'Parasite' gets huge box office boost after Oscar win

Parasite (Credit: Neon)
Parasite (Credit: Neon)

Bong Joon Ho's Parasite has been given a huge bounce at the box office following its historic win at the Oscars.

The dark comedy thriller has returned to screen around the world, following its release last year, and made $5.5 million (£4.2 million) in the US alone over the weekend, and $8.8 million (£6.7 million) since the Oscars happened at the beginning of the month.

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It also made another $12 million (£9.2 million) internationally.

According to Variety, that's a 234% boost, and the biggest a movie has seen post-Oscars in a decade.

The figure has trumped last year's Best Picture winner, Green Book, starring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen, which saw an uptick of 121% post Oscars win.

Bong Joon Ho, left, and Kwak Sin Ae, winners of the award for best picture for "Parasite". pose in the press room at the Oscars on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2020, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
Bong Joon Ho and Kwak Sin Ae (Credit: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

That takes Parasite up to $44 million in total in the US, and, in all, a current total of $204 million (£184 million) worldwide, having been given a worldwide theatrical re-release, an impressive haul considering its tiny $11 million production budget.

Read more: Parasite explained

The movie was the first foreign language movie in the history of the Oscars to win Best Picture, beating competiton from Sam Mendes' war thriller 1917 and Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood.

As well as winning Best Picture, it swept the board, also wining Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature.