Survival is one of the many themes of the newly released indie film, Iron Lung. Survival is a very apt description of the film itself, and it’s truly fascinating to see every hurdle the project and its team have conquered.

The original Iron Lung is an indie sci-fi horror game released in March of 2022, created by David Szymanski. The game follows an unnamed death row inmate, tasked with piloting the titular submarine called the “Iron Lung” within an ocean of blood found on one of the few remaining moons in space.

The following February, online creator Mark Fischbach, better known as Markiplier on YouTube, began production for the film adaptation, or rather, reimagining.

This wouldn’t be his first creative venture. Fischbach has created several YouTube-exclusive projects, such as Who Killed Markiplier? and In Space With Markiplier, that allows his audience to choose up to 80 different pathways to get to one of many endings per project.

After three years of excruciating production, Iron Lung was released to theatres across the USA on January 30, 2026, and became a national sensation at the box office.

We Canadians were blessed to have it featured in some of our theatres as well.

The film’s “reimagining” plays with the psychological distress of isolation, the unknown, and the Lovecraftian, in addition to being a fascinating character study of its lead character, Simon, who captures the audience’s attention for nearly 100 percent of the film’s duration.

Iron Lung is an incredibly faithful response to the original game, which, for all its intrigue and well-crafted design, had a silent lead with no character, no story to speak of, and would barely reach short film length if adapted one-to-one. So, the production team takes a lot of respectful liberties, but not without the hand of the original creator, Szymanski.

But what stands out about this film is not necessarily the production or the plot of this speculative masterpiece, but the story behind the scenes.

Iron Lung, the movie, had all the cards stacked against it. Iron Lung is an independent film of a mere $3 million budget, privately funded by its producer, screenwriter, and lead actor, Mark Fischbach. Though the cast included a big-name voice actor like Troy Baker, even Fischbach expected the film to only have a limited release in select theatres in the USA.

Instead, its time in theaters was extended for multiple days in multiple theaters (including our own Landmark Cinemas, a rare occurrence for that theatre indeed), and grossed over $50 million, far surpassing expectations.

This isn’t the only time Iron Lung has responded shockingly well to adversity. During the 2023 Writer and Actor strike, Iron Lung’s only delay came from Mark Fischbach himself, who insisted upon standing in solidarity with the striking writers and actors, as he is a member of the Screen Actors Guild. Humorously, this created a situation where he was technically supposed to be striking against himself, though unsurprisingly perhaps, his production was already meeting the demands of the strikes.

Between the film itself, the crew behind it, and what it could mean for the movie industry as a whole—due to the excellent quality of the film and its runaway success—it’s easy to walk out feeling positive, ironically given the grim subject matter of the film.

A smaller production, with a smaller budget, made with heart by an indie team, or at least a team acting more like one, can and has achieved acclaim, despite Hollywood’s insistence on attempting to ignore it. Which may or may not be the reason it was temporarily removed from the Box Office online.

There have been claims that the disappearance was an error, and others saying it was a deliberate cover up, as accompanying releases (such as Melania) were not nearly as successful. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a concrete answer, and we are left to speculate.

Regardless, one thing about Iron Lung is crystal clear: the audience showed up for it, and they loved it. The small movie adaptation of a short little indie game written, starred in, and produced by some internet celebrity is giving massive productions with overstuffed budgets real competition—even getting top three in the weekly Box Office charts.

Is this a sign of things to come? Only time will really tell, but for what it’s worth to anyone passionate about it or interested in joining the movie-making industry, remember this story. This production is a great step forward for the industry. The only real question is, how many steps are left on this road?

Keep walking forward friends.