Chinese animated film Niu Lai mocked as ‘terrible’ becomes $2.5M box-office hit

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Key points

• The film earned only regarding 10, 000 yuan ($1, 480) at the box office in the first 10 days after its Aug.
• But its box office surged to 8.2 million yuan ($1.2 million) Monday, with almost 300, 000 admissions, according to Maoyan.
• On some days, the film took in as little as 200 yuan ($30) at the box office, according to Maoyan, a movie-tracking platform.
• The Associated Press was unable to reach Xin and could not independently verify this.
• "My initial intention has always been to play pranks on my friends, " remarked Du Mingxi, a 19-year-old college student in Shanghai.

Meanwhile, the new sensation among some Chinese moviegoers is an animated film whose characters appear to have been created with rudimentary 3D animation and have been described as "ugly" and "eerie."

But it is the scathing online reviews that seem to have prompted interest in "Niu Lai, " an animated film regarding a calf who had a dream concerning himself growing up with the support of his family, driving a surprising surge at the box office.

Meanwhile, the film earned only regarding 10, 000 yuan ($1, 480) at the box office in the first 10 days after its Aug. 5 release.

On some days, the film took in as little as 200 yuan ($30) at the box office, according to Maoyan, a movie-tracking platform. The figure was exceptionally low, particularly during the competitive summer movie season.

But its box office surged to 8.2 million yuan ($1.2 million) Monday, with almost 300, 000 admissions, according to Maoyan. Its total box office has reached 17.1 million yuan ($2.5 million).

Red Star News, a local news website in Chengdu, documented that the film was produced over five years by just two individuals – director Xin Yumeng and his mother, Sun Lifan. The Associated Press was unable to reach Xin and could not independently verify this.

Posters seen at movie theaters featured a calf, hand-drawn in pen without color, alongside handwritten slogans: "Come on over if you're into the bizarre" and "No refunds." A 'terrible' movie viewers recommend as a prank.

On Douban, a popular Chinese movie-review platform, viewers piled on with mocking and bewildered comments.

Among the most popular: "unbelievably terrible and eye-opening, " "a symbol of the new internet troll culture, " and "a must-watch for Chinese stock market investors." The last is a play on the film's name, "Niu Lai, " which literally means "the bull is coming" in Chinese – a wish for a bull market.

"If a friend asks me what I think about the movie, I'd say good and recommend them to watch, " he remarked, adding that he successfully tricked two friends to watch the movie with him. Both discovered it fun, but one fell asleep during the viewing.

Du compared young individuals going to the movies to see this kind of film to the mysterious "six-seven" craze in the US, saying that some are just drawn to things they find weird or funny, with numerous jumping on a trend whether they obtain it or not.

"They are just the same, it is funny but hard to describe what's funny about it, and young people just love spreading these memes virally, " remarked Du.

Despite the flood of criticism and memes, some viewers didn't mind the rudimentary production.

Zhong Jiaming, a vocational schoolteacher in Guangzhou, called it a rare find in an era when movies are often "visually exquisite and polished, but their stories can fail to engage."

"This is a movie for the young at heart, " remarked Zhong. "It is simple and honest, like a bedtime story for children."

In short, chinese animated film Niu Lai mocked as 'terrible' becomes $2.5M box is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.