5 Reasons Why Markiplier's Iron Lung Shocked The Box Office

January is rarely a huge month for the box office, but it ended on a pretty unique high note. On one side, we had Sam Raimi's return to horror in the form of "Send Help." On the other, YouTuber Markiplier (aka Mark Fischbach) with his self-financed, self-distributed video game adaptation "Iron Lung." It was David vs. Goliath, and even though Goliath came out on top, David absolutely came out looking like the bigger winner in many ways.

"Iron Lung" pulled in $17.8 million domestically in its debut, narrowly missing out on the number one spot. However, it did come in at number one on Friday with $9 million. "Send Help" came out on top with $20 million, but it was a surprisingly close race. Internationally, the indie video game flick added another $3.9 million for a $21.7 million global start. Even just a few weeks ago, it would have been very difficult to predict this level of success.

Based on the video game of the same name, "Iron Lung" takes place in a post-apocalyptic future after a mysterious event known as "The Quiet Rapture" causes all known stars and habitable planets in the universe to disappear. A convict (Fischbach) is sent to search an ocean of blood discovered on a desolate moon using a small submarine dubbed the Iron Lung. Pre-release estimates had the movie pulling in closer to $10 million on the high end. It nearly doubled that figure.

So, what went right here? How did Markiplier so successfully manage to go from YouTuber to horror movie director like this? How did this movie manage to break through in such a meaningful way? We're going to look at the biggest reasons why "Iron Lung" was such a shockingly huge hit on opening weekend.

A low budget is always your friend when it comes to the box office. In the case of "Iron Lung," especially by 2026 standards, this movie was extremely cheap. While Mark Fischbach hasn't revealed the official budget, it's said to be below $3 million. For contrast, "Send Help" has a $40 million budget and made just a couple of million more domestically on opening weekend. That makes it look like a straight-up steal.

The difference, in this case, is that Fischbach isn't a Hollywood studio — nor does he have the backing of one. Disney can afford to lose some money on a mid-budget movie, whereas $3 million is an incredible amount for a YouTuber — even a very successful one — to put on the line. Fortunately, it all worked out. Wisely, Fischbach didn't overextend himself in pursuing his feature filmmaking dreams.

In the history of cinema, plenty of low-budget movies have made a killing at the box office. Sometimes, those movies were produced independently. Other times, it was studios taking a low-risk/high-reward gamble. In this case, it was someone who had achieved success on one of modern media's emerging, powerful platforms, successfully branching out into Hollywood without overspending. To say that such a thing is hard to do would be an understatement.

No matter what movie we're talking about, one simply does not make more than $20 million at the box office without effective marketing. That's just the nature of the beast. But just because a studio spends a lot of money on a given movie's marketing doesn't guarantee success. See, Amazon spending $35 million to market the "Melania" documentary, which flopped over the weekend.

That brings us to "Iron Lung," which was unquestionably marketed very effectively in light of its success. Working further in its favor is the fact that Markiplier didn't spend very much money to market his movie. Rather, he wisely targeted his YouTube audience directly, focusing on social media and direct outreach, rather than paying lots of money to play TV spots during sporting events, for example.

For more than a decade, there's been evidence to suggest that social media buzz is more important than traditional advertising. Studios have certainly tried to undercut marketing budgets with more targeted campaigns, with limited success. Markiplier managed to do this very, very successfully, which only serves to help the movie's bottom line even more, when all's said and done. Credit where credit is due, this was a very well executed, highly-targeted, bang-for-buck marketing campaign for the ages.

For independent filmmakers, few things are as beneficial as the story behind the story. Kevin Smith's "Clerks" became a hit in its day in no small part because the director's story made it very newsworthy in the media. It also doesn't hurt that the movie was good, but I digress. In the case of "Iron Lung," Markiplier's tale of liking an indie video game and then turning that game into a movie without any help from Hollywood was, indeed, compelling. That helped get it a fair amount of attention.

From Hollywood trade publications to more fan-driven blogs and horror-centric social media accounts, the journey that "Iron Lung" took to make it to the big screen — from Mark Fischbach writing, starring in, directing, and even distributing the movie himself — to contending with the dual Hollywood strikes in 2023 and everything in between, earned this movie a lot of coverage. It got it on a lot of people's radar without a direct marketing spend. To say that's helpful for an independent production like this would be an understatement.

Markiplier even turned down a role in "Five Nights at Freddy's" because he was committed to making his own movie. It all served to get people talking about "Iron Lung" and building awareness, particularly amongst those who weren't already fans of his work. I'll be the first to admit I became aware of this movie when box office projections started rising in recent weeks. That got me talking about it both personally and professionally. I'm not alone. All of that coverage and organic chatter added up.

Put plainly, Markiplier has a truly massive audience. His YouTube channel has 38 million subscribers, which he's amassed through years of dedication to the craft. Those fans are pretty darn loyal. Case in point, the first teaser trailer for "Iron Lung," which was released directly to his YouTube channel, has nearly 11 million lifetime views on his channel alone. Again, big studio movies would often be very happy with such numbers.

This is to say nothing of the man's following on his various social media accounts, which equates to tens of millions more people that he has a direct line to. Markiplier relied heavily on his audience, and it worked. He's been talking about the movie for years and getting his fans excited about it. They mobilized and convinced theaters all around the world to book the movie, which proved to be a good call for said theaters. As crazy as it sounds, it's not altogether unlike Taylor Swift mobilizing her fans for "The Official Release Party of a Showgirl" last year.

That's not to say that just because someone has a big following online, it's automatically going to equate to tickets sold at the box office. It's difficult to get people to show up for movies these days. But Markiplier's fans showed up in droves. It doesn't hurt that horror fans are loyal as well, always in search of the next big thing. Had he made a rom-com, for example, it might not have worked out quite as well. He picked the right project at the right time for his audience.

Before I get on my soapbox here, let me start by saying that the tide is turning regarding Hollywood's attitude towards YouTube as a legitimate form of entertainment, with respect to creators on the platform. That having been said, for years now, it's felt like Hollywood studios and the brass making decisions have largely disregarded YouTubers as legitimate or truly relevant. If "Iron Lung" proves anything, it's that Hollywood has, on the whole, greatly underestimated the power of YouTube.

Traditional TV is dying. Streaming is splintered and constantly getting more expensive. The box office is on more uncertain ground than ever. YouTube, on the other hand, allows people to engage with highly specialized content and develop a relationship of some kind with the creators. That's how Chris Stuckmann was able to make "Shelby Oaks" a Kickstarter sensation. Unfortunately, "Shelby Oaks" only made $6.6 million at the box office despite backing from NEON and a splashier marketing campaign, but that's another issue altogether.

The point is that YouTube is real entertainment, and fans of these creators are highly engaged. It bodes well for A24's "The Backrooms" movie from YouTuber Kane Parsons. What Markiplier has done here is going to force Hollywood to look at YouTube more seriously as a breeding ground for talent. The fact that Markiplier did this without any backing from studios or distributors is all the more eye-opening.

"Iron Lung" is in theaters now.