The horror genre is on top of the box office charts, with both Iron Lung and Send Help releasing into theaters over the weekend. One is a self-financed, self-released video game adaptation from mega popular social media superstar Markiplier, while the other is the genre return of beloved filmmaker Sam Raimi, released by Disney’s 20th Century Studios.
It’s a story of David vs. Goliath, with Markiplier going head-to-head with a major Hollywood studio and an established filmmaker with a string of box office hits under his belt. The result?
Send Help topped the opening weekend box office charts here in the United States, but you might be surprised by how closely Markiplier’s Iron Lung found itself nipping at Disney’s heels.
Sam Raimi’s survival comedy Send Help is currently #1 at the box office with a reported $20 million opening weekend domestically and a total of $28.1 million worldwide thus far.
The self-released horror movie Iron Lung, meanwhile, came in second place on the charts with a staggering $17.8 million domestically and $21.7 million at the worldwide box office.
Regal was the first major exhibitor to get into business with Iron Lung, which was originally planning a release in a handful of indie theaters. It ended up being released into 3,015 theaters across the United States and even getting its own official popcorn bucket. For the sake of comparison, Disney’s Send Help is currently playing in 3,475 theaters across the country.
The Regal chain writes in a press release sent to Bloody Disgusting, “Across the weekend from Thursday, January 29 to Sunday, February 1, Iron Lung admissions at Regal theatres accounted for a 19% market share among North American exhibitors of the release. Iron Lung now lays claim to the biggest opening weekend for a feature film from a digital creator, which saw significant interest from the Markiplier fan base as soon as advance tickets went on sale.”
“What Markiplier has achieved with Iron Lung is a reminder that great filmmaking is all about creativity, commitment, and connection with your audience,” said Eduardo Acuna, Chief Executive Officer at Regal Cineworld. “Markiplier’s success shows that new voices can create powerful theatrical moments with the right support. Regal is proud to have been an early partner in helping bring Iron Lung to audiences at scale and to play a role in connecting a digital creator with moviegoers in a way that really embraces the shared experience of cinema.”
While Send Help starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien has a reported production budget of $40 million, Markiplier’s Iron Lung starring, well, Markiplier, was self-funded for just $3 million. That means the film is already massively profitable in just the first few days of release, and there was no marketing budget to speak of to balloon up that overall budget.
Markiplier will have to split the profits roughly 50-50 with theaters, but he’s coming out on top in a big way with his debut on the scene as an indie filmmaker to watch going forward.
Mark “Markiplier” Fischback wrote, directed and stars in Iron Lung, which adapts the game by David Szymanski. In a post-apocalyptic future after The Quiet Rapture, a convict explores a blood ocean on a desolate moon using a submarine to search for missing stars/planets.
“It’s kind of a hero moment to showcase indie filmmaking is possible,” Markiplier said in a statement. “If that could inspire someone to keep making films, that’d be pretty cool. And maybe it could open up a door for other people that do their projects independently and know that there could be success in it.”
The doors have been kicked wide open, and while not everyone has the money or the following of Markiplier, stories like this one give us a sneak peek into an evolving industry that could become a whole lot more creator-friendly in the years to come. Is it time for a new wave of independent cinema at the box office? The success of Iron Lung suggests that audiences might be ready for something other than big movies from big studios. And that’s an exciting prospect.
Our advice? Support Markiplier and Sam Raimi at your local theater this week!
‘Send Help’