Without the backing of a major studio or production company, the film “Iron Lung” is being played across thousands of theaters across the world. 

This might seem like a normal occurrence for a film release, but it’s important to note how big an achievement this is for an independent film such as “Iron Lung.” 

The film’s director and main actor, Mark Fischbach, more known as Markiplier online, has been creating content on YouTube for more than a decade, playing various video games, creating short films and entertaining millions of viewers on the platform. 

In early 2023, Markiplier revealed to his audience that he would be creating a film adaptation of the video game “Iron Lung,” a short horror game where the player must travel in a submarine at the bottom of an ocean of blood, relying on provided mapping and coordinates to complete their tasks. 

The film was independently funded by supporters of Markiplier as well as his utilizing his own money to begin filming on set. 

As time went on, the film finished filming and was close to being released. And in December 2025, Markiplier announced that the movie would be released in a select number of theaters on January 30. 

However, after securing deals with various companies such as Cinemark to pick up the film, it secured screenings in several thousands of theaters, both in the United States and countries across the world. 

Profit for the film also allowed theatres to take a bigger cut of the movie’s profit than normally possible. Markiplier himself explained in a YouTube video about the film’s release by stating; “I’m not a big studio. So, the split with the theaters is basically 50-50. It’s really cool because everybody wins.” 

The film secured around $18.2 million on its opening weekend, a major profit from the film’s $3 million budget. It rivaled “Send Help” in the box office for a short period of time, a major studio release directed by Sam Raimi. 

Markiplier has shown his surprise and gratitude for people supporting his film, where in a YouTube livestream, he expressed how this movie was “…kind of a hero moment to showcase indie filmmaking is possible.” 

Before I went to see the movie in theaters, I looked at a few reviews to see that opinions on the film were mixed. Critic reviews are mostly negative, but audience reviews were mostly positive, which wasn’t too surprising. 

I went to see the movie on February 1, two days after the film’s initial release on January 30. I didn’t have high expectations, but I still expected something interesting and unique. 

It’s a little difficult to watch at points, as the movie is almost always taking place in the submarine, where Markiplier plays a man trapped inside the rusty Iron Lung submarine to search for samples of life at the bottom of an ocean made purely of blood. 

You will watch Markiplier turn knobs and dials, write on a map and slowly lose his mind as he comes to terms with the dangerous and deadly nature of what he is doing. 

The movie is confusing to watch at points, with a lot of the story not being explained as it happens, relying on ideas the original game created and being expanded upon in the film without much context beforehand. 

Even when I was confused, I still really enjoyed the movie. It felt very slow, but to the point where it I felt that it was building up to something rather than just being boring. 

The film devolves into madness as it goes on, with Markiplier putting on a good performance, where he doesn’t feel like a YouTuber, but an actual actor that made me forget about his YouTube moniker. 

The movie can be difficult to watch for some people. It’s slow, it’s reliant on the visual and emotional aspects of the film and if you don’t care for movies that are slow burning, you might not enjoy watching this film. 

However, I would recommend it to people who like horror movies or thrillers. Not because it was created by a popular person on social media, but because the film had me intrigued and on the edge of my seat at certain points. 

If you are interested, the Majestic Theatre here in Wayne will be showing “Iron Lung” for one night only on February 5.