Parasite made history on Monday. It was the first ever foreign-language film in the 92-year history of the Academy Awards to take home the Oscar for best picture. And its accolades didn't stop there. The South Korean film also won the best director for Bong Joon-ho, best international feature film and best original screenplay Oscars.
By winning four Oscars, the film has got a big global breakthrough. In fact, the movie is still in theatres. The film is currently on in over 40 screens in the country, a rare feat for a South Korean movie.
Distributor Ashwani Sharma managed to win the release rights for the Indian subcontinent after the film’s Palm d’Or win at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.
In Kochi, the film is currently being screened in PVR, Lulu. Though the movie fetched good responses at International Film Festival of Kerala 2019, it got little reception in Kerala theatres, according to Ashwani.
“I was disappointed in Kerala and Kolkata. We got tremendous response to our promotions from Kerala but it didn’t turn into audiences showing up in theatres. I also expected better from Kolkata, given the perception of the city, but it didn’t quite work there,” he was quoted by Huffington Post.
Will Oscars help?
But looks like there is a change in the mood post the Oscar ceremony. After Parasite won the award, there was quite a rush at PVR in Lulu, Kochi. A representative at PVR told Onmanorama, “There are just two evening shows as of now. But yesterday, there was quite good number and looks bookings are on the way for the week ahead. With a couple of films re-releasing this weekend, we assume that Parasite will take a grip.”
The representative said if more people turned up this weekend, there are chances of number shows to be increased.
At a time when streaming services are giving a tough competition to all in awards season, Hollywood studios are taking all efforts to sell more tickets.
Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, which has become an award-season favourite, will be re-released in India on February 14 by Sony Pictures Entertainment India.
Joaquin Phoenix-starrer Joker will also re-release in India on February 14.
Will Parasite also join the re-release bandwagon? We will soon know.
