Director Bong Joon ho‘s black comedy “Parasite” is expected to set new records at the box office after it swept Academy Awards on Sunday.
U.S. distributor Neon decided to boost the number of movie theaters showing the film to 2,000 this weekend. Since premiering in just three cinemas last October in Los Angeles and New York, “Parasite” was being shown in 1,060 theaters before the Oscars, which have given it an even stronger boost despite its “R” rating.
According to U.S. movie ticket-tracking website Box Office Mojo, cumulative revenues of “Parasite” in North America stand at US$35.53 million, the sixth most successful foreign-language film of all time there. But entertainment news website Deadline predicts that this will rise to $45 million thanks to the Oscars triumph, rising to fourth place.
The top-grossing foreign-language film in the U.S. was kung fu spectacular “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” ($128 million), followed by Italian concentration camp comedy “Life is Beautiful” ($57.2 million) and Hero, another martial arts caper ($53.7 million).
Interest is also surging in the U.K., where it is being screened in 1,554 theaters after winning two British Academy awards earlier this month, the most for an Asian film, and now the number of screens is expected to quadruple.
At one theater in London, tickets for the movie were sold out before the six o’clock screening on Tuesday. The CEO of U.K. theater chain Curzon, Philip Knatchbull, tweeted, “I hope this expansion meets the unprecedented demand we have experienced. “Parasite” set for 200% screen boost in the U.K”.
Worldwide “Parasite” is screening in 67 countries and rising. Global box office receipts so far total $165.4 million.
“Parasite” is also scheduled to drop on various streaming platforms such as Viu around Asia on February 15.
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