Markiplier says Hollywood ignored YouTubers as ‘Iron Lung’ pulls $50 Million

Why the film matters

Generally, I was listening to the Lemonade Stand podcast when Markiplier said something that caught my attention, Hollywood is basically ignoring creators like him. Obviously, he feels pretty strongly about this, and I could sense the frustration in his voice, it was kinda sad.

The Iron Lung phenomenon

Interestingly, Iron Lung started out as this tiny indie game created by David Szymanski, then Markiplier turned it into a horror movie with a budget of $4 million, which is not a lot. Normally, a movie like this would not do very well, but it opened in about 60 theaters and then suddenly it was playing on over 4,000 screens worldwide, that is crazy.

Hollywood’s silence

Apparently, when Markiplier was asked if any big studios contacted him after the movie’s success, he said no one really reached out to him, which is surprising. Usually, you would think that a big studio would be interested in someone who can make a movie that earns nearly $50 million, but I guess not.

Changing tides

Recently, Markiplier has been meeting with some executives, and they seem pretty curious about how he made the movie so successful, they want to know his secrets. Probably, they are starting to realize that they need to pay attention to creators like him, because they are making money and winning awards, like the Emmy-nominated series In Space With Markiplier.

What this means for creators

Clearly, the success of Iron Lung shows that a YouTube star can make a movie that can compete with big studio pictures, which is a big deal. Hopefully, this will inspire other creators to try to make their own movies, because it seems like it is possible to be successful without the help of a big studio, and that is pretty cool.