Good morning.  No one tell the east coast, but Punxsutawney Phil (the famed groundhog) saw his shadow this morning, declaring six more weeks of winter. Your resident SoCal Publish writers will do our best not to rub in today’s high of 77 degrees.

— Hannah Doyle & Syd Cohen

Want the No. 1 movie in America? Start with 38 million YouTube subscribers.

Gaming creator Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach’s directorial debut, Iron Lung, earned over $21 million in its box office premiere this weekend, $9 million of which came from opening night. It was the highest grossing movie in America on Friday. 

How he got here: Fischbach adapted the Iron Lung sci-fi horror video game with the help of the game’s creator, David Szymanski. Fischbach self-financed the project for around $3 million, then wrote, directed, and starred in the film.

Here are three big learnings from Markiplier’s big win:

1️⃣ Theatrical distribution still has a place in creator filmmaking: “You can have all the internet numbers you want, but there’s something about the silver screen,” Fischbach said on The Town with Michael Belloni. “That is sacred still to this day.”

Fischbach initially expected to screen the film in 50 theaters—he ended up opening globally in 4,105 theaters over the weekend.

2️⃣ Marketing looks different when you’re huge on YouTube: Fischbach had no traditional marketing budget for Iron Lung, promoting the film exclusively across socials. Fischbach has shared insights into the process of making the film with his audience for over two years.

And in terms of ROI? Fischbach takes home a little under half of the film’s gross, with half going to production and distribution partner Centurion and a small cut going to his distributor and booker. But Fischbach confirmed he’s already made a profit from Iron Lung.

3️⃣ Creative control can mean everything: Fischbach said Iron Lung worked because he had full creative control, something he noted might not have been possible had he signed a deal with a YouTube competitor (like Netflix).

“[YouTube creates] the sandbox for us to work in and they have guard rails for the rules, but for the most part, we’re on our own and we’re not beholden to anyone,” Fischbach told Belloni. “That’s why I have the audacity to do this movie thing in the first place.”

As US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) increases deportations across America, creators are mobilizing their audiences to build community and gather resources.

Here’s what we saw this weekend →

Creators for Peace, a humanitarian aid group of 30+ creators, has launched Creators Against ICE, a $100K fundraising campaign for the National Immigration Law Center. So far, the group has raised $61K in donations from fans and creators including Jacksepticeye, Trisha Paytas, and Nicole Rafiee. “There is no wrong answer,” Creators for Peace director Hassan Khadair told us. “You have a platform to thousands, hundreds, millions—whatever it is. This is an important moment to make your stances very clear and support wherever you can.” 

Political streamer Hasan Piker was banned from Twitch following comments about ICE, so he switched to YouTube to livestream Friday’s Los Angeles protest alongside LA mayoral candidate Rae Huang. His eight-hour stream hit 100K viewers in less than 20 minutes and peaked at 146K.

Political creator Grace Weinstein reported on the Gen Z and Gen Alpha attendees that “made up the plurality of the rally” at protests in NYC. 

“Young people crave material impact,” Weinstein told us. “Of course money talks, but if you’re 15 without any money of your own, what other option do you have than protest?"

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The final boss of “dead internet theory” is here in the form of Moltbook, an AI-only social platform where humans are only allowed to observe.

How we got here: Matt Schlicht, CEO of consumer AI company Octane, launched Moltbook (a social network built exclusively for AI agents) last week with heavy inspiration from other message board platforms like Reddit. 

And posts are…interesting. Top threads on the site can range from crypto schemes to AI world domination, while others are surprisingly self-aware.