How the hell did Shape of Water only cost 20 million dollars?!

I love the movie, btw. Not here to debate it's Oscar wins or anything like that, but I think we can agree that, on an objective level, the production values are stunning. The sets, the costumes, the makeup, the cinematography, all top notch.

And for only 20 mil. How?! I mean, I get there were a few prudent cost-saving measures: the cast, while all acclaimed and respected actors, aren't exactly BIG names. Brad Pitt or RDJ would have added 10 mil to the budget easy, but Guillermo went with hard-working character actors who were worth every penny and then some. Good work on that front.

It's also not mega-CGI heavy, which probably brought the price down. The Gill Man is largely a rubber suit and makeup with CGI sweetening, probably cheaper than building a full Gollum-style character on computers.

Otherwise, I'm at a bit of a loss. How does 20 mil buy you The Shape Of Water but 150 million buys you Ghostbusters 2016? Even Uncut Gems cost 19 mil (a lot of that for Sandler probably, and shooting in NYC probably isn't cheap). But do you see my confusion here? 20 million buys you either the lush, gorgeous Oscar-darling production that is Shape of Water, or the gritty, urban, indie drama that is Uncut Gems?

How does this work exactly?

Submitted October 31, 2020 at 10:06PM by Wazula42 https://ift.tt/2TFtUff