A Surprising New Sci-Fi Horror Hit Just Proved An Emerging Hollywood Trend
Markiplier's Iron Lung movie is a surprise hit, but its appeal is obvious.
The line between YouTuber and filmmaker has only gotten blurrier in recent years. Now, video essays regularly appear on “Best Films of the Year” lists; the Philippou Brothers, aka Racka Racka, made the sleeper horror hit Talk to Me; and Chris Stuckmann’s Shelby Oaks brought a new voice to horror. However, in each of these contexts, these creators were focused on long-form storytelling as an art form from the beginning.
But the latest YouTuber-turned-filmmaker is something else entirely: One of the most prestigious video game YouTubers ever is finding unexpected success at the box office with a self-financed sci-fi horror movie without a distributor. It may be a big surprise, but it’s also the latest example of a new trend in Hollywood.
Markiplier has been a massively popular video game YouTuber for over a decade now.
Mark Fischbach, better known as Markiplier, got his start doing game reaction videos in 2012. He quickly found fame, and his fanbase became massive: his channel currently has 38.2 million subscribers. After dabbling filmmaking through his own interactive YouTube specials, he made his theatrical debut with Iron Lung, a self-financed adaptation of the video game of the same name.
Iron Lung wasn’t just self-financed, it also didn’t have a distributor. Instead, Fischbach appealed to his fans to call up their local theaters and request showings of Iron Lung, resulting in a surprisingly wide release. At the end of its first weekend, the movie grossed $21.7 million at the box office, coming in only behind Sam Raimi’s Send Help. This is an incredibly strong showing, especially considering the movie’s budget was only $3 million.
Fischbach stars in Iron Lung as Simon, a pilot navigating a submarine on a strange planet.
But while this seems like an anomaly, it’s just the latest evidence that we have entered a new era of theatrical moviegoing. We already know that the theatrical experience isn’t completely irrelevant — Barbenheimer proved that in spades — but what is new is what does well. Success these days is often defined by meeting audiences where they’re at. Markiplier has a built-in audience, so Markiplier’s movie does well. That’s why we’re seeing Michael Bay helming a Skibidi Toilet movie and Roblox’s Steal a Brainrot is in early development for a movie adaptation.
YouTube isn’t replacing Hollywood, but it could become the next place to find inspiration or talent, like television, video games, or books before it. As art evolves, so do ideas.
