Sam Raimi's film "Boy Kills World" confidently surpassed blogger Mark Fischbach's "Iron Lung" in box office revenue but lost in the battle for audience attention.
Deadline drew attention to an interesting situation in the American box office. The adaptation of the horror film Iron Lung, created by blogger Markiplier based on David Szymanski's game, was inferior to Sam Raimi's film "Boy Kills World" in terms of box office revenue, but surpassed it in the number of tickets sold.
According to the EntTelligence analytical platform, Iron Lung attracted about 1.9 million viewers in a week, while "Boy Kills World" attracted 1.7 million. At the same time, Raimi's film was the formal winner in terms of revenue: $19.1 million for the weekend and $25.8 million for the week, compared to $18.2 million for Iron Lung.
The reason for the discrepancy is quite simple. Sam Raimi's film was actively shown in premium formats — IMAX and other halls with higher ticket prices. As a result, the average ticket price for "Boy Kills World" was $14.43, while for Iron Lung it was $12.86. In other words, the studio horror film made more money, but the independent project brought more viewers to theaters.
For a film with a budget of less than $3 million and a limited release, this is a particularly significant result. It clearly demonstrates that an independent project is capable of imposing a struggle on studio cinema, and at the same time emphasizes the role of personal branding in promoting projects.
