Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite has been the talk of the town since gaining traction after becoming the Cannes Film Festival Palme D’or winner. The film is also one of the best-reviewed films of the year with a stellar 99% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Due to the critical notices and the sense that Parasite is a film you NEED to see, it should come as no surprise that Parasite is Bong Joon-Ho’s highest-grossing endeavor to date.
Worldwide, Parasite has grossed $106.7 million, 67% of that gross comes from a prime showing in South Korea. The film is also steadily gaining traction in the states, grossing $11.2 million to date with a potential finish in the $20 million range. The domestic take so far is Joon-Ho’s best showing here, beating the $4.6 million earned by Snowpiercer in 2013. Parasite’s worldwide running total tops Joon-Ho’s The Host ($89.4 million) and Snowpiercer ($87 million).
Parasite has gradually made it into 602 theaters by its fifth weekend in the top 175 markets and NEON is taking it week by week when it comes to the film’s expansion. Typically, most specialty distributions at this point in the awards season game like to be at their widest point during Thanksgiving week. But NEON wants to keep Parasite out there amid all the buzz as long as possible. The film is currently playing in a cross-section of multiplexes and arthouses, with solid core runs in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, DC, Seattle, Portland, OR; San Antonio, Austin, Toronto and Montreal. I’m also hearing that Parasite could end up being a bigger awards player in some key categories, which will only boost its profile.
