How To Watch Markiplier's Iron Lung At Home

"Iron Lung," the feature-length directorial debut of YouTuber Mark Fischbach aka Markiplier, is coming home. During a panel at Cannes Film Festival moderated by Deadline, Fischbach announced that "Iron Lung" will be available to purchase exclusively on YouTube from May 31, 2026. He added that he considers YouTube his home: "I'm pretty loyal to it."

Based on the indie horror game of the same name by David Szymanski, "Iron Lung" is set in a dark future where every star and planet in the universe has mysteriously vanished, taking most of the human population with them. The only survivors are humans who dwell within manmade structures like spaceships and space stations. Following the discovery of a moon that appears to have an ocean of human blood, a convict called Simon (Fischbach) is forced to pilot a submarine through this ocean in search of clues to what caused the so-called "Quiet Rapture." Fischbach also wrote, produced, edited, and distributed the movie.

Made for just $4 million, "Iron Lung" grossed more than $50 million at the worldwide box office thanks to Markiplier's huge built-in audience of fans. Fischbach told Lemonade Stand that he used the profits to pay each member of the movie's cast and crew a bonus equivalent to their original salary. 

If you missed your chance to see "Iron Lung" in theaters, you can take a dive with Markiplier when the movie hits YouTube on May 31.

Markiplier isn't the only creative who has used YouTube success as a launchpad into the film industry — and specifically into horror movies. "Annabelle: Creation" director David F. Sandberg started out making viral horror shorts before one of them ("Lights Out") garnered enough attention to land a feature film deal. Using short films to pitch a full-length movie is a strategy that predates the YouTube era ("Saw," for example, was sold on the strength of its sizzling short), but the online platform took away a lot of the barriers to finding an audience. Instead of trying to distribute physical DVDs, filmmakers could simply upload their works for the whole world to see at once.

Other recent success stories include the Australian YouTube duo RackaRacka, comprised of twins Danny and Michael Philippou, who came out swinging with 2022 ghost horror "Talk to Me" and followed it up with last year's possession chiller "Bring Her Back." And a couple of days before the home release of "Iron Lung," Kane Parsons will bring his horror webseries "Backrooms" to the big screen in a movie starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve.

This trend can only be expected to continue if YouTubers keep serving up horror hits at the box office.