‘Parasite’ Is A Genuine Box Office Hit — Can It Make Oscar History Next?

Parasite isn’t just one of the best movies of the year — it’s also a box office hit.

Bong Joon-ho’s darkly comedic thriller, which you’ll want to read everything about (and then make Ram-Don), has grossed over $11 million in North America, with an expected “stateside endgame” of around $20 million, according to Deadline. That may not sound like much, not when Avengers: Endgame made over $858 million domestically and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (remember that movie?) is considered a flop because it “only” earned $110 million. But Parasite is working on a different scale, and for a foreign language film from an indie distributor (Neon), it’s doing extremely well.

“Parasite’s current haul is the year’s highest for any non-English-language film in the US,” reports the Guardian, which notes that although it won’t come close to the all-time record (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which made an insane $128 million), “the milestone is enough to seal the Palme d’Or winner’s status as an international arthouse phenomenon.” Parasite has earned an additional $103 million internationally, including Joon-ho’s native South Korea, good for a box office haul of $115 million. And counting.

So, if Parasite is a criticial and financial hit, that means it’s going to do well at the Oscars, right? About that: a South Korean film has never been nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, now called Best International Feature Film, let alone Best Picture, where it’s extremely tough for an international film to be recognized (only 11 have been nominated, including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and they all lost). But Alfonso Cuarón’s exquisite Roma made the cut earlier this year, even if it eventually lost to Green Book, and it’s possible Parasite, the “most 2019 film of 2019,” could be next.

Give Jessica the Academy Award for Best Original Song, at least.

(Via the Guardian)