For those of us who spent the mid-aughts binging video game playthroughs on YouTube, the name Markiplier is akin to streaming royalty.
The video creator, whose real name is Mark Fischbach, rose through the ranks of the platform with his walkthroughs of Five Nights at Freddy’s, Resident Evil 7, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and more (and his Unus Annus video series, for fans who tuned in!). Markiplier has maintained a dedicated following since he first started posting in 2012, with his YouTube channel now boasting 38.3 million followers. In 2022, Forbes reported that he’d earned upwards of $38 million that year alone from his video content.
And with the recent release of Markiplier’s first-ever horror feature, Iron Lung, fans are now, more than ever, rallying behind their favorite YouTuber and his first foray into the world of filmmaking.
Iron Lung premiered last January in the United States, but it’s finally making its way to Philippine cinemas on February 25. What’s more, fan screenings will be held on February 21 at SM Megamall, SM North EDSA, and SM Mall of Asia ahead of the nationwide release.
Now, while some (me) may have been keeping track of all the lore behind the making of the movie and the video game it’s based on, Iron Lung may seem more-than-alien to audiences dipping into its world of blood oceans and giant eel monsters for the first time.
Ahead of the horror feature’s Philippine release, we’ve put together a crash course guide on everything you need to know about Markiplier’s latest project.
What exactly is ‘Iron Lung’?
Well before the movie, there was the video game Iron Lung, which was developed and released in 2022 by video game creator David Szymanski (who also made the retro horror first-shooter, Dusk).
Without getting into the nitty-gritty of the video game’s backstory, you play an unnamed convict who has been tasked with exploring a blood ocean for you to earn your freedom. Yes, a blood ocean is an ocean made of blood, and the worst part is that you’re definitely not alone down there. As you survey the ocean floor in your janky little submarine (which is nicknamed the “Iron Lung” for its tight, claustrophobic quarters), you’ll need to do your best to avoid an unidentified sea monster following close behind you.
Szymanski later went on to update the game to include a terminal in the submarine, which you can use to input queries to figure out what exactly is going on. Type in phrases like “the quiet rapture,” “blood ocean,” and “moon z-8,” and you’ll start to piece together how things fell apart after several of the inhabitable planets completely disappeared from the universe.
Do you need to play the game before watching the movie?
No, although if you’d like, it only takes around an hour to complete.
But if video games aren’t your thing, you can always watch a couple of playthroughs if you don’t want to go into the cinema completely blind. Markiplier made the movie because he did a playthrough of the game when it was first released in 2022.
“[Markiplier] reached out to me just through Twitter DMs,” Szymanski recalled in a promotional video for the movie. “I knew instantly that there was gonna be a pitch of some sort.”
How did Markiplier get ‘Iron Lung’ off the ground?
It wasn’t easy to direct, self-fund, and star in his first-ever movie, but Markiplier has been working to make his take on Iron Lung happen since 2022. He spent roughly $3 million on production, casting fellow creators in his movie to help flesh out the world (keep an eye out for Jacksepticeye!).
However, when pitching the movie for theatrical release, Markiplier encountered several significant hurdles. On an episode of the Hollywood-centric podcast, The Town With Matt Belloni, he revealed that independent booking company Centurion Film Service had only offered to screen Iron Lung in three theaters in the United States.
To remedy this, Markiplier went directly to his fans. On online community threads like Reddit, fans began sharing email templates to send to both independent cinemas and theater chains to drum up interest for screenings of the movie. “There were enough people that asked [the theater chains to screen Iron Lung] that people thought it was bots,” Markiplier said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “There’s a lot of people out there that are willing to help and just really, really, really believed in what I was doing here. I’m super grateful and owe them pretty much everything.”
The fans’ efforts paid off, because Iron Lung played on more than 4,000 screens worldwide during its opening weekend.
How’s ‘Iron Lung’ doing at the box office?
Iron Lung debuted as the No. 2 movie in the United States, surpassing $17 million in earnings on its opening weekend and trailing not too far behind Sam Raimi’s Send Help, which opened on the same weekend. According to Deadline, Iron Lung’s global debut is estimated to be upwards of $22.2 million. What’s more, Markiplier gets to keep 50 percent of the global box office earnings of his movie.
“Whatever happens,” wrote Markiplier in an Instagram post responding to the success of Iron Lung, “wherever it lands, this has been the most fun weekend I’ve had in a very long time.”
