Live Poll: Oscar Best Picture Winners Made on the Cheap

Wow, what a list. Tough choice. Four of my favorite films are on that list but, of those, I'd have to go with 'Silence of the Lambs,' with 'American Beauty' probably in second place (but oh 'Kramer vs. Kramer'... like I said, what a list!)

I go for Platoon (1986), also because it's quite impressive that this movie was produced with a budget of only $6 million.

HONORABLE MENTIONS ($20 MILLION -$35 MILLION BUDGETS) * No budget information available for The Life of Emile Zola (1937),Going My Way (1944) and All the King's Men (1949).


One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 1975 | Movie 8.7 (801,122)
Initial budget: $4.4 millionAdjusted for inflation: $20.27 million

Mrs. Miniver 1942 | Movie 7.6 (13,720)
Initial budget: $1.34 millionAdjusted for inflation: $20.47 million

Spotlight 2015 | Movie 8.1 (342,676)  
Initial budget: $20 million Adjusted for inflation: $20.91 million

12 Years a Slave 2013 | Movie 8.1 (555,306)
Initial budget: $20 million Adjusted for inflation: $21.28 million

Gentleman's Agreement
1947 | Movie 7.4 (12,892)
Initial budget: $1.985 million Adjusted for inflation: $21.396 million

Midnight Cowboy 1969 | Movie 7.9 (87,689)
Initial budget: $2.2 million Adjusted for inflation: $21.89 million

American Beauty
1999 | Movie 8.4 (961,584)
Initial budget: $15 million Adjusted for inflation: $22.3 million

Cimarron 1931 | Movie 6.0 (4,572)
Initial budget: $ 1.433 million Adjusted for inflation: $ 22.44 million

Rebecca 1940 | Movie 8.1 (107,196)
Initial budget: $1.288 million Adjusted for inflation: $22.91 million

Cavalcade
1933 | Movie 6.0 (3,777)
Initial budget: $ 1.18 million Adjusted for inflation: $ 23.32 million

The Best Years of Our Lives
1946 | Movie 8.1 (51,620)
Initial budget: $2.1 million Adjusted for inflation: $24.55 million

The Bridge on the River Kwai 1957 | Movie 8.2 (180,286)
Initial budget: $2.8 million Adjusted for inflation: $24.55 million

Unforgiven 1992 | Movie 8.2 (329,441)
Initial budget: $14 million Adjusted for inflation: $24.73 million

An American in Paris 1951 | Movie 7.2 (26,441)
Initial budget: $2.7 million Adjusted for inflation: $25.22 million

The Apartment 1960 | Movie 8.3 (136,901)
Initial budget: $3.0 million Adjusted for inflation: $25.24 million

Kramer vs. Kramer 1979 | Movie 7.8 (114,390) 
Initial budget: $8 million Adjusted for inflation: $27.31 million


Gigi
1958 | Movie 6.8 (17,195)
Initial budget: $3.3 million Adjusted for inflation: $28.43 million

Wings 1927 | Movie 7.7 (9,716)
Initial budget: $ 2.0 million Adjusted for inflation: $ 28.95 million

You Can't Take It with You 1938 | Movie 8.0 (20,514)
Initial budget: $1.645 million Adjusted for inflation: $29.26 million

The Sting 1973 | Movie 8.3 (211,512)
Initial budget: $5.5 million Adjusted for inflation: $29.64 million

No Country for Old Men
2007 | Movie 8.1 (738,350)
Initial budget: $25 million Adjusted for inflation: $29.88 million

The Godfather
1972 | Movie 9.2 (1,382,125)
Initial budget: $5 million Adjusted for inflation: $30.07 million

The Silence of the Lambs
1991 | Movie 8.6 (1,082,448)
 Initial budget: $19 million Adjusted for inflation: $34.57 million

Mutiny on the Bounty 1935 | Movie 7.8 (18,456)
Initial budget: $1.95 million Adjusted for inflation: $34.68 million

Urb,

This list includes lot's of great films and many of my favorites. It's really hard to choose.

My vote:
Casablanca (1942)

Oscar Best Picture Winners Made on the Cheap
Inclusion Cut-Off $25 million in 2018 U.S. Dollars

Qualifying 2019 Oscar Best Picture Nominees
Green Book Budget $23 million in 2018 U.S. Dollars
The Favourite Budget $15 million in 2018 U.S. Dollars
BlacKkKlansman Budget $15 million in 2018 U.S. Dollars
Roma Budget $15 million in 2018 U.S. Dollars

reworked opening

While $25 million or less may seem like a lot money when it comes to keep the lights on at home. When it comes to making a major motion picture, it is not generally considered an excessive amount, however. Hollywood is secretive about its accounting; but it is not a secret that many major movies have budgets that exceed $100 million. Since 2000, about seventy-five movies had budgets that soared past $200 million in inflation-adjusted dollars alone.

bump

Urb,

Minor typo:
5. Hamlet (1948)

Extra dollar sign:
Adjusted for inflation: $ $7.072 million (£5.496 million)

Should be:
Adjusted for inflation: $7.072 million (£5.496 million)

= = =

Minor typo:
35. Unforgiven (1992)

Missing space:
Adjusted for inflation: $24.73million

Should be:
Adjusted for inflation: $24.73 million

Oh my gosh, it may actually be painful to vote for just one, lol. So many good ones. So many great ones (and a great idea for a poll). 

I noticed a typo (here in bold): Which of these select Oscar-winning Best Picture movies produced on a relatively inexpensive budget* is the your favorite? *maximum $25m inflation adjusted budget in 2018 U.S. Dollars and a 7.0+ IMDb rating

May I suggest a few more small edits? (in bold below)

At first glance, $25 million may seem like a lot money. Certainly, it is enough to keep the lights on at home, but it wouldn't cover the expenses of many major motion pictures. While Hollywood is generally secretive about its accounting, it is not a secret that it is common for major movies to have budgets that even exceed $100 million. Since 2000 alone, about 75 movies had budgets that soared past $200 million in inflation-adjusted dollars alone.

Officially, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)holds the record for the most expensive film ever with a production budget of $378.5 million or $412 million inflation-adjusted, while The Hobbit trilogy is the most expensive back-to-back film production with combined costs of $623 million or $675.6 million inflation-adjusted (after tax credits).

Congratulations, urbanemovies!


Oscar Best Picture Winners Made on the Cheap
Live Poll: https://www.imdb.com/poll/k76V1jjexSs/

Congratulations urbanemovies on your 343rd live poll! As of 24-Jul-2019 10:54 PM Pacific your polls have 473,285 or more votes, for an average of 1,380 votes per poll.

Oscar Best Picture Winners Made on the Cheap
7959th Live Poll: https://www.imdb.com/poll/k76V1jjexSs/
Seen: http://www.imdb.com/seen/ls045903337/

This is the 3,607th Title poll. Such polls have a total of 8,496,011 votes for an average of 2,355 votes per poll.

Total Number of Votes			17,654,494
Projected Date of 20 Million Votes	21-Dec-2020
Days Until 20 Million Votes		516

This is the list of urbanemovies' polls as of 18-Jul-2019:

Sorted Alphabetically http://mypollwatch.blogspot.com/2014/05/imdb-polls-alphabetical-by-author.html#urbanemovies

In Decreasing Order of Votes http://mypollwatch.blogspot.com/2015/03/imdb-polls-descending-order-of-votes-by.html#urbanemovies

Alphabetical List of Polls http://mypollwatch.blogspot.com/2014/03/imdb-polls-alphabetical.html

Top IMDb Polls http://mypollwatch.blogspot.com/2015/07/top-imdb-polls.html

IMDb Polls - Descending Order of Votes http://mypollwatch.blogspot.com/2013/12/imdb-polls-descending-order-of-votes.html

Summary Statistics http://mypollwatch.blogspot.com/2016/05/summary-statistics.html

Key Threads - IMDb Poll FAQs Index https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/faq-key-threads-imdb-poll-faqs-index

How to Improve the Chance of Having your Poll on the Home Page https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/faq-how-to-improve-the-chance-of-having-your-poll-on-the-hom...

2020 Modestly Budgeted Oscar Nominees
selected answer options $25m < 2018 inflation adjusted

Parasite Budget ₩13.5 billion (~US$11 million)
JoJo Rabbit Budget $14 million
Marriage Story Budget $18 million

2021 Oscar Winner Nomandland's Budget

($5m in 2021$ is equal to $4.74m in 2018$)

4th rank Cheapest Oscar Best Picture Winner

2022 Oscar Best Picture Made on the Cheap Nominees

(film budget <$25M USD)

$10M USD

2023 Oscar Best Picture Made on the Cheap Nominees

(film budget <$25M USD)

Triangle of Sadness $15.6M USB

Elvis $25M USD