After Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” made history at the Oscars on Sunday night, picking up four trophies including best picture, the film has risen to the top of Apple’s iTunes and Amazon’s sales charts.
On Monday morning, the Blu-ray edition of “Parasite” stood as the overall No. 1 best-seller on Amazon’s ranking of movies and TV shows, up from the fifth spot on Feb. 9. It was followed by “Joker” (Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD); “Parasite” on DVD; and Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” on Blu-ray. On iTunes, “Parasite” also was the top movie on the U.S. best-selling movies chart, ahead of “Joker,” “Knives Out” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”
“Parasite” became the first foreign-language film to take the top prize at the Academy Awards, and it was also the first South Korean film to win the Oscar for international film. Bong also won for best director, and the film won for original screenplay (which Bong wrote with Jin Won Han).
The film explores inequality in South Korea, following an impoverished, literally basement-dwelling family posing as qualified professionals to gain long-term employment by a wealthy family. After cleaning up at the Oscars, Bong said backstage (in English), “It’s really f—ing crazy!”
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In the U.S., “Parasite” is being distributed in the home-video window by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Indie studio Neon acquired the North American rights to “Parasite” from Korea’s CJ Entertainment.
The Blu-ray and DVD release of “Parasite,” which includes a Q&A with Bong Joon Ho, came out in the U.S. on Jan. 28, 2020. The movie was released on digital HD (including in 4K) on Jan. 14.
