The Korean zombie comedy "My Daughter is a Zombie" has achieved remarkable success at the domestic box office, maintaining the number one position for 18 consecutive days since its July 30 release. The film has attracted an impressive 4.31 million viewers and generated 40.8 billion won (approximately $29,400) in revenue through Sunday, according to official data from the Korean Film Council.

The webtoon adaptation reached a significant milestone during the Liberation Day holiday weekend on August 15, becoming the first film of 2025 to cross the 4 million admission mark. This achievement has propelled the movie past major competitors, including "Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning" with 3.36 million admissions and the Korean crime thriller "Yadang: The Snitch" with 3.38 million viewers, securing its position as the year's top-performing film.

Based on a popular webtoon of the same name, the comedy-drama tells the touching story of a single father desperately trying to protect his teenage daughter who has been transformed into a zombie. The film features an impressive cast led by Jo Jung-seok, alongside established actors Lee Jung-eun and Cho Yeo-jeong, as well as newcomer Choi Yu-ri. The project was directed by Pil Gam-sung, known for his previous work on "The Hostage."

The film's extraordinary performance provides a much-needed boost to the Korean entertainment industry during what has been described as a historically challenging year for domestic theaters. According to the Korean Film Council's midyear report, box office revenue plummeted by 33 percent in the first half of 2025, with no single film managing to break the traditional 10 million admission threshold that typically indicates mega-hit status.

A significant factor contributing to the film's momentum has been the government's strategic 6,000 won ticket discount program, which launched on July 25. These promotional coupons, limited to two per person and valid through September 2, created such high demand that they caused a rush on theater websites and mobile applications as soon as they became available to the public.

The discount program has also benefited other films, most notably "F1," the Brad Pitt-led racing drama that originally opened on June 25. This Hollywood production experienced an unusual late surge in popularity, reaching 4.1 million admissions by Saturday and climbing to second place for the year, demonstrating the program's broad impact on theater attendance.

"My Daughter is a Zombie" has earned particular praise for successfully satisfying fans of its original source material, an accomplishment that many other webtoon adaptations have failed to achieve. Viewers have specifically commended the film's careful attention to beloved details from the original webtoon, including grandmother Bam-soon's distinctive yellow vest and traditional topknot hairstyle, as well as the family's scene-stealing cat that captured audiences' hearts. While the filmmakers chose to create a more optimistic ending compared to the webtoon's tragic conclusion, they successfully preserved the central emotional core of the father-daughter relationship that made the original story so compelling.

This positive reception stands in stark contrast to "Omniscient Reader: The Prophecy," another high-profile webtoon adaptation that opened just one week earlier on July 23. Despite its massive 30 billion won production budget and star-studded cast featuring popular actors Lee Min-ho and Jisoo, the fantasy epic managed to attract only slightly over 1 million viewers. The film faced significant backlash from devoted fans who felt the adaptation strayed too far from its beloved source material, with critics specifically pointing to its overly compressed storyline and poorly altered character development as fundamental flaws that undermined the original work's appeal.