Blue Dragon Film Awards highlight glimmers of hope amid industry slump

Despite Korea's ongoing box office slump, the 46th Blue Dragon Film Awards offered a blueprint for survival, proving that a mix of fresh webtoon adaptations and top-tier artistic talent can still captivate audiences. Held on Wednesday night, the Blue Dragon Film Awards are widely regarded as being among Korea’s most prestigious film honors. The clearest sign of a breakthrough came from Naver Webtoon's video subsidiary Studio N as the studio’s film "My Daughter is a Zombie" secured the Audience Choice Award for Most Popular Film, proving that powerful original content is showing a new direction for the industry's future. Based on the popular 2018 webtoon by Lee Yun-chang, the film has drawn 5.63 million viewers, becoming the most-watched film in 2025. The film was lauded as a well-balanced family movie that effectively used the original work's blend of dark comedy, family love and humanity. Studio N CEO Kwon Mi-kyung emphasized the forward-looking strategy behind the hit. "This award shows the power of our original stories. It proves we found the right balance between the webtoon's imaWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Korea Times