Markiplier

The YouTuber is flipping Hollywood's script with his $3m hit film Iron Lung, says Andrew Anthony

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If money and power were the only determinants of popularity, Melania, the $75m documentary gift from Jeff Bezos to America’s first lady, would have romped home at the box office. As it was, its opening week was overshadowed by a low-budget horror film made by the cult YouTuber Markiplier.

Melania grossed just under $11m in its first week, whereas Iron Lung, based on a 2022 video game by developer David Szymanski, was self-financed by Markiplier for less than $3m, and returned almost $25m.

Those kind of numbers won't go unnoticed in Hollywood, nor will the producer-director-writer’s stripped-down working process. Shot in a moody, post-apocalyptic sci-fi style, the film's design and themes may borrow heavily from the aesthetic of the Alien franchise, but as a lean, mean project, it pushes the definition of “independent” filmmaking.

Ask most people aged over 40, and they would probably guess that Markiplier is some kind of stationery tool. Yet to a generation of gamers, he has been a major figure for some years, as is indicated by his 38.3 million YouTube subscribers. His online following alone generated enough advance interest to persuade cinema chains to book the film.

Iron Lung's high yield on investment is bound to send studios, agents and distributors searching the online world for untapped talent. The old romantic route to American film fame once meant heading west to Hollywood. While much about Markiplier - real name Mark Fischbach — is novel, his trajectory followed that same geographical pull.