Parasite (2019)
Comedy, Thriller, Drama
The Kernel take
Parasite's 97 Metascore (100% positive across 56 reviews) is about as close to unanimous as criticism gets, and the film backed it up commercially: a $258.4M worldwide gross on a combined $31.4M budget and marketing spend is roughly an 8.2x return for a subtitled South Korean thriller.
Director track record: Bong Joon Ho
Parasite's 97 is well above Bong Joon Ho's 78.1-point average across these films — his highest-scored credit here by a wide margin, ahead of The Host (85).
Lead track record: Song Kang-ho
Song Kang-ho's other listed roles average 68.9, topping out at The Host and Snowpiercer (85 and 84) — Parasite's 97 is a career peak, well clear of everything else on his list.
Box office
Budget $11.4M · Marketing $20M · Box office $258.4M
Parasite's numbers run backwards from a typical wide release: gross actually rose 207.6% in its second week as it expanded out of a limited platform release, and its 135.8x domestic multiplier reflects months of slow, awards-season-fueled expansion rather than one big opening weekend — one of the most unusual legs profiles in modern box office history.