From indie game to indie film, the story behind making the movie Iron Lung took three years from start to finish because of its challenging production issues.

Mark Edward Fischbach, most commonly known as his online persona, Markiplier, had been fascinated by the premise and story of the original game. With the idea of an adaptation of the game, having previous experience working with a crew on advanced projects for YouTube, including A Heist with Markiplier and In Space with Markiplier, he decided to take matters into his own hands. Fischbach personally financed the movie and brought his own crew together for the project, working closely with David Szymanski, the original creator of Iron Lung the game, to help build out the world and make the movie a better adaptation overall. 

Writing started in September 2022, with pre-production starting in late January to February of 2023. The actual filming of the project lasted for 35 days and would primarily be done in the NACMO, a custom-built machine rigged to simulate the inside of the sub and to best replicate jerking Fischbach around for scenes. The filming reportedly required 80,000 gallons of fake blood, a world record, to create the practical effects. With all the filming complete and editing starting, the first trailer for Iron Lung released on October 14, 2023. However, fans had to wait in anticipation and support until the release on January 30, 2026. 

The film itself is set in a sci-fi apocalyptic setting, in which our main character Simon is entrapped in a submarine, played by Markiplier himself. The film masterfully blends claustrophobia and thalassophobia, the fear of tight spaces and the ocean respectively, within the cramped submarine submerged in an ocean of blood. The first part of the film sets up the sci-fi elements of the world through events in the story, letting the audience piece together the bigger picture of the story through expanding on Szymanski’s original vision with the cosmic horror elements and an engaging storyline that even non-fans of the original game would enjoy.

Cosmic horror as a genre is one that is vastly underutilized in horror media, but Fischbach uses it masterfully to highlight the uniqueness of the setting, plot, and story of Iron Lung. One reviewer from the official Rotten Tomatoes website calls it a “psychological descent that keeps hope out of reach, Iron Lung may be a slow burn, but its mood and atmosphere still leave a lasting scorch.” Another claims it is the most “creative adaptation [they’ve] ever seen” and that the “cinematography and story blend so well together.” This positive feedback would then contribute to just how widespread Iron Lung would become.

Initially, Fischbach expected around sixty theaters to be playing Iron Lung in just the United States, especially since he would be competing with big names like Zootopia 2. Instead, the numbers reached well over 4000, with major movie chains like Regal and AMC picking up Iron Lung and showing it in theaters. This staggering number was revealed in Mark’s  “I didn’t think this was possible” video on his YouTube channel, which contains his heartfelt gratitude towards his fanbase and includes interesting tidbits regarding Iron Lung’s production.

Its overwhelming success is great for indie films, but what about films in general? Videogame movie adaptations already have mixed reviews from audiences. The Minecraft movie, for example, is infamously known for being more of a meme movie than an actual enjoyable film, with a 47% Rotten Tomatoes score. Additionally, the Super Mario Bros Movie is criticized for its lackluster representation of the games and has a 59% Rotten Tomato score on the official website. Both films are not meant to be taken seriously, with their success usually stemming from big celebrity names like Jack Black and Chris Pratt. Iron Lung breaks that pattern and proves that video game movies can be fully enjoyed without prior knowledge of the games or an overly expensive budget.

But most importantly, Iron Lung creates a path for future indie projects, proving how a successful movie can still be made using a significantly smaller budget than Hollywood blockbusters. Iron Lung’s title as the number one movie in the world, obtained just following its release, was mysteriously deleted from the box office only a short while after. This sparked major backlash from the fans of the movie and raised questions regarding just how threatened Hollywood was by this indie passion project. Hollywood’s iron grip on the American film industry may be loosening, and Iron Lung’s massive success paves the way for other aspiring filmmakers to share their passions with the world.