By India McCarty
The success of YouTuber Markiplier’s movie IRON LUNG indicates a new phase of indie filmmaking.
IRON LUNG “debuted at No. 2 in North America with $17.8 million from 3,015 theaters,” per Variety — all without mainstream resources.
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Markiplier (real name: Mark Fischbach) self-financed and distributed the movie, which reportedly cost $3 million to produce. He also wrote, directed and starred in the movie, which was based on a video game, also titled IRON LUNG.
“I personally don’t care about the numbers, other than, ‘Woohoo, success,’” Fischbach said in a recent YouTube livestream. “I’m going to be able to give the crew a big bonus. That’s awesome. I’m not a big studio. So the split with the theaters is basically 50-50. It’s really cool because everybody wins.”
He added, “It’s kind of a hero moment to showcase indie filmmaking is possible.”
In an interview with Variety, Fischbach explained how he was able to have the financial flexibility to make something like IRON LUNG.
“I don’t care about making a profit on the things that I do for this, because YouTube has been very good to me,” Fischbach, who has 38 million subscribers on the platform, said. “I make a good living, and I’m able to afford to take these chances that a lot of people aren’t able to take, and I recognize that.”
Fischbach also praised the fan response to IRON LUNG, pointing out that its success was built on his viewers’ enthusiasm and support.
“If you can find the right people, if you can create an environment that lets people congregate in one place, they’ll move mountains just for you,” he said. “You can never take advantage of that. It’s one of the most beautiful things on the internet, where there are terrible things happening all the time in the world, but there can still be some good.”
Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s head of marketplace trends, told NBC this could be an indication of where independent filmmaking is heading, saying, “I think we’re going to see more of [social media content creators making bigger projects].”
“Usually, movies have to have a long run-up in terms of marketing and awareness-building to have success in a movie theater,” he explained. “But this is breaking all the rules.”
Movieguide® has not reviewed IRON LUNG and cannot speak to its content. However, the movie’s success is an interesting look at the changes taking place in the world of indie filmmaking.
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