Hollywood executives quivered in their seats at the sight of an indie goliath. Mark Fischbach, known online as Markiplier, has been a legendary YouTuber for over 12 years and recently broke box-office records with his directorial debut horror film, Iron Lung (2026).
Back in 2023, I had heard the announcement of Iron Lung, based on the indie horror game of the same name by David Szymanski. As a big fan of horror games and Markiplier, I was ecstatic at the news.
No further updates had been made until the release of its final trailer in December 2025, with an official announcement of its theatrical release in select American cinemas at the end of January.
The film is set in a distant future after the “Quiet Rapture”, an event that caused the extinction of all stars and planets. The depleted human population live out on space stations and spaceships. The story centres around a convict who explores the blood ocean on a desolate moon in search of missing stars and planets, using the submarine Iron Lung.
Markiplier had joked about having international rights to the film, and lo and behold, the film made its way to Australian theatres. At Event Cinemas, Reading Cinema, and HOYTS, Iron Lung managed to reach over 4,000 theatres across the globe.
The film was written, shot, directed, financed, and distributed by Fischbach himself, with a rough budget of $3-$4 million. Being a self-funded film, Hollywood — and the whole world — were not expecting Iron Lung to have an $18 million opening. Its success came seemingly out of nowhere. However, fans who recognise Fischbach as part of YouTube royalty were not surprised.
Alongside Iron Lung, Sam Raimi’s new horror Send Help (2026) had been released in US theatres on the same day, starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien. Iron Lung and Send Help thus went head-to-head as competitors in the horror genre.
The weekend following both releases, Iron Lung had suddenly been erased on a number of box office charts, which were only showing Send Help and the divisive Melania (2026) documentary. Markiplier himself had noted this strange occurrence, which had quickly formed a narrative online that Hollywood was trying to silence independent films/Youtubers. The occurrence was less likely the former, and instead just a coincidental glitch.
As of now, Iron Lung is back on some charts such as Mojo’s Box Office Charts and IMDB, and has just reached over $40 million in the domestic box office, and $50 million in the worldwide box office. This ranks the film at #8 for the highest grossing film of 2026, settling itself between Anaconda (2026) and Marty Supreme (2026).
Whilst the abstract horror setting and tension within the world was there, the second half of the film tended to drag its narrative. However, given the constraint of filming in a single location for the whole film, this didn't take away from what was clear: hard production work and an atmosphere that made it compelling to watch.
Iron Lung had even broken the world record for the most blood ever filmed, surpassing the previous record set by Evil Dead (2013) of 50,000 gallons. So it is very clear to say that a project that spanned over 3 years with much persistence had paid off; fans and newcomers alike can finally see the staggering amount of blood, sweat, and tears (especially the blood) poured into this feature-length.
In these recent times, YouTube creators breaking into mainstream cinema with groundbreaking numbers shows Hollywood exactly what creative ambition combined with unflinching resolve can do.
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