The hardworking blogger Stephen Followes has come up with more fascinating results from his series of studies on the most profitable films, this time for films budgeted between $3 million and $10 million. This budget range makes up an important part of the independent film landscape, says Followes. "The budget is high enough to support hiring well-known actors and actresses, or to spend more on the "polish" of the film, but low enough that every penny has to be spent wisely for the investment to show up on the screen." Followes found the films that broke out at this budget level include some of the best indie films of the century so far, several of which earned Oscar glory. He also found they fitted four distinct groups:
1 Character study dramas
2 High concept horror
3 Breakout documentaries
4 Crowd pleasers