How an indie movie distributed by a lone gamer broke the US box office

Two very unusual films opened last weekend. One was Melania, a soft-focus hagiocumentary of the US first lady that Amazon and Jeff Bezos placed in thousands of often entirely empty cinemas worldwide, an act widely seen as a favour‑currier to the White House. The documentary made $7m in the US—marginally better than forecast and far ahead of its risible numbers elsewhere—but given the film’s vast cost it still represents a dramatic loss, especially if the rumour that Amazon paid for some bookings is true; its primary marker of success was probably not financial.

The other release, far less likely to be known to casual filmgoers, was Iron Lung. Adapted from a video game, the grimy post‑apocalyptic sci‑fi horror follows a convict piloting a rusty submarine through an ocean of human blood on a distant planet. It earned $17m in its opening weekend, close to topping the US box office, despite being entirely self‑financed by an American YouTuber.

United States

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