Markiplier's indie game film adaptation Iron Lung earned $21.5 million in its opening weekend

The film was based on a 2022 Dave Szymanski game of the same name and its production budget was $3 million.

Indie games and film are enjoying a win this recent weekend, following the launch of Mark Fischbach’s (better known as YouTuber Markiplier) film adaptation of the game Iron Lung. The movie opened on Friday and had a stellar run at the box office, earning $21.5 million worldwide on a $3 million production budget.

The initial box office numbers for Iron Lung in its first weekend were originally reported by IGN. Iron Lung had a limited international release, with much of its focus prioritized in North America, leading to $17.8 million coming from domestic theaters. Despite the restricted global release, it still pulled in $3.6 million from theaters overseas. Markiplier also distributed the film independently, further lowering the costs of its release.

Iron Lung is a film adapted from an indie game of the same name that was created and released by Dave Szymanski (creator of DUSK and Gloomwood) in 2022. Fischbach began teasing his work on an unannounced film in 2023, and pulled Troy Baker, Seán McLoughlin (better known as Jacksepticeye), and Szymanski himself for the cast.

With such a strong opening weekend, Markiplier has plenty to be happy about. Iron Lung was #2 at the box office over the weekend, only beaten out by Sam Raimi’s recent horror flick, Send Help. Stay tuned to the Iron Lung topic as we watch for further updates.