EXCLUSIVE: South Korean comedy-drama My Daughter Is A Zombie has been picked up by distributors across Asia and in North America after recording the highest opening day attendance this year at the Korea box office.
Seoul-based Contents Panda has secured sales to Japan (Klockworx), Hong Kong (Edko Films), Singapore and Malaysia (Clover Films), the Philippines (Pioneer Films), Vietnam (Mockingbird Pictures), Indonesia (PR Primacinema) and Taiwan (Movie Cloud). It has also closed a deal with K-Movie Entertainment for North America, Australia and New Zealand.
Set in the wake of a zombie outbreak, the story follows a father who takes his infected daughter to a quiet seaside village. There, he draws on his experience as a wild animal trainer to do the impossible – tame a zombie.
The father is played by Cho Jung-seok (Exit) and the cast reunites stars Lee Jung-eun and Cho Yeo-jeong from Oscar-winner Parasite. Further cast includes Yoon Kyung-ho and Choi Yu-ri, who both starred in Alienoid.
The film opened in South Korea on Wednesday (July 30), when it drew 430,095 admissions, recording the biggest opening day of 2025 and topping Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which drew 423,892 admissions on its opening day in the territory.
However, its opening day box office takings of $2.4m could not match Mission: Impossible’s $3m. This is likely because My Daughter Is A Zombie was released on Culture Day, which is the last Wednesday of the month in South Korea, when cinema tickets are half price. Mission: Impossible would have also benefited from higher ticket prices from premium Imax, 4DX and ScreenX showings.
Nevertheless, the new release outperformed 2019’s Extreme Job to become the highest opening ever for a Korean comedy. Extreme Job recorded 368,000 admissions on its opening day of January 23, 2019.
My Daughter Is A Zombie is based on a webtoon of the same name by Lee Yun-chang and marks the second feature of director Pil Gam-sung after 2021’s Hostage: Missing Celebrity. It is produced by Studio N, a co-producer on several hit series including Sweet Home and films such as Unlocked.
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