Movie that went viral for terrible animation becomes China box office hit
Niu Lai's confusing plot and laughable animation quality has won ironic fans on the internet.
A low-budget animated film, "Niu Lai," has unexpectedly become a box office hit in China, despite — or perhaps because of — its widely criticized poor animation and convoluted plot.
The movie, which centers on a cow in a dream sequence, initially struggled, earning only 7,705 yuan ($1,140; £843) in its first ten days. However, it has since seen a dramatic surge in ticket sales, now grossing over 11.4 million yuan, according to the movie tracking site Mao Yan. This places it in competition with major Hollywood productions like "The Odyssey" and "Spider-Man: Brand New Day."
A popular social media post about the film humorously stated, "You may regret for 80 minutes if you watch it, but if you don't, you'll regret it for life."
Some social media users are championing "Niu Lai" as an antidote to the prevalence of AI-generated content online. They are sharing clips and commending the film's "hand-crafted" approach – a nod to its low-quality animation – as "proof" that artificial intelligence was not used in its creation. A Weibo user commented, "That's some serious craftsmanship," while another described it as "pure handmade" and the biggest "dark horse" of the summer movie season.
Others are supporting the film in hopes of a "bullish" stock market. One Weibo user wrote, "If the index reaches 4,000 tomorrow I will go to the cinema to support this movie." Another comment, linking the film to stock investments, noted, "It is a terrible movie but has a great name."
"Niu Lai" was a low-budget, low-profile production from its inception, receiving almost no pre-release publicity earlier this month. Its newfound popularity has led cinemas to add more screenings to meet the surging demand. A Weibo account dedicated to tracking movies remarked, "This record is unprecedented and will likely remain so."
However, not everyone is celebrating its unexpected success. Over the weekend, a commentary from the state-owned Beijing News cautioned that cinemas risk "losing the trust" of viewers if they "continue to lower their standard" by adding more screenings of "Niu Lai." The commentary, referencing previous films criticized for poor quality, stated that "Niu Lai" has "once again lowered the bar for audiences' expectations of poorly made films." It urged cinemas to "act as gatekeepers for the audience, and clearly reject films that are obviously not up to standard instead of letting films like Niu Lai run rampant."