As if “Parasite” couldn’t get any bigger, Bong Joon Ho’s Best Picture winner will get a one-week only theatrical release on the super-sized IMAX screens, Neon and IMAX announced Thursday.
The film will open on Friday on 200 U.S. screens and 14 in Canada and will play for just one week. It will be digitally re-mastered for IMAX screens with the company’s proprietary IMAX DMR (Digital Re-Mastering) technology.
Just about everyone is trying to get a piece of “Parasite” at this point, with Neon announcing last week that the Criterion Collection would issue “Parasite” in a special edition home video release along with Bong’s 2003 film “Memories of Murder.” Prior to that, the production company behind the film, CJ Entertainment, partnered with Skydance Media in a $275 million investment.
The film also saw a boost at the box office after it won the Best Picture prize and four Oscars in all, and it has since grossed $44 million domestically, making it the fourth highest-grossing international film to ever open in America. Over Presidents Day weekend alone it earned $6.6 million from 2001 screens.
In addition to Best Picture, “Parasite” won Best Original Screenplay, Best International Film and Best Director for Bong. It became the first non-English language movie to ever win Best Picture, capping off a run that also included the Palme d’Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
The film was written and directed by Bong Joon Ho and features a SAG Ensemble Award-winning cast including his long time collaborator Song Kang Ho, Choi Woo Shik, Park So Dam, Cho Yeo Jeong, Lee Jung Eun, Lee Sun Kyun and Chang Hyae Jin.