Sam Raimi's Send Help Pulls Ahead Of Markiplier's Iron Lung In Neck-And-Neck Box Office Race For #1

2 hours ago 1

Dylan O'Brien looking perturbed while covered in blood in Send Help

Published Jan 31, 2026, 11:13 AM EST

Brennan Klein (he/him) is a senior news writer at Screen Rant, host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, and contributor at Alternate Ending and Horror Press. He has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror movies) for over a decade at platforms including Blumhouse, Fangoria, Dread Central, The Backlot, and Arrow in the Head.

This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.

Send Help is winning its screaming match with Iron Lung.

The two new horror movies, which have been neck-and-neck for No. 1 this weekend, both debuted in theaters on January 30. Sam Raimi's Send Help marks the Evil Dead director's first R-rated horror movie since 2000's The Gift, while the video game adaptation Iron Lung is the feature directorial debut of writer-star Mark Fischbach, the YouTuber better known as Markiplier.

Per Deadline, as of Saturday morning, Send Help is projected to earn a 3-day opening weekend gross between $17.5 and $18.1 million at the domestic box office. This sees it pulling slightly ahead of Iron Lung, which is only projected to earn $17.1 million in its 3-day debut. While it is still too soon to tell which movie will hit No. 1, the honor will likely go to the Sam Raimi movie.

If these projections hold true, Send Help will be the third Sam Raimi movie in a row to debut at No. 1, after 2015's Oz the Great and Powerful and 2022's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. However, hitting No. 1 does not guarantee that the movie will turn a profit. Send Help's reported $40 million budget could place its estimated break-even point as high as $100 million.

While some recent horror titles with similar debuts grossed more than $100 million, including Saw X ($18.3 million debut, $125.3 million worldwide) and Longlegs ($22.4 million debut, $125.4 million worldwide), the Raimi movie will need to have strong audience retention. This could very well be the case, however, considering the fact that glowing Send Help reviews have earned it a Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score of 94%.

More to come...

Enjoy ScreenRant's box office coverage? Click below to sign up for my weekly box office newsletter (make sure to check "Box Office" in your preferences) and get exclusive analysis, predictions, and more:

Release Date January 30, 2026

Runtime 113 Minutes

Director Sam Raimi

Dylan O'Brien

Bradley Preston
Release Date January 30, 2026

Runtime 127 Minutes

Director Mark Fischbach

Cast

Mark Fischbach

Speaker #2 (Voice)