No one expected Iron Lung to perform as it did. With only a select few theaters originally planning to show the film it seemed like Iron Lung was destined for a mediocre performance, about on par for the performance of a movie with the budget that it had.
Instead of performing this standard, Iron Lung, filmed and produced on a budget of around 3 million dollars, grossed around 17 times its budget at 50 million dollars in the box office.
What started out as a passion project for Mark Fischbach, also known by his internet alias, Markiplier, turned into a possible revival of indie, low budget film making.
In a modern film industry that is ruled by the big players in film ad media (Disney, Paramount and Warner Bros.) and their multi hundred million dollar film budgets, Iron Lung proved that the small film industry isn’t dead yet.
Iron Lung was praised for its original story, its irking horror, its claustrophobic setting and the dedicated performance by Fischbach himself. The Film was originally set to be shown in around 60 independent theatres around the US, but notice was taken by the big theatre corporations. AMC, Cinemark and Regal theaters all decided to show the movie at locations putting the project into over 1500 theatres across the US, a complete shock to Fischbach and the team.
Now the question begs to be asked. Is the era of big budget film making coming to an end? Or is this just a one off?
Other studios, such as the famous horror studio A24 have earned their fame on providing platforms for up and coming directors and storytellers. Fischbach however, did not need this platform as he had built his biggest platform through his youtube career.
Youtube/youtuber movies have historically been laughable, and have drawn heavy criticism from fans and professional critics alike. These films consistently lack depth and professional level acting according to reviewers. Fischbach’s movie drew little to almost none of this common criticism further solidifying one of Youtube’s golden boys as a successful, legitimate creator in his field.
So could the era of indie movies be coming back after a fall off during the 2010’s and onwards? Movies like Parasite, The Blair Witch Project and Napoleon Dynamite have all marked upswings in production and popularity of indie films, could this mark another?
These questions are for the American public to answer, with A24’s popularity skyrocketing in recent years with the popularity of films like Hereditary, Midsomer and the newly released highest grossing film from the studio Marty Supreme the Indie feel may be leaving.
Greatness is expected from a big budget, anything is possible with a small one. Iron Lung proves that an over-delivery makes a huge splash and motivates others to pursue film making again. Whether these films receive support is the real question.
