When most people watch movies, they do not truly appreciate the work that is done behind the scenes.

So much time is put into each and every second of a movie. Actors spend entire days remembering scripts and becoming their characters that it actually starts to take a toll on their real lives.

Most of the movies that you may know of cost millions and millions of dollars to make. This is because of the actors that they have to pay, the effects and equipment that they have to use, and the space that they have to rent. If the movie is not a success, the costs will outweigh the profits, and a lot of people lose money.

On the other hand, there are those movies in which the profit outweighs the costs so much that the return is an astronomical percentage. I created a list of the most profitable movies that you may know including their financial numbers.

5. Napoleon Dynamite

An odd boy named Napoleon Dynamite and his teenage struggles are depicted in such a hilarious way that it made its way to a worldwide success. The movie might make you cringe of awkwardness and embarrassment for the characters, but with the money that this movie made, they are not ashamed at all.

Budget – $400,000

Profit – $46,000,000

Return – 5,667%

4. Halloween

The king of slasher films.

Michael Myers made his way to the top of the horror movie genre, and made himself a lot of money. Whether some people think his character was cliché or one-dimensional, he is still rolling around in money (and blood). This is one of the most successful and profitable horror series ever.

Budget – $325,000

Profit – $70,000,000

Return – 11,000%

3. Night of the Living Dead

George A. Romero created the “zombie.”

In his first film called Night of the Living Dead, these zombies were introduced, and they sure as hell scared the living shit out of the world. Whether it was the horror of dead people rising, or a terrible disease-spreading, this movie lured in millions and millions of viewers. Romero used his own friends to be the zombies, and they did it for free.

Think about how much money this saved him and the cost of the movie. There were so many zombies, and none of them were being paid, or they were being paid at a minimum. WHAT GREAT FRIENDS!

I’m sure they all made out pretty well after the success of the movie.

Budget – $114,000

Profit -$ 30,000,000

Return – 13,000%

2. The Blair Witch Project

A group of film students travel to Maryland to make a film about the urban legend of “The Blair Witch.” They never made it home, and their film equipment was found years later. This is one of the first movies that uses documentary style filming with the camera in a characters shaky hand. Some people love this style, while others think it’s nauseating.

Either way, everyone went to see it, and it became the most profitable movie ever, until strange ghostly activity was filmed years later.

Budget – 600,000

Profit – $248,300,000

Return – 20,000%

1. Paranormal Activity

Paranormal Activity was brilliant (in a business standpoint). Using a couple of cameras, a single house and about 3 actors, this movie still scared the hell out of millions of people. All that was needed was the idea, and it wasn’t a great one. I’m not taking anything away from it, but how simple was it, think about it.

We never even got to see any of the ghosts in full effect. All we really got to see was blankets moving and cabinets opening and closing, but it still scared us, and it became the most profitable movie ever.

Budget – $15,000

Profit – $197,000,000

Return – 655,000% (WOW..?)

Financial numbers from Business Pundit