Pi ($68,000 budget)
It’s not very often that a person’s directorial debut is a hit, but Darren Aranofsky’s Pi certainly lefts its mark when it landed in theaters in 1998. The movie made a little over $3.2 million, turning an impressive profit of 6,800%.
The psychological thriller depicted the connection between mathematical regularity and how irrational humanity can be. The movie thrust Aranofsky onto center stage and he did disappoint, later releasing films like Black Swan and Requiem for a Dream.