Iron Lung is a post-apocalyptic film directed by and starring none other than the famous YouTuber, Markiplier himself. Ever since the film’s release on January 30 of this year, it has gained extreme popularity amongst many Markiplier and gaming fans alike.
Even with a tight budget and cast, the man known for his infamous “Was that the bite of ‘87?!” remark was able to direct a 125-minute-long movie, star in it as the main character, and gross over $37.2 million compared to the production budget of $3 million.
Writing, directing, starring, and editing a movie are all difficult jobs in themselves. However, Mark Fischbach (Markiplier) was able to commit himself to doing all three of these tasks.
The Iron Lung movie is also not being professionally advertised by big companies. Markiplier and his team are doing the advertising themselves.
Many films and TV shows have been released in the past with otherworldly budgets, budgets that cost more than the average man’s 10-year salary, and still end up performing terribly. Budgets and production do not determine whether media is “good” or “interesting,” but rather the plot and storytelling do.
Since major production companies are not advertising the movie, only a select few theaters are actually showing the movie, so seats are extremely limited. With his main team only consisting of a handful of people and such a tight budget, fans have begun to wonder: Does a movie really have to be expensive to be good?
Freshman Bailey Burnett said, “I do not believe that movies need a high budget to be good. The main requirements, I feel, are passionate, talented people who want to come together for a common cause. Movies in the past have had millions and millions of dollars worth of budget and still turned out to be some of the worst-rated movies. On the other hand, movies that did not have the highest budget outperformed movies that did have extremely high budgets.”
Iron Lung takes place after an event called the Quiet Rapture, which causes all celestial objects in the galaxy, such as stars and planets, to mysteriously vanish, and the human population is reduced to only a handful. Simo (played by Markiplier), a convict imprisoned for involvement in the destruction of a space station, is forced to travel in a worn-down submarine (nicknamed the Iron Lung) and venture to explore a moon covered in an ocean of blood.
Simon is told that if he succeeds in his mission, he will be freed from his sentence upon his return. Little does Simon know, however, that his initial mission is about to go haywire.
Since January 30, the film has been renowned for its sublime special effects, despite the film’s budget, and for the acting by Markiplier and his team. Iron Lung was given a 6.6/10 rating on IMDb and a 61 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. For the film’s budget and limited cast, a rating as high as 6.6/10 is rather impressive, especially since the film is not being advertised to the public eye.
The movie Iron Lung is based on a game that Markiplier played a couple of years ago. Fans on IMDb have described the movie as “phenomenal for its budget” and commend the cast for their acting.
However, some viewers have contradicting opinions, claiming that “the acting is uneven,” while others state that the plot is inconsistent. Overall, fans of both the game and Markiplier have come out on social media to describe the film as truly inspiring and innovative.
Senior Makayla Matito said, “I thought the cinematography was really impressive as the scenes came out very pretty, and it was able to make a small setting unique. Overall, I thought that Iron Lung was alright, but it was definitely super slow and could get a bit boring as there wouldn’t be much happening until towards the end.”
John Carter (2012) is a movie from the early 2000s that has been deemed “Disney’s biggest disaster.” The film had a budget of over $250 million, making it an extremely expensive but terribly performing movie since it resulted in a loss of over $255 million.
John Carter is also rated as a 6.6/10 on IMDb, the same as Iron Lung. The only difference, however, is the budget and production cost. Because Iron Lung had a smaller budget, the team was able to make a movie to the best of their ability, while also maintaining reasonable costs.
Movies and TV shows do not need to have crazy multi-million dollar budgets to make a movie appealing to viewers. Movies that have small budgets can always perform similarly to movies with a rich budget, if not better.
Iron Lung by Markiplier is not only being praised by fans of Markiplier worldwide, but also by fans of the media who appreciate the movie for its worth and innovation in the film industry. By directing, writing, and editing Iron Lung with the help of his small cast, Markiplier was able to make history and money by pouring out his ideas and innovations into the movie instead of seeking money and sponsorships.