budget went from $8 million to $2.5 million. THE IMPROVISATION: The producer realized the movie shouldn't be that expensive, as it's set in one house. Не even got Ethan Hawke to take no salary (but a profit percentage) and crash on his couch during filming. THE RESULT: A surprise hit that kicked off a hugely popular horror franchise. CRACKED.COM — Source

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There was absolutely no narrative reason for The Walking Dead to spend a season on a farm. THE IMPROVISATION: The network axed the Season 2 budget before even airing the pilot. So, to save money, the show was stuck with using Hershel's farm as much as possible. THE RESULT: A critically acclaimed season with a finale that was the network's most-watched episode ever at the time. CRACKED.COM — Source

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The Incredible Hulk TV show was too cheap to spend money on shooting planes and trucks. Footage from Steven Spielberg's Duel, used in S1E9 of The Incredible Hulk THE IMPROVISATION: They just picked up that footage from other movies. These were well-known films from just a few years before. The network owned the rights, and they didn't care that it was obvious. THE RESULT: An action-packed first season that made the show a hit from the start. CRACKED.COM — Source

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Instead of spending money on music for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, the director made it himself. THE IMPROVISATION: With a sound recordist, he did things like screaming into a cardboard tube, torturing an upright bass, and playing broken instruments. THE RESULT: One of the scariest movie soundtracks of all time. It's the equivalent of pouring terror straight into your ears. CRACKED.COM — Source

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The costumes of 1990's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles almost kept it from getting made. W - THE IMPROVISATION: The producers couldn't get actors to wear the sweaty, heavy Turtle suits. So they hired much cheaper Hong Kong stuntmen. THE RESULT: A hugely successful TMNT film that's a minor cult classic today. CRACKED.COM — Source

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Rocky and Adrian's lovely first date owes its magic to the movie running out of money. EL VISITOR THE IMPROVISATION: Rocky's ice rink date scene was supposed to have 300 extras. But the movie burned through cash too fast, so Rocky and Adrian had to be in an empty ice rink. THE RESULT: A surprisingly intimate atmosphere that made for one of the best ever movie first dates. CRACKED.COM — Source

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The original setting of Planet of the Apes was completely modern. THE IMPROVISATION: There were supposed to be monkeys watching movies, shopping, driving - everything. But the producers didn't want to pay for that, and they got a new writer, who created a new setting. THE RESULT: The barren wasteland with the iconic half-buried Statue of Liberty. CRACKED.COM — Source

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To get home in Back to the Future, Marty was supposed to drive into a nuclear explosion. PAINTS THE IMPROVISATION: The original plan of sending Marty into a Nevada test nuke blast would be incredibly expensive in 1985, so the writers came up with a cheaper scene at the clock tower. THE RESULT: Probably one of the most famous climaxes in film history. CRACKED.COM — Source

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A 1960s Batman episode had Batman, Robin, and Batgirl fight all their villains at once. THE IMPROVISATION: There was no money to actually show that, so the villains turned invisible and the trio punched air. Then they turned off the light to even the odds, leaving the screen black. THE RESULT: An episode in which the show topped itself in campy hilarity. CRACKED.COM — Source

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Because it blew its budget, Lost locked up a bunch of major characters in cages. THE IMPROVISATION: The producers saved most of the third season's budget for its final half - so Kate, Jack, and Sawyer had to be stuck in cages for the first half. THE RESULT: A spectacular season finale with the show's best twist. CRACKED.COM — Source

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Doctor Who's TARDIS was originally supposed to change shape regularly to fit in with its surroundings. POLICE es BOX GIO ED THE IMPROVISATION: The series creators realized that would cost too much, and nixed the idea. They decided the TARDIS' chameleon circuit would be permanently broken, leaving the TARDIS forever stuck as a police box. THE RESULT: One of the most recognizable sci-fi ship designs on TV, ever. CRACKED.COM — Source

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The monster of Gojira, the granddaddy of Godzilla films, was supposed to be a giant octopus. THE IMPROVISATION: The movie's special effects wizard really wanted to make a giant stop-motion octopus, but there was no time or money. So, he just put a guy in a rubber lizard suit. THE RESULT: Godzilla, who became the definition of city-crushing monster. CRACKED.COM — Source

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The plan for dressing the main cast of Clueless was to have them all in designer couture. THE IMPROVISATION: The budget for that didn't pan out, so the costume designer just bought a bunch of clothes at the mall. THE RESULT: The movie helped bury grunge fashion and made preppy style look cool. CRACKED.COM — Source

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The window shutters in Clerks had to be locked to hide the fact that it was night outside. Quick STOP GROCERIES I ASSURE YOU WERE OPEN! AB65703 THE IMPROVISATION: Kevin Smith only had permission to film at night, and had to keep the windows closed. To explain this, he decided the store's shutter locks would be jammed shut in the movie. THE RESULT: The (now iconic) sign saying, I assure you we're open! CRACKED.COM — Source

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Citizen Kane had to depict obscene wealth, but it had a shoestring budget. THE IMPROVISATION: Orson Welles got super creative, coming up with tricks like filming rooms from the floor to make them look big and using props to strategically hide areas. THE RESULT: Other directors picked up all those tricks later on, and they're used so much that we don't even notice them today. CRACKED.COM — Source

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Vince Gilligan planned on setting Breaking Bad in Riverside, CA. THE IMPROVISATION: They shot the pilot in Albuquerque, NM, because it was the only location they could afford. THE RESULT: A New Mexico look and feel that, in Gilligan's words, made the show a contemporary Western. CRACKED.COM — Source

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CRACKED.COM Star Trek: The Motion Picture Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan Need a new space station? Spent all your budget on chest wax for Ricardo Montalban? Flip the model from the last movie! — Source

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GRACKED.COM DIRECTOR PHIL TUCKER HAD ORIGINALLY PLANNED FOR THERE TO BE A ROBOT VILLAIN IN ROBOT MONSTER. 3D WHEN USE OF THE ROBOT COSTUME THEY WANTED FELL THROUGH, TUCKER CONTACTED ACTOR AND STUNT MAN GEORGE BARROWS. HE OWNED HIS OWN APE COSTUME... THE DORON DIMENSION UNE IS REST, HISTORY — Source

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36 Ingenious (and Idiotic) Ways That Movies Dealt With a Minuscule Budgets — Source

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The Salkinds, producers of the first three Superman movies, sold the rights to these guys... CANNON GROUP, INC. GOLAN-GLOBUS Production ...who slashed the budget for Superman IV in half just before filming. The result? Some of the least convincing green-screen effects in history, and Milton Keynes, England standing in for New York Metropolis. CRACKED.COM — Source

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THE ISLAND TRANEFORMERS . ARK OF THE moon Michael Bay used footage from his 2005 movie The Island in Transformers 3. CRACKED.COM — Source

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36 Ingenious (and Idiotic) Ways That Movies Dealt With a Minuscule Budgets — Source

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36 Ingenious (and Idiotic) Ways That Movies Dealt With a Minuscule Budgets — Source

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CRACKED COM Transformers Pearl Harbor Michael Bay used the same footage of the aircraft carrier from Pearl Harbor (2001) in Transformers (2007). — Source

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36 Ingenious (and Idiotic) Ways That Movies Dealt With a Minuscule Budgets — Source

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GH STBUSTERS It's just so obviously a person painted green and wearing a Liberty costume. CRACKED COM — Source

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CRACKED COM Remember this explosion from Hulk? — Source

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36 Ingenious (and Idiotic) Ways That Movies Dealt With a Minuscule Budgets — Source

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Remember the De-evolution gun from this train wreck of a film? SUPER-SCOPE 6 I SUPER NINTENDO SCOPE S - SUPER Hmmmm, wonder why it looks SO familiar? CRACKED.COM — Source

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CRACKED COM 4 The thing they never tell you about Freddy Krueger: Не turns you into a mannequin before killing you. Or at least he did with this lady. — Source

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36 Ingenious (and Idiotic) Ways That Movies Dealt With a Minuscule Budgets — Source

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Cool, a video game boss from Resident Evil? No... this poorly animated creature is one of the primary antagonists in: THE MUM MY RETURNS A 2001 movie with a 98 million dollar budget. CRACKED.COM — Source

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In the famous wounded soldier sequence of Gone With the Wind, a mini version of Atlanta was built. However, due to a shortage of extras half of the soldiers are actually dummies And for an idea of how mini the set was, look at the water tower compared to an actor/dummy CRACKED COM — Source

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