Markiplier's Horror Gem Iron Lung Hits A Box Office Milestone That's More Than 10 Times Its Budget

4 days ago 12

Marikiplier looking toward the camera while covered in goop in Iron Lung

Published Feb 7, 2026, 12:32 PM EST

Brennan Klein (he/him) is a senior news writer at Screen Rant, host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, and contributor at Alternate Ending and Horror Press. He has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror movies) for over a decade at platforms including Blumhouse, Fangoria, Dread Central, The Backlot, and Arrow in the Head.

Iron Lung is breathing rarefied air at the box office with its new milestone.

2026's Iron Lung is an adaptation of the horror video game of the same name that was self-financed, directed, and written by star Mark Fischbach, a YouTuber who is better known under the pseudonym Markiplier. It debuted on January 30 and has quickly risen to become one of the top new releases of 2026 so far.

Per Deadline, as of Saturday morning, Iron Lung is projected to end its sophomore weekend in theaters with a 3-day total of $6 million. This will push its cumulative domestic box office gross to $30.8 million.

In addition to this total making Iron Lung only the second movie of the year to pass the $30 million domestic milestone (behind Sam Raimi's Send Help), it means that the Markiplier feature will have taken just 10 days to earn back more than 10 times its reported budget of $3 million.

Additionally, because movies typically only need to earn back two and a half times their budgets in theaters in order to break even, Iron Lung's estimated break-even point is likely only $7.5 million. This is a total that it has quadrupled by hitting this domestic milestone.

Because there are a number of upcoming 2026 horror movies that come from more well-known franchises and have the backing of major studios, including Scream 7, Evil Dead Burn, and Resident Evil, it seems highly likely that Iron Lung will lose its status as one of the year's highest-grossing horror titles before long.

However, it seems highly unlikely that any of its competition will be able to pull off what the grassroots hit has done during its first 10 days at the domestic box office. These movies almost unilaterally have much bigger budgets, which will likely prevent them from drawing anywhere near earning 10 times those totals.

In fact, Iron Lung is the only one of the four horror titles currently topping the 2026 domestic box office chart to have hit this record. Send Help's reported $40 million budget would require it to earn $400 million in order to do so, while 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple would have to earn $630 million and the relatively inexpensive creature feature Primate would still have to earn roughly $200 million.

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