The film was a major success considering its small budget, but the actors had to sue to get paid. After more than three years, the case was settled for $90,000. After attorney fees, each actor got $1,000.
The film is based on actual reported encounters with a Bigfoot creature in the Fouke-Boggy Creek area of Arkansas throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. Most of the actors in the film were the actual people from the encounters.
Almost none of the cast ever appeared in another film.
Director/producer Charles B. Pierce funded the film by borrowing $160,000 from an Arkansas trucking company, and filmed it on an older-model movie camera. The film went on to earn $25 million which, when adjusted for inflation in 2020, equates to more than $150 million.
The film was a tremendous success at drive-ins. It grossed $20 million, making it the 10th-highest grossing movie of 1972.
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