Two very unusual films were released last weekend. One you will have absolutely heard of: Melania, the soft-focus hagiocumentary of the US first lady, which was plonked into thousands and thousands of often entirely empty cinemas across the globe by Amazon and Jeff Bezos in what is widely perceived as a favour-currier to the White House. Melania’s $7m takings in the US were marginally better than forecasted (and far ahead of the risible numbers for the film elsewhere) but, given the documentary’s vast cost, still represents a dramatic loss (especially if the rumour that Amazon paid for the film to be in some cinemas is true). Then again, this was a rare multimillion dollar film where the primary marker of success was probably not financial.
The other unusual film released last weekend you are less likely to have heard of, even though it dwarfed Melania’s takings. Adapted from a video game of the same name, Iron Lung is a grimy post-apocalyptic sci-fi horror in which a convict has to pilot a rusty submarine through an ocean of human blood on a distant planet. That peculiar plotline isn’t the most unusual thing about the film, though. No, what’s really remarkable is that Iron Lung came close to topping the US box office, earning $17m in its opening weekend, despite being entirely self-financed by an American YouTuber.
