'Parasite' Crosses $50 Million At The U.S. Box Office, Sets Sights On Passing 'Hero' And 'Life Is Beautiful'

Parasite keeps on climbing up at the box office. Bong Joon-ho's dark satirical masterpiece has just crossed the $50 million mark at the U.S. box office, buoyed by its historic four wins at the 2020 Academy Awards. While it's not likely it will reach the top of the list of highest-grossing foreign-language films at the domestic box office (that honor remains with Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), this latest Parasite box office update puts it on track to pass a couple other foreign films on the domestic charts.

Things are looking quite peachy for the Parasite box office, as the South Korean Best Picture winner continues to gain steam at the U.S. box office following its historic Oscar win. Deadline reports that Parasite has crossed $50 million at the domestic box office, putting it on track to pass Jet Li's Hero in the #3 spot at $53.7 million, and possibly Life is Beautiful's $57.2 million box office total in the #2 spot.

Parasite had no problem passing Mexico's Instructions Not Included ($44.4 million) to become the fourth-highest-grossing foreign language/international film at the domestic box office, but won't likely get anywhere close to Ang Lee's 2000 martial arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which still holds the top spot at $128.1 million.

Soon after Parasite scored four trophies at this year's Oscar ceremony, U.S. distributor NEON expanded the movie's release to over 2,000 theaters. That along with a special IMAX run boosted the South Korean film's already-impressive box office run — its U.S. debut smashed per-theater average records back in October. The post-Oscar box office bump comes as Parasite also became available to rent at home or purchase on digital, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD, making its continued box office success even more exciting.

It's true that nothing can beat the ease of watching a movie from the comfort of your home, especially with Parasite set to make its streaming debut on Hulu in April. But why wait around for that when you can watch Parasite a second time and catch all the details that Bong layered into his fantastic film? I promise it's even more rewarding the second time around. Almost as rewarding as beating Life is Beautiful at the box office.