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Movie theaters are making a comeback of sorts—and some creators are cashing in.
Markiplier is the most high-profile example. The mega YouTuber self-financed, directed and starred in his sci-fi horror film “Iron Lung,” which debuted earlier this year and grossed more than $50 million globally.
His success is happening alongside a broader recovery at the box office. Movie ticket sales in the US generated about $2 billion in revenue between January 1 and April 7, making it the strongest start to the year since the pandemic, according to data from Box Office Mojo cited by Axios.
And it’s not just boomers or families with kids who are hitting the theaters. Two-thirds of Americans ages 18 to 29 went to the movies in the 12 months ahead of summer 2025, according to Pew Research Center, ahead of all other age groups measured.
Now, creators could bring even more young people into theaters.
Creator Camp, a production firm which started as an events business for creators, released its first movie, “Two Sleepy People,” in US theaters late last year. The romantic comedy grossed $425,000 to date, including film festival tickets, and recouped its entire production budget in less than a week.
But “Two Sleepy People” didn’t have a traditional Hollywood marketing budget to spread the word about its film. “We can’t just spray like $10 million of Meta ads,” Creator Camp’s co-founder and CEO Max Reisinger told us in a recent interview.
Instead, Creator Camp had to get creative with its marketing strategy, which included creating an interactive map where people could fill in their name, address and email. If they signed up, their names would show up during the movie credits, which also enticed those fans to show up to the theater.
Within a week, Creator Camp had roughly 20,000 emails. The team then used those email lists to show movie theaters that there was demand for their film and pinpoint specific locations. The tactic helped get the film onto an initial 30 screens and more since then.
In our interview with Reisinger, which you can watch below, he chalked up the issue movie theaters face as “more of a content problem or a marketing problem versus theaters being dead.” He also called Markiplier “the Taylor Swift of the creator economy” due to his outsized influence on the movie industry.
Even so, we don’t expect most creators to suddenly start making full-length movies for the silver screen. And part of the reason for the growth in box office revenue is increasing ticket prices. According to some estimates, the average cost of a movie ticket in the US was about $16 in 2025. In 2022, tickets cost $10.53—and that was up by 15% from 2019, per a report from The Cinema Foundation.
Plus, many of the biggest box office hits in early 2026 have been family-friendly movies or franchises like “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.” That suggests that families with kids and older adults, rather than Gen Zers, are still the most lucrative audiences for movie theaters.
For creators, that means digital media is still where viewers—and the money—really are. Reisinger said that part of the reason for releasing the movie in theaters was to show streamers that it has an audience who is willing to pay to watch the show. “Maybe a streamer will buy it,” he said, referring to “Two Sleepy People.” He added that just putting the film up on YouTube wouldn’t have been enough to convince streamers as people can access YouTube content for free.
That has also been a sticking point for Markiplier, whose real name is Mark Fischbach. In a recent YouTube livestream, Fischbach said he wanted to put a digital version of “Iron Lung” up for sale on the platform, where he has roughly 40 million subscribers. But it’s not that simple to do: He either has to work with a studio or become an aggregator, which licenses and distributes content. YouTube agreed to the latter in exchange for exclusive rights to distribute the movie, he said.
While this seems like an extreme case, it struck us that it’s potentially easier for a creator to sell a movie in physical theaters than on YouTube. On a positive note, it suggests that YouTube is more open to exclusive or original creator content than it may seem.
We’ll see if it happens.
New Media Takes Over WHCD
Even before the shooting, this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner weekend in Washington, D.C. was set to be unlike any other. And not just because it was President Trump’s first time attending while in office.
The creator economy was more prominent there than ever before. That includes events hosted by YouTube and newsletter publishers Substack and Beehiiv. Substack held its inaugural “new media party,” which Jasmine was supposed to attend until lockdown orders left her and other guests unable to enter!
Substack’s party was framed as an alternative to the main dinner, which is attended by reporters from traditional media outlets. That framing may have been deliberate: The WHCD’s executive director Steve Thomma reportedly rejected Substack’s request to buy tables, saying that independent journalists “would never be news” and “would never be invited.”
Ouch! It’s no wonder Thomma is denying the exchange. Even so, the situation is emblematic of the current state of journalism, with the old guard continuing to resist the rise of independent journalists even as more traditional reporters have taken the leap.
Still, some independent journalists and creators did post up at the Hilton hotel, where the dinner and many pre-parties are held, including Taylor Lorenz and Abi Baker, a reporter for Tara Palmeri’s “The Red Letter” newsletter. Some provided real-time reporting on the events as they unfolded. Others, including news-focused creator Aaron Parnas, documented their experiences from inside the Substack party.
While people at the dinner were understandably shaken by the events, others in D.C. were mostly just frustrated that it disrupted their festivities. But that ended up being temporary: Many events, including the annual Time Magazine after-party at the residence of the Swiss Ambassador went on as planned. Jasmine made it there, and for the most part, people seemed unperturbed by the evening’s earlier chaos. It shows just how desensitized people have become to gun violence in the US.
The Round Up
Spotify is expanding into fitness. It’s partnering with Peloton to give paid Spotify users access to more than 1,400 on-demand workout classes.
Nas Daily, a creator with about 14 million YouTube subscribers, raised $27 million in Series A funding for Nas.com, an AI platform helping creators and entrepreneurs launch e-commerce businesses, including setting up storefronts and developing ads.
Futures Music Group, an independent record label, raised $6 million in new funding to sign more artists, improve its infrastructure and expand into catalog deals, Axios reported.
Beehiiv, the newsletter publisher, rolled out new updates including the ability for writers to host free and paid webinars. Writers can also now offer paid trials, such as offering 30 days for $1, and set metered paywalls, so that people can read a few articles for free before hitting a paywall.
Amaze, a creator commerce company, launched Amaze Live, a live shopping platform that allows creators to connect their products and storefronts to sell live in multiple places, including social media platforms and other websites. We discussed how live shopping is developing in this YouTube video, embedded below.
Regulatory Woes
China is requiring Meta Platforms to unwind its acquisition of Manus, a Singapore-based AI company with Chinese founders. It’s unclear how this will play out in practice as Meta has described the two teams as “deeply integrated,” according to the New York Times. The move could discourage other Chinese founders from teaming up with foreign partners.
The UK government said it would implement restrictions for those under 16 on social media even if it doesn’t move forward with a ban. Reuters put together a handy summary of how countries around the world are approaching teen bans following Australia’s landmark ban in December.
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Creator Moves
Oprah Winfrey is bringing her podcast, book club and old episodes of her talk show “The Oprah Winfrey Show” to Amazon in an exclusive multi-year deal. Beginning in July, Amazon’s Wondery will distribute her podcast across Amazon services, including Prime Video, Fire TV channels and Audible. Notably, the podcast will still be available on YouTube and on other podcasting services.
Emma Chamberlain, a creator and founder of Chamberlain Coffee, announced that she is taking an “indefinite break” from her podcast “Anything Goes.” Read more about why some podcasters are ditching their shows here.
Brigette Pheloung, a fashion influencer who uses the handle @acquired.style, generated buzz on social media over the weekend after smart beauty mirror company Swan Beauty sponsored her lavish bachelorette in St. Barths. The trip included transportation via a customized private jet. The move shows how brand trips can still be an effective marketing tactic, even as more brands have opted to host IRL events with creators instead.
Łatwogang, a streamer in Poland, raised more than £50 million ($67 million) for children battling cancer during a nine-day, nonstop livestream on YouTube. Read more about livestreaming’s recent resurgence here.
Talent Tracker
Rema Vasan, the head of North America business marketing at TikTok, is the latest marketing executive to leave the company recently. She hasn’t yet announced next steps. Other recent senior exits include Khartoon Weiss and Jorge Ruiz.
Resh Sidhu joined Adobe as vice president of creative. Most recently, she was Snap’s senior global director for Specs, developer marketing and its innovation studio.
Callie Schweitzer is now the head of content at Good Inside, creator Dr. Becky’s parenting platform, where she will oversee content, community and production teams. Most recently, Schweitzer spent more than five years at LinkedIn, including as head of creator programs and premium content. Her hiring comes as more creators bring on senior executives to help them grow their businesses. See our timeline here.
Jayda Nalamlieng was promoted to director of influencer partnerships at VaynerMedia, founded by Gary Vaynerchuk.
