HBO Max to Lose One of the Most Iconic Films Released in The Last Few Decades Soon

HBO Max is about to lose one of its most acclaimed films, Parasite. Director Bong Joon Ho’s 2019 Best Picture winner will stop streaming on the service on October 31, giving subscribers only a few days left to watch the Oscar-winning thriller.

Parasite, a South Korean black comedy thriller, tells the story of a poor family who gradually infiltrates a wealthy household and begins living off them in increasingly parasitic ways.

The film stars Song Kang-ho, Lee Sun-kyun, Cho Yeo-jeong, Choi Woo-shik, Park So-dam, Jang Hye-jin, Park Myung-hoon, and Lee Jung-eun. It was co-written by Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin-won, adapted from a play Bong wrote in 2013.

Bong has explained that the film was inspired by the 1960 Korean movie The Housemaid and the Christine and Léa Papin incident from the 1930s. Filming took place from May to September 2018, with cinematography by Hong Kyung-pyo, editing by Yang Jin-mo, and music by Jung Jae-il.

The film earned praise for its direction, screenplay, editing, production design, and performances. On a budget of $11.4 million, it grossed $258.1 million worldwide.

At the 92nd Academy Awards, Parasite made history as the first non-English-language film to win Best Picture. It also won Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film.

In addition, it earned the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, the BAFTA for Best Film Not in the English Language, and became the first non-English-language movie to win the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

The film continues to receive critical acclaim. In 2022, it ranked 90th in the Sight and Sound poll of the best films of all time. In 2025, The New York Times named Parasite the best movie of the 21st century so far, based on votes from readers, actors, and directors.

Fans can also look forward to an HBO limited television series based on Parasite, which is currently in early development as of February of this year.

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