Pulp Fiction
Quentin Tarantino is a legendary director who has made huge profits from over-the-top violence. Back in the day, while he was a semi-unknown director, he received the thumbs-up to direct Pulp Fiction, but he only had a budget of around $8 to play with. To put that into perspective, that was how much Reservoir Dogs made at the box office (which was impressive since it only cost $1.2 million to make!).
With a prolific cast consisting of John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, and Uma Thurman, they had already burned through more than half of their budget on the actors alone. They spent the rest on shooting the movie and marketing the heck out of it, and in the end, they had $213.9 million to show for their work.