The Skyline Series' Greatest Trick Is Being So Cheap (& Looking So Big)
The Skyline franchise has been made for fairly modest resources, yet the series consistently looks far more expensive than it is. The Skyline sci-fi series is one of the most impressive success stories of any franchise in recent years. The original Skyline debuted in theaters in 2010, and though it was a relatively low key release at the time, it was successful enough for the franchise to move ahead.
Beyond Skyline would arrive belatedly in 2017, with Skyline co-writer Liam O'Donnell taking over as director from the Strauss Brothers. The Skyline franchise really took off with the movie, hugely expanding the scope of the alien invasion and giving the "pilots" a very significant presence. Beyond Skyline also blended genres in an unheard of way, adding martial arts into the mix with Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian, who both broke out with The Raid movies. 2020's Skylines kept the series' newfound formula going and solidified the popularity it had attained.
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While all three Skyline films built on the universe of the series in their own way, they all did so with significantly less funding behind them than one would expect. The first Skyline was produced for $10 to $20 million, with just $500,000 being spent on filming. The movie being primarily set in an apartment complex as the invasion takes place helps show the frugality of its principal photography. Still, the visual effects of the alien ships and the final fifteen minutes of the movie in particular make the film's overall low budget an impressive accomplishment.
Beyond Skyline is even more astonishing in how it was realized on just $20 million. The scope of the story is greatly expanded from that of the
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