Who says theatrical is dead?
Despite Bong Joon Ho’s historic Best Picture Oscar winner Parasite already being available on DVD and SVOD, there’s a huge appetite among moviegoers following Sunday’s awards ceremony to watch it on the big screen this weekend. As of EOD Monday, advance ticket sales for Parasite had jumped 443% week over week on Fandango (February 3-10). Meanwhile, Parasite rentals and purchases on its streaming service FandangoNow are up 468% week over week.
Distributor NEON is expanding Parasite to north of 2,000 screens this weekend after winning Oscars for not only Best Picture but International Film, Director and Original Screenplay as well.
On Monday Parasite grossed $539K at 1,060 theaters, repping a 24% jump from Sunday’s take. The running domestic cume now stands at $36M. Box office sources believe that the movie eventually will get to $45M and become the fourth-highest-grossing foreign-language release of all-time behind Sony Pictures Classics’ four-time Oscar winner Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon ($128.1M, 2000), Miramax’s three-time Oscar winner Life Is Beautiful ($57.2M, 1997), and Miramax’s Hero ($53.7M, 2002) (Editor’s note, we’re not counting Mel Gibson’s U.S. releases The Passion of the Christ or Apocalypto; these rankings are for foreign-language film imports at the domestic box office.)
Global box office for Parasite is currently stands at $170.5M (updated) with 43% of that coming from Bong’s home of South Korea ($73.4M).
On Monday, Parasite was the No. 3 title in Fandango’s daily ticket sales and the top streaming title on FandangoNow.
In a Fandango survey of Oscar watchers, 73% said they would watch or rewatch a movie after it wins an Academy Award. In the same poll, a majority of the fans (54%) claimed the multiple Parasite wins represented the “happiest surprise” of Oscar night.
“Parasite is seeing a remarkable uptick in sales on Fandango and on FandangoNow,” Fandango Managing Editor Erik Davis said. “Moviegoers who haven’t seen the movie yet are anxious to discover it on the big screen or at home, while fans who have already seen Parasite are ready to re-watch Bong Joon Ho’s masterpiece to unpack its many layers.”