The Oscar bump for “Parasite” after its historic Best Picture victory is coming hard and fast, as ticketing sites Fandango and Atom Tickets are reporting a huge surge of ticket sales and streaming rentals from its customers.
On Tuesday, the site reported that on the day after “Parasite” became the first non-English film to win the Academy’s top prize, ticket sales for the film saw a 443% jump compared to last Monday. On the company’s online movie rental and purchase website FandangoNOW, buys and rentals of “Parasite” rose 468% week over week as the film became the top-selling title on Monday.
Meanwhile, Atom Tickets reports that “Parasite” has seen several bumps on their site throughout awards season, starting with a surge following its Best Foreign Language Film win at the Golden Globes. Following its surprise victory for Best Ensemble Cast at the SAG Awards, ticket sales on Atom doubled the week of January 20 compared to the previous week. On Monday, sales saw a week-over-week double again in the wake of the Oscars.
Films that win Best Picture at the Oscars have typically received a bump in home viewing sales in the week after the awards ceremony as well as a box office boost if they are still in theaters. Three years ago, Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight” won Best Picture after “La La Land” was mistakenly announced as the winner, the A24 drama had its strongest weekend in theaters since its limited release. “Moonlight” grossed $703,000 the week of the Oscars, followed by a $2.3 million total the weekend after as it finished with a $27.8 million North American run.
“Parasite” has enjoyed a similar surge in interest as it has stormed through Oscar season, becoming one of the highest grossing non-English films in the history of the American box office. Distributed in the U.S. by relative newcomer NEON, “Parasite” has grossed over $35 million domestically including $1.5 million last weekend from 1,061 screens. The film is expected to post a new top weekend total for its theatrical run this weekend, topping the $2.5 million it grossed from Nov. 8-10.
In addition to winning Best Picture, “Parasite” won Best International Film, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay for writer-director Bong Joon-ho and his co-writer Han Jin Won. It became the first Korean film to win the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival last summer and joins the 1955 film “Marty” as the only two films to win both the Palme and Best Picture.
The film’s win has also stoked newfound interest in Bong’s previous work among American audiences, something that FandangoNOW is trying to capitalize on with a package of films from the Korean director to rent. The package includes his 2000 debut film, the dark satire “Barking Dogs Never Bite,” along with the creature feature “The Host” and the crime drama “Mother.” Bong’s more recent films, including his first English film “Snowpiercer” and his Cannes debut “Okja,” are available to stream on Netflix.