“Distribution is an integral part of the film industry; without it, a film doesn’t get seen.”
There’s been a lot of buzz recently about how OG YouTuber, Markiplier’s recent self-funded indie film, “Iron Lung,” has been breaking box office records despite independent distribution.
Typically, for a Hollywood film (or even an indie film moving through traditional Hollywood channels), about 1/3 to HALF of a film’s budget is dedicated to marketing alone – and marketing occurs not through hired staff, but through well established companies set up specifically to distribute films. Time honored, brick and mortar monuments to old Hollywood.
Iron Lung, however, broke all the rules. The only distributor? The FANS.
Director / Producer Mark Fischbach didn’t put up billboards, didn’t wheat-paste posters across urban streets, didn’t pay for broadcast air time to show off the trailer of his film.
YouTube and his passionate, dedicated fandom did all the work, leading to a $25 million worldwide box office income vs a $3 million production cost. $22 MIL profit is QUITE good.
This is unprecedented for Hollywood – not only does it show that a total Hollywood outsider can make millions of dollars profit with a theatrical release, but more importantly, this groundbreaking event has shown that independent artists do not need Hollywood’s permission or guidance to succeed.
(Another notable artist who broke barriers in a similar way was Taylor Swift – whose theatrical release of her “Eras” tour brought in 261 MIL to date, based on fan demand. She also skipped the distributor middle-man and gave her film to AMC theaters directly.)
Quickly looking back at past attempts to capitalize on the fame of internet personalities: Fred, Lilly Singh – those projects failed.
Fred Figglehorn was a silly, shrill-voiced youtube character whose videos worked best as 2 minute chunks, but Nickelodeon decided to put him in a feature length film that now sits with an astounding 0% rotten tomatoes score.
Lilly Singh was a sketch comedy YouTuber, making videos about her immigrant upbringing, but NBC tried turning her into a late night talk show host (*Note: most articles about her focus on how her show aired during pandemic lockdown. While that contributed, the core mismatch between prior content strengths and Hollywood shoe-horning was the key failure. Many articles about her downfall believed the lesson here was that YouTubers cannot translate success to traditional markets, missing the failure-point entirely).
Lifetime tried turning “offensive” sketch comedy creator Shane Dawson into a Hollywood film director, giving him a fully funded production team to compete against traditional indie filmmaker, Anna Martemucci. Controversially, Shane was dubbed the winner after a lop-sided fan vote, despite critics describing Martemucci’s film as much better quality.
Those projects were not creator driven. Instead, Hollywood tried to force them into a pre-made Hollywood molds – and failed.
We are entering a future where entertainment and storytelling have no boundaries. Where audiences become just as deeply invested in video games – or furthermore, in watching their favorite streamers play video games, building just as strong a fandom as an HBO premium TV show.
During the pandemic lockdown, when I was isolated for weeks in the epicenter of America (NYC), i started watching streamers play video games myself.
I thought it was silly at first – isn’t the fun of video games about playing them? But what I discovered went MUCH deeper than I ever expected.
What I found was storytelling. Intricate, multi-layered character-driven storytelling with high stakes, and realistic, relatable moments and relationships across multiple characters (streamers) with vastly different backgrounds, beliefs, and personalities.
It’s said in screenwriting and acting that if you want to truly develop a character and help the audience know who a character is – explore how they perform something mundane. The way Alex from A Clockwork Orange sips a glass of milk is completely different from how Carrie Bradshaw does it (Sex in the City), or Eleven from Stranger Things.
Seeing how someone reacts to losing a video game tells you infinite things about who they are as a person.
And when streamers played video games together – it was suddenly an ensemble cast!
Start watching from the POV of your favorite streamer, then see them have a funny interaction with someone new. Hop on over to that new person’s live stream, and you get to hear the private thoughts and opinions they share when muted publicly. Maybe they secretly plot against the first streamer, urging their audience “shhh! Don’t share my plan!”
Then hop back to the first streamer and type in the chat “Lily is plotting against you!” and that streamer replies aloud, “What!? Lily is plotting against me!? No way!”
It’s what Big Brother always strove to be. A bit creepy? Maybe. But the real time, ability to select cameras and interact directly with “the cast” – highly engaging! And profitable.
These streamers make more $$$ than A-List Hollywood actors. And most folks don’t even know their names. (XQC, one of the biggest streamers originating from Quebec, reportedly makes 100 million annually. Brad Pitt makes 100 MIL in a good year).
So when AI first came out and people started worrying about how Hollywood would be affected, I had long felt that a dismantling of the old guard was on the way. But I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
When I was in the weeds striving to make it in the indie film market, the job became less and less about making cool films, and more about “How do I cater to Hollywood tastes to check all the boxes just to be given a chance?”
Markiplier built his audience of 38.2M subscribers on YouTube over years and years of playing video games, where fans loved his unique personality and authentically resonated with his interests.
Success like Markiplier’s shows that the middleman isn’t necessary anymore. A guy can make a gritty horror/suspense film just because he loves it, and because his fans love it, and not because Hollywood thinks he and his audience are worthy.
In the world of AI, we are seeing an influx of storytellers from non-traditional backgrounds making waves. In a future where there is no gatekeeping, and no middleman, anyone has the potential to make the next blockbuster.
And in the AI space, there’s a lot of hype each time a new tool comes out, where influencers shout, “HOLLYWOOD IS TERRIFIED OF [latest technology]!!!”
In fact, Hollywood does not feel threatened by new technology. Hollywood is run by producers who follow profits – new tech means new possibilities!
Hollywood feels threatened by independent creators.
On Sunday, Feb 1, 2026, official box office charts removed the listing for “Iron Lung” completely, just as it was about to hit #1.
After fan backlash, they re-listed it.
[Honorable mention goes to lesser known philosophy influencer, American Baron (1.3M followers on Instagram), who also self-funded a feature length film “Two Sleepy People” with fan-driven grassroots distribution, which has seen modest success as well during the past month.]
