Markiplier StudiosIn the last few years, Hollywood has witnessed the rise of the YouTube filmmaker: directors who got their start producing short-form content on the platform only to make the jump to longer narrative features. In the last six years alone we’ve gotten Talk to Me and Bring Her Back from the Philippou brothers (known online as the comedy and SFX duo RackaRacka), as well as last year’s Shelby Oaks from YouTube film critic Chris Stuckmann. 2026 has already continued the trend with the upcoming Backrooms adaptation directed by 20 year old Kane Parsons, as well as one of the highest grossing horror films of the year: Iron Lung, directed by Mark Fischbach, better known as the streamer Markiplier.Adapted from the popular video game of the same name, Iron Lung follows a convict named Simon in an apocalyptic future where a cataclysmic event named the “Quiet Rapture” caused every star in the sky, as well as most planets, to vanish into thin air. Using an aging submarine, Simon is forced to explore a literal ocean of blood on an unexplored moon, only to discover that he’s not the only living creature navigating the depths. Self-distributed by Markiplier himself, the film was a box office smash, making over $50 million on a $3 million budget and once again showing the world the power of independent film — a power that the streamer is now looking to leverage into the world of film distribution.Self-distributing a film isn’t an easy decision, but Iron Lung proved that in some cases it can be an immensely successful one. | Markiplier StudiosAs reported by Bloody Disgusting (from a video published by Markiplier himself), Fischbach is planning on handling the digital and physical distribution himself, just like he did with the film’s theatrical distribution, which was released through his own Markiplier Studios. The difference here is that he plans on creating a digital aggregator, which would allow him to host Iron Lung on YouTube’s Film and TV platform — and he wants to use that aggregator to allow other indie filmmakers to host their films on YouTube as well. As for a physical release of the film, Markiplier is handling that by himself also: he’s aiming to set up a DVD/Blu-ray machine in his home, which will be visible in future video uploads, that will autoproduce multiple copies of the movie for physical media sales.While fundraising and the actual production process is a massive hurdle for independent filmmakers, it’s not the only hurdle: finding a company willing to distribute a project is a separate battle in and of itself, and oftentimes films that are fully finished still take time to be released because of a lack of distribution, if they’re ever released at all. Not only would Markiplier’s plan make Iron Lung accessible to watch for fans who didn’t catch it in theaters, but it would also blow open the doors that gatekeep filmmaking to Hollywood and allow other artists a chance for their projects to find an audience outside the regular distribution system. The plan hasn’t gone through fully just yet (according to Fischbach he’s in the final stages of talks with YouTube), but if it does succeed it’ll certainly mark a radical shift in the mechanics of the film industry.There is no set VOD or Blu-ray release date yet for Iron Lung.