Iron Lung’s path to theaters was unique, even if the movie wasn’t

as a movie, Iron lung Sometimes it’s exciting but mostly forgettable. It’s a small budget horror film that has some great ideas and pulls them off very effectively, creating a sense of tension that unfortunately never builds into outright scares. But the most important thing about it is what it represents. At a time when only the biggest films are dominated by movie theaters And small films try to forge their own paths, Iron lung It managed to gross over $20 million at the box office without the support of a major studio. All it takes is a lot of help from YouTube.

Surrounding conditions Iron lung It’s not easy to replicate exactly. It’s an adaptation of a 2022 indie horror game developed by solo creator David Szymanski, and written, directed and executive produced by Mark Fischbach, better known as YouTube star Markiplier. Markiplier is known for his “let’s play” videos for indie horror games in particular, and has built a surprisingly large audience through it, with nearly 40 million subscribers on YouTube. Three years ago, Markiplier published Presentation of the game Which has been viewed more than 14 million times. In 2022 Szymanski joked about Markiplier starring in a movie Iron lung film, A trailer dropped a year laterand now the finished product is in theaters as Markiplier’s first feature film. In addition to being the creative lead behind the film, Markiplier is also the star, a notable accomplishment for a film that mostly features one person in front of the camera.

The premise of the film is pretty cool: In a bleak future, a convict (Markiplier) is welded inside an experimental submarine as punishment for his crimes. He’s been tasked with exploring the lunar ocean in search of… something. Oh, and this ocean is also made up entirely of blood. He survives and gets his freedom. The convict can only see outside the submarine using an underwater camera that takes low-resolution images of the depths of the sea (blood). So the viewing experience Iron lung He mostly watches Markiplier cursing, muttering, and pounding keys, while steadily going mad from being trapped in such hell. The film manages to wring a surprising amount of tension out of this format early on, but it really starts to slow down and feel repetitive as the story progresses. One of the most important moments is an extended scene of him drawing a map.

Iron lung It’s very clearly based on a video game. He uses much of the same conceit: a guiding figure who is mostly just a voice over a megaphone; Storytelling elements such as instruction manuals and large screens that reveal how deep the submarine is and how much oxygen is remaining; Audio records that reveal important plot details; And upgrade your gear midway. The cast also includes Troy Baker, The voice actor behind every video game of the past decade. All of these elements can work great in the context of an interactive video game, but they seem much more complicated in a live-action movie. However, as his first feature film effort, Iron lung It shows a lot of promise, even if it doesn’t quite come together in the end.

Despite this, Iron lung It is an unconditional success. Its budget was reportedly only $3 million, and according to Delivery time It finished second at the US box office over the weekend, grossing $18 million, a figure that has since surpassed $20 million worldwide. This put him on the back burner Sam Raimi Send helpa studio production of the twentieth century, and much earlier Amazon’s expensive documentary about Melania Trump.

YouTubers successfully moving into other creative fields is not a new phenomenon, not even in Hollywood. Brothers Danny and Michael Filippo have taken to YouTube to release two excellent horror films Talk to me and Return itThey both raised tens of millions. But those films also had the studio (and money) behind them, A24, while… Iron lung It is a much more popular issue. Markiplier used his passionate fan base to get into theaters directly, eventually putting the film on more than 3,000 screens, despite having no distributor. He was able to turn one type of popularity into a huge success in a completely different medium.

“There were a lot of people asking (theater chains to show it).” He said the Hollywood Reporter. “There were enough people asking, and people thought they were bots. At that scale, it’s hard for other people to imagine that many people are asking.” In that same interview, he said that “there’s still a stigma against YouTube,” and he wanted to Iron lung Being successful is partly to help break down this barrier.

While this may help other big-name creators who want to break into film, it’s not an easy formula for filmmakers or studios to replicate. Budding horror filmmakers can’t just amass an audience in the millions on YouTube first as a way to help their projects find success, and there’s a huge difference between running a channel and having a huge success.

but Iron lung The story shows the power of having an existing audience, and how the scale of online success has now reached a point that can disrupt even the most established institutions, like Hollywood, competing directly with the likes of Disney and Amazon. And with more visits like Iron lungthis stigma will continue to fade — and theaters may never look the same.