One of the Best Kaiju Movies of All Time Has a Ridiculously Low Budget

Summary

• Cloverfield had a budget of $25 million, a fraction of the cost of other modern kaiju films.
• Cloverfield's “found footage” style added a unique and poignant perspective to the onslaught of giant monsters.
• Despite its low budget, Cloverfield became a sleeper hit, grossing over $172 million and launching a successful franchise.

Most modern kaiju movies have nine-figure budgets, but one of the biggest entries in the genre was surprisingly cheap to make. The kaiju genre originated in Japan and was created by Eiji Tsuburaya and Ishiro Honda in 1954 with their seminal masterpiece. Godzilla. But the popularity of the kaiju genre spread across the world as the spectacle of giant monsters destroying cities transcended language barriers. Godzilla launched both an international franchise and a science fiction subgenre. Godzilla and his ilk continue to draw crowds to movie theaters around the world.

Hollywood has had a lot of success licensing popular kaiju characters like Godzilla and King Kong, but there have also been a few successful original kaiju films. These original kaiju movies can be a risky gamble because they tend to be expensive, so they have to make a lot of money. But one original kaiju movie was such a huge hit that it spawned a sprawling, interconnected franchise because it wasn't ridiculously expensive to make. In fact, it was made for the kind of budget usually given to small-scale, character dramas with no visual effects and no big stars.

Matt Reeves' Cloverfield had a budget of $25 million

Cloverfield was produced for the part of the average Hollywood blockbuster

Matt Reeves' “found footage” kaiju thriller Cloverfield produced on a budget of just $25 million (via Box Office Mojo). The film is presented as footage obtained from a video camera by the Ministry of Defense. It begins with a group of friends throwing a farewell party for a man named Rob who is leaving New York to start a new job in Japan. During the party, the power goes out in the town and they are shocked to discover that a giant monster has arrived. The rest of the movie is a fight for survival against a monster called Clover.

Initially dismissed as a B-movie, a viral marketing campaign and positive critical reception turned it around Cloverfield he fell asleep. It grossed $172,394,180 at the worldwide box office and launched Cloverfield franchise with spin-offs 10 Cloverfield Lane In 2016 and The Cloverfield Paradox in 2018. If Cloverfield Given a whopping $200 million budget, it would have been a bomb and spin-offs were out of the question. But it was considered a big hit because it had a more conservative $25 million price tag.

How does Cloverfield's budget compare to the MonsterVerse movies?

The cheapest MonsterVerse movie costs five times as much as Cloverfield

Cloverfield's budget seems smaller compared to other modern kaiju films. MonsterVerse is the best indicator of what Hollywood is willing to spend on kaiju movies – which is Legendary Pictures' Marvel-style shared cinematic universe of Godzilla, Kong and their associated characters – and Cloverfields budget is a part of their budget. MonsterVerse began in 2014 with a reboot GodzillaIt cost 160 million dollars for its production. Kong: Skull Island It was even more expensive with a price tag of $185 million.

The next two movies in the MonsterVerse, Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. KongIt costs up to 200 million dollars, which is eight times more than that Cloverfield cost The latest entry in the MonsterVerse franchise, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empirehad a slightly smaller budget of about $150 million, but that's still significantly more than that Cloverfield cost to do. The fact is MonsterVerse movies all cost six to eight times their budget Cloverfield it just does Cloverfield looks even more impressive.

Cloverfield's low budget made the film better

Cloverfield's low budget made it a better and more unique film. If it had a bigger budget and featured more of the monster, there would be nothing to separate it from other kaiju movies. But “found footage” style Cloverfield allowed the genre to do things it had never done before. The “found footage” gimmick can be tiresome if not used properly—especially during the height of the subgenre's popularity in the 2000s—but Cloverfieldit's great. It gave the audience a perspective of a giant monster they had never seen before.

Filming the entire film from the characters' point of view put the audience in their shoes at ground level, witnessing Clover's rampage from the street. Omniscient camera angles Godzilla movies are great for mindless spectacle, but it's hard to get a visceral reaction because the audience can't imagine themselves in that situation. Ground level camera works Cloverfield making it more immersiveand makes the audience feel like they're actually there, running as a giant creature tears New York City apart.

Source: Box Office Mojo