‘Parasite’ Is the Top-Grossing Foreign Film of 2019

The box office news from last weekend is straight-up peachy.

True, some of the bigger movies struggled. The Shining sequel Doctor Sleep underperformed, grossing just $14.1 million. But per Variety at least one movie is bringing in big crowds: Bong Joon-ho’s Palme d’Or winner, Parasite. After last weekend’s ticket sales, the film has made $11.2 million in the United States alone, making it the biggest foreign-language movie of 2019:

That total would make “Parasite” the highest grossing foreign-language film of the year on North American soil, overtaking the Spanish-language Mexican comedy “No Manches Frida 2,” which was released in March and grossed $9.27 million domestically.

I saw Parasite for the second time last Thursday, at the Alamo Drafthouse here in Brooklyn, New York. The Drafthouse had the movie playing in its largest auditorium, and if it wasn’t a total sell out, it was by the slimmest of margins. The movie played to laughs and gasps, and even a few shrieks. With its pitch-black humor and genuinely surprising plot twists, it has all the makings of a word-of-mouth hit. I don’t see it slowing down in theaters any time soon, especially with it poised to win all kinds of awards in the weeks and months ahead.

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