The Blair Witch Project (1999) - $248 Million

The movie that permanently altered the landscape of modern cinema marketing was put together by a group of indie filmmakers using camcorders. The plot centers on three student filmmakers who hike deep into a Maryland forest to shoot a documentary about a mythical local urban legend, only to get completely lost as terrifying, unseen forces begin to stalk them in the dark. The hidden meaning of the film moves past the unseen witch to expose the fragility of human arrogance when stripped of modern societal safety nets, serving as a stark, primal warning about the complete breakdown of group psychology, trust, and rational communication when individuals are forced to confront an incomprehensible, uncaring natural world that completely ignores their survival. This primitive woods-bound nightmare cost just $60,000 to shoot and relied on a brilliant, early internet missing-persons marketing campaign that left audiences genuinely wondering if the footage was real. The film became an absolute global cultural phenomenon, raking in a massive $248 million and holding the global record for box office return-on-investment for an entire decade.