YouTuber Markiplier, who has over 38 million subscribers on the video-sharing platform, might have just broken Hollywood. He made his feature directorial debut recently with the sci-fi horror film Iron Lung, based on an independent video game. Not only did he write and direct the movie, but he also self-financed and self-distributed it. For indie films to do well at the box office isn’t unheard of, but for one to do well by entirely side-stepping conventional marketing and distribution techniques is rare. A few years ago, the horror movie Terrifier 3 capitalized on the viral success of its two predecessors and grossed more than $50 million domestically despite no formal studio support. Something similar is unfolding at the box office currently, with Iron Lung eying roughly $5 million in its second weekend of release after having nearly defeated Sam Raimi‘s $40-million, Disney-backed thriller Send Help last week. Even more impressively, Iron Lung is set to outgross one of the best-reviewed and most star-studded sci-fi movies of the 21st century this weekend.
Iron Lung grossed $18 million in its opening weekend and has so far made around $25 million at the domestic box office. By Sunday, the film will have grossed around $30 million, provided it meets projections. Globally, this would put Iron Lung above the $32 million mark at the very least. The movie was welcomed with open arms by its target audience, which overlapped with the crowd that took Five Nights at Freddy’s to record-breaking box office success a couple of years ago. Iron Lung holds a “Verified Hot” 89% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, with a critics’ score that’s sitting at a not-too-shabby (for a genre film) 57%. In his review, Collider’s Nate Richard praised Markiplier for making “plenty of impressively cinematic decisions, including effectively building a sense of dread that just won’t quit eating at you.”
Here’s the Sci-Fi Cult Classic that ‘Iron Lung’ Is Poised to Overtake
If Iron Lung stays the course and passes the $32 million mark this weekend, it will have overtaken director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland‘s path-breaking sci-fi cult classic Sunshine. The movie was released in 2007 to mostly positive reviews, but it failed to recoup its reported $40 million budget despite a star-stacked cast. Sunshine featured Chris Evans, Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Michelle Yeoh, and Hiroyuki Sanada. Boyle and Garland recently reunited on 28 Years Later, which was released last year. Murphy and Yeoh have since gone on to win Oscars, while Byrne was recently nominated for her performance in If I Had Legs I’d Kick You. Perhaps the success of Iron Lung will take Markiplier’s career to new heights as well. You can watch the movie in theaters. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
- Release Date
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January 30, 2026
- Runtime
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127 Minutes
- Director
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Mark Fischbach
- Writers
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Mark Fischbach
- Producers
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Will Hyde, Amy Nelson, Jeff Guerrero
Cast
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Mark Fischbach
Speaker #2 (Voice)
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