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Jan Komasa's Heel (aka Good Boy). Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, Anson Boon.

brundlefly wrote: Tue Jan 20, 2026 2:48 pm Jan Komasa's Heel (aka Good Boy). Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, Anson Boon.

Is this a remake of the 2023 Norwegian film by Viljar Boe? If so, it looks like it they've taken things in a vastly more obvious direction (and the original was no masterpiece).

zedz wrote: Wed Jan 21, 2026 12:50 am

brundlefly wrote: Tue Jan 20, 2026 2:48 pm Jan Komasa's Heel (aka Good Boy). Stephen Graham, Andrea Riseborough, Anson Boon.

Is this a remake of the 2023 Norwegian film by Viljar Boe? If so, it looks like it they've taken things in a vastly more obvious direction (and the original was no masterpiece).

Looks to be unrelated (to Ben Leonberg's dog POV horror film as well -- so many Good Boys in these bad times). According to the film's Wiki page, Komasa was given the (originally Polish) script by Jerzy Skolimowski back in 2019.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Kokurojo (lit. Black Prison Castle), based on the critically acclaimed historical mystery novel by Honobu Yonezawa.

I remember an interview from a few years ago where he was asked why he keeps doing so many bad movies. He answered very bluntly, saying that collecting art is an expensive hobby, and every movie he makes pays for a few more paintings.

Teasing Boots Riley's I Love Boosters.

Yuen Woo-Ping's Blades of the Guardians starring Jet Li

Gianfranco Rosi's Pompei: Below the Clouds.

Continuing the video game movie trend of the year, YouTube screamer Mark Fischbach aka Markiplier bought the rights to the 'you are a prisoner welded into a mini-submarine and tasked with a one-way trip into exploring the depths of a blood sea on a distant planet in a dying universe' game Iron Lung after playing it, and directed and starred in a film version that has apparently done quite well over the weekend.

colinr0380 wrote: Mon Feb 02, 2026 6:30 am Continuing the video game movie trend of the year, YouTube screamer Mark Fischbach aka Markiplier bought the rights to the 'you are a prisoner welded into a mini-submarine and tasked with a one-way trip into exploring the depths of a blood sea on a distant planet in a dying universe' game Iron Lung after playing it, and directed and starred in a film version that has apparently done quite well over the weekend.

A self-financed and distributed movie from a YouTuber almost coming in at number one for the weekend is insane. Surely the most popular product to ever come from anyone on the platform? It's interesting that while he's far from the first YouTuber to make a movie, seemingly he was smart enough to make one that people actually wanted to see theatrically (and which, I gather, is tied to his playing the game for viewers initially-- don't ask me, I mainly watch ManlyBadassHero for this kind of thing). I've seen him do some playthroughs and can see the appeal of making a movie where it's just him talking to himself, but still incredible business sense to turn 7X profit entirely from word of mouth to his fanbase-- you gotta think we're going to get studios going to YTers now (beyond the one we already know, kanepixels)

The 'internet to real movie' crossover that occurred a few months before this was by the easily mockable film reviewer (as in he mostly spends his time just listing the cast and crew of films in his reviews, like a real life version of the "On Cinema" guys) Chris Stuckmann putting his money where his mouth was by writing and directing Shelby Oaks. I have not seen it, but it was similarly made on a low budget and appears to have more than made its money back.

domino harvey wrote: Mon Feb 02, 2026 7:20 pm

colinr0380 wrote: Mon Feb 02, 2026 6:30 am Continuing the video game movie trend of the year, YouTube screamer Mark Fischbach aka Markiplier bought the rights to the 'you are a prisoner welded into a mini-submarine and tasked with a one-way trip into exploring the depths of a blood sea on a distant planet in a dying universe' game Iron Lung after playing it, and directed and starred in a film version that has apparently done quite well over the weekend.

A self-financed and distributed movie from a YouTuber almost coming in at number one for the weekend is insane. Surely the most popular product to ever come from anyone on the platform? It's interesting that while he's far from the first YouTuber to make a movie, seemingly he was smart enough to make one that people actually wanted to see theatrically

He's always struck me as being cannier and more technically competent (he edited this movie), business-savvy, and capable of being a public-facing celebrity than most of his ilk. (He looks better and is more personally charismatic than most other big YouTubers, and he has enough impulse control to avoid doing idiotic things like saying racial slurs on camera). His audience is also enormous, and has been since at least ten years ago. My high school girlfriend was an enormous fan of his, and was one of many people to attend a ticketed personal appearance tour that he did (and apparently completely sold out/made a lot of money from). My present partner is an equally big Critical Role fan, a product which is just about as far away from my interests as filmed media goes, but also has an enormous ecosystem, runs their own streaming service, and sells out arenas in weird places.

As to whether this is the biggest movie to come from a YouTuber, I'm unsure. He's hardly as famous, but I think Fede Álvarez might be the highest-grossing filmmaker to have started as a YouTuber, which is...not a compliment to YouTube. I remember hearing that a bunch of YouTubers basically directed all the fight scenes in Everything Everywhere All At Once.

colinr0380 wrote: Mon Feb 02, 2026 10:48 pm The 'internet to real movie' crossover that occurred a few months before this was by the easily mockable film reviewer (as in he mostly spends his time just listing the cast and crew of films in his reviews) Chris Stuckmann putting his money where his mouth was by writing and directing Shelby Oaks. I have not seen it, but it was similarly made on a low budget and appears to have more than made its money back.

This one had a troubled path to release, though. It premiered at a film festival in 2024, was bought by Neon, substantially reshot, and premiered again with different material, including a different ending, at a separate festival in 2025.

Probably should mention the Philippou brothers, who started out making youtube comedy sketches under the name Racka Racka, but have now directed two effective, very serious horror films that made a lot of money relative to their budgets. Wikipedia says Talk To Me grossed 92 million on a 4.5 million dollar budget.

And of course we have the case of Kyle Edward Ball with Skinamarink, which was a project that sort of developed out concepts explored on his "Bitesized Nightmares" channel.

I was thinking more in terms of YTers self financing movies that fit their channel/personas (really dating myself here but people like Shane Dawson or Grace Helbig), but yes, there have been a few who springboarded into larger audiences away from YT (the guy who did the creepy Lights Out short and then made a feature of it with Teresa Palmer is another one to add to your running list)

Genki Kawamura's Exit 8.

colinr0380 wrote: Mon Feb 02, 2026 6:30 am Continuing the video game movie trend of the year, YouTube screamer Mark Fischbach aka Markiplier bought the rights to the 'you are a prisoner welded into a mini-submarine and tasked with a one-way trip into exploring the depths of a blood sea on a distant planet in a dying universe' game Iron Lung after playing it, and directed and starred in a film version that has apparently done quite well over the weekend.

Iron Lung is really good. Immersive and atmospheric horror minimalistically done just like the game with basically all practical sets and effects, giving it this real, tactile feel. The super industrial soundtrack and sound design is amazing and totally puts you in a headspace of ominous dread and spiralling into madness. It just throws you in without much exposition, although it does build up some lore along the way, but it's all very abstract and quite experimental in form.

Really have to hand it to Markiplier with how he's made himself and got this movie out there, legit nailing the game to movie adaptation. It's really unlike anything else with such a wide release and was even number 1 in Australia last week.

brundlefly wrote: Thu Feb 05, 2026 5:03 pm Genki Kawamura's Exit 8.

Worth noting that this is another indie horror game adaptation. This adaptation was a massive hit in Japan.

Nadav Lapid's Yes.

Mark Jenkin's Rose of Nevada, starring Callum Turner and George Mackay.

Markus Schleinzer's Rose. With Sandra Hüller.

Sofia Coppola's documentary on Marc Jacobs, Marc by Sofia.

Daniel Goldhaber (How to Blow Up a Pipeline) reunites with Cam's Isa Mazzei for Faces of Death (NSFW). With Charlie XCX.

Ildikó Enyedi's Silent Friend. Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Léa Seydoux, Luna Wedler.

Tyler Cornack's Mermaid.