'My Daughter is a Zombie' smashes weekend box office"My Daughter is a Zombie," starring Jo Jung-suk, dominated the local box office on its opening weekend, data showed Monday. According to the Korean Film Council, the zombie drama attracted over 1.16 million moviegoers from Friday to Sunday, debuting at No. 1 of the weekend box-office chart. It has remained at the top since its release last Wednesday, drawing a cumulative audience of 1.86 million. It also set a new opening-day box-office record for the year. Coming in a distant second for the weekend was Brad Pitt's "F1," with 384,911 admissions. Released June 25 in Korea, the racing drama has surpassed the 3 million cumulative audience mark. The animated film "The King of Kings" and the Korean sci-fi fantasy "Omniscient Reader: The Prophet" followed, with 137,352 and 115,199 viewers, respectively.Aug 4, 2025By Yonhap
Will 'My Daughter Is a Zombie' be 2025’s 1st 10 mil. admissions hit?“My Daughter Is a Zombie,” a zombie-themed family film, is generating significant buzz as it races towards a potential 10 million admissions milestone that could make it the first movie of the year to achieve the feat. Released on July 30, the film, starring A-list star Jo Jung-suk as a devoted father whose daughter (Choi Yu-ri) turns into a zombie, has already drawn an impressive 1.45 million viewers in its first four days. According to the Korea Film Council (KOFIC), Sunday, the film attracted 478,519 fans on Saturday alone and maintained its number one spot for the fourth consecutive day. This rapid pace puts the film on par with the 2023 hit “12.12: The Day,” which eventually garnered over 13 million admissions. Distributor NEW highlighted that “My Daughter is a Zombie” achieved 1 million admissions in the shortest time among all films released this year, and its opening day figures were the highest of any Korean comedy film. The film has continued to perform well, crossing its break-even point on Tuesday, when it surpassed 2.2 million admissions. It has consistently heldAug 3, 2025By Baek Byung-yeul
'Golden' from 'KPop Demon Hunters' OST tops official British chart"Golden" from the soundtrack of Netflix's global hit animated film "KPop Demon Hunters" has soared to No. 1 on the British Official Singles Chart Top 100. According to the chart unveiled Friday (local time), "Golden" jumped four places to claim the top position in its sixth week on the chart. The Official Charts Company highlighted that Huntr/x, the fictional girl group featured in the film, became the first K-pop act to reach No. 1 in 13 years since Psy topped the chart with "Gangnam Style" in 2012. "It's 13 years since Psy's 'Gangnam Style' became the first K-Pop Number 1 in the UK, way back in October 2012, but this week represents another landmark moment for the globally dominating South Korean genre," Martin Talbot, chief executive officer of Official Charts, commented in an article published on the company's website. "Golden" also became the first song from an animation soundtrack to top the chart since "We Don't Talk About Bruno" from "Encanto" in 2022. Produced by Sony Pictures Animation, a U.S. film studio, the Netflix original film tells the story of Huntr/x, which protects theAug 2, 2025By Yonhap
Jo Jung-suk thanks BoA for her song ‘No. 1’ in ‘My Daughter Is a Zombie’Actor Jo Jung-suk expressed his gratitude to singer BoA for her support of his new film “My Daughter Is a Zombie,” revealing that her hit song “No.1” played a special role in the project. During a recent interview, Jo shared that he often listened to BoA’s music while on set. “I filmed many scenes while hearing her song,” he said, noting that the singer also posted about the film on her social media, further boosting its visibility. “My Daughter Is a Zombie” tells the story of a doting father who enters secret training to protect his daughter, the last zombie on Earth. Jo stars as Jeong-hwan, a father who travels to the seaside village of Eunbong, where his mother lives, to shield his daughter Soo-ah (played by Choi Yu-ri). Jo said the film holds a special place in his heart, and that his wife, the singer Gummy, was deeply moved by it as well. “She told me she sobbed while watching it,” he said. “When I asked what part touched her, she said the blend of humor and emotion really stood out.” “The film’s charm lies in how wit emerges just as the sadness hits,Aug 1, 2025By Hankookilbo
Movie attendance drops by 32% in 1st half: reportMovie attendance plummeted by more than 30 percent year-on-year in the first half of the year, a midyear report from the Korean Film Council showed Thursday. According to the report, total attendance from January to June was 42.5 million, generating 407.9 billion won ($293 million) in ticket sales. The figures represent a year-on-year decline of 32.5 percent in attendance and 33.2 percent in revenue. By revenue, "Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning" topped the box office, earning 32.9 billion won from an estimated 3.36 million moviegoers. It was followed by the crime-action film "Yadang: The Snitch," which was the most-watched domestic film with 3.38 million viewers but came in second in revenue with 32 billion won. Bong Joon-ho's "Mickey 17" ranked third, drawing 3.01 million moviegoers and earning 29.7 billion won. During the same period, the market share of Korean films fell to 50 percent of the total box office revenue, down by 8.8 percentage percents from a year ago.Jul 31, 2025By Yonhap
'My Daughter is a Zombie' sets opening-day record, topping 'Mission: Impossible 8'The zombie drama "My Daughter is a Zombie" has set a new opening-day box office record for the year, data showed Thursday. According to the Korean Film Council, the film, which premiered on Wednesday, sold 430,099 tickets on its first day, taking up 48.6 percent of the total box office. The tally surpassed this year's previous record held by "Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning," which opened with 423,942 ticket sales. Adapted from Lee Yoon-chang's hit Naver webtoon, "My Daughter is a Zombie" centers on Jung-hwan (Jo Jung-suk), a zookeeper who must apply his animal-taming expertise to his daughter, Soo-ah (Choi Yu-ri), after she becomes a zombie. To protect her from zombie-hunters, Jung-hwan hides her at his mother's secluded seaside home and begins a secret mission to "train" her to suppress her violent instincts. As of 3:26 p.m. Thursday, the film was leading advance ticket sales with a 36.5 percent reservation rate, well ahead of its closest competitor, Brad Pitt's racing drama "F1," which held 15 percent.Jul 31, 2025By Yonhap
‘My Daughter Is a Zombie’ director gives undead tale a warm, fantastical twistDirector Pil Gam-seong’s affection for the original webtoon “My Daughter Is a Zombie” drives the emotional and whimsical adaptation that opened in theaters Wednesday. In a recent interview, Pil said he aimed to preserve the charm of the webtoon while creating a storybook-like atmosphere. “I wanted it to feel like a fairy tale — something like, ‘In a seaside village, in a cute house with a red roof, a zombie was quietly living,’” he said. The film follows Jung-hwan (Jo Jung-suk), a doting father who enters secret training to protect his daughter Soo-ah (Choi Yu-ri), the last remaining zombie in the world. Pil recreated the family’s seaside home to evoke the warmth of a grandmother’s house during summer break, complementing the story’s emotional undertones with a soft color palette and sweeping ocean views. As a fan of the webtoon himself, Pil was committed to staying true to what he loved about the original. “There was a principle I followed: I didn’t want to change the parts that I liked. I believed other fans would feel the same way,” he said. The original crJul 31, 2025By Hankookilbo
Korean film industry eyes global audiences beyond bordersAs the Korean film industry grapples with a domestic market increasingly dominated by streaming services, production companies are aggressively pivoting toward international markets. This strategic shift aims to secure the stability of Korean cinema by broadening its global footprint and leveraging the immense popularity of Korean content worldwide. It's not simply about reaching more people. Instead, this move is a smart step to ensure big-budget productions are profitable. "We are increasingly planning films with the international market in mind from the production stage. This is because with the stagnation of the Korean market, the global market is crucial for a film to be successful these days,” an official from a local production company said on condition of anonymity. What's interesting is that this push for international success doesn't mean Korean movies are giving up their distinct Korean feel. The official emphasized that rather than diluting the unique Korean atmosphere, filmmakers find that accentuating these elements often resonates with international audiences. "Our producJul 31, 2025By Baek Byung-yeul
Director Na Hong-jin to return with sci-fi mystery 'Hope' next summerDirector Na Hong-jin's much-anticipated new film, "Hope," is slated for release next summer, distributor Plus M Entertainment, said Wednesday. The project marks his first in nearly a decade since the critically acclaimed 2016 horror mystery "The Wailing." "Hope" will reunite Na with "The Wailing" star Hwang Jung-min, who plays a police officer investigating the sudden appearance of mysterious entities in a small seaside village. The star-studded Korean cast also includes Zo In-sung and "Squid Game" star Jung Ho-yeon. Hollywood actors Michael Fassbender of "Shame" (2011) and "Steve Jobs" (2015) and Alicia Vikander, who starred in "The Danish Girl" (2015) and "Tomb Raider" (2018), are set to portray the mysterious beings at the center of the sci-fi thriller. The director said the ensemble "brought to life every aspect this film aimed to portray with the best talent and focus."Jul 30, 2025By Yonhap
REPORTER’S NOTEBOOKWhat Korea’s movie voucher craze really reveals about film industryThe buzz around the box office this summer isn't just about the latest blockbusters, it's about an unlikely intersection of government initiatives, the cinema industry and audiences. On Friday, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued 4.5 million vouchers that discount 6,000 won ($4.35) from movie ticket prices in a bid to stimulate domestic spending and revitalize the film industry, a measure that generated an immediate frenzy. The initial days saw websites overwhelmed as millions of coupons were quickly claimed on a first-come, first-serve basis. Actor Jo Jung-suk expressed how hopeful, yet careful, the movie industry felt about the government's new subsidies. With his new film “My Daughter Is a Zombie” set to open Wednesday, Jo said last week that “it felt like heaven was helping us. It’s a great start.” This surge in public interest offered a beacon for an industry that saw its audience numbers plummet from over 226 million in 2019 to a mere 59 million in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even after movie theaters reopened, the rise of streaming platforms fundamJul 29, 2025By Baek Byung-yeul
