With almost thirty-eight million subscribers, YouTube superstar Markiplier has announced that he is preparing for his first feature film, Iron Lung. The film is set to hit U.S. theaters in late January 2026 and will be completely self-financed. The project marks the directorial debut of Markiplier, whose real name is Mark Fischbach. Beyond producing the film, he also served as its writer, director, editor, and lead actor — and is personally managing the film’s distribution.
The movie will be an adaptation of a 2022 indie horror video game created by David Szymanski. Markiplier revealed in an April 2023 YouTube update that although filming had been completed, the post-production process and preparations for a theatrical release had pushed the project back. The whole process took almost three years. Now, he is hopeful for an opening weekend of January 30th. The film is set to release across 50–100 independent theaters across America. Tickets will go on sale Friday alongside the film’s Los Angeles premiere at the iconic Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Downtown. The film is likely to hit streaming services in 2026; however, details have not yet been finalized.
The cast includes Caroline Rose Kaplan, Troy Baker, and Elsie Lovelock. From the trailer, the film centers around an unnamed convict who is forced inside a submarine and sent to the “ocean of blood” in an isolated area, with a mission, a high-risk expedition that means freedom if successful. Markiplier describes its sci-fi apocalyptic setting: “The stars are gone. The planets have disappeared… This will be the 13th expedition.”
In a statement to Variety, he said people who were skeptical told him that making a movie solo would be “woefully unwise,” adding, “Showed them. My bathroom might be a render farm now, but I can’t wait for people to see the blood, sweat, blood, tears, blood and blood that went into this movie.” He even claims the film “holds a world record for most blood in a horror movie.”
Watch the trailer here:
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