{"slug": "chinese-animated-movie-branded-worse-than-ai-goes-viral-after-just-200-people-it", "title": "Chinese animated movie branded “worse than AI” goes viral after just 200 people see it", "summary": "Chinese animated film 'Niu Lai' (Here Comes the Ox), directed by Xin Yumeng and written by Sun Lifang, went viral after earning only 7,159 yuan (about $1,000) in its first nine days, with roughly 200 viewers. Critics branded its animation 'worse than AI,' but the viral attention boosted its earnings to 46,000 yuan on August 15 alone.", "body_md": "A Chinese movie has gone viral for making almost no money following its release, and for its animation that viewers have branded “worse than AI”.\n\nNiu Lai, which translates to Here Comes the Ox, is an animated feature film directed by Xin Yumeng and written by Sun Lifang, who also served as the only crew members and voice actors.\n\nThe film released in China on August 5, with next to no marketing. Nine days on, its box office stood at 7,159 yuan (roughly $1,000), with around two hundred people having seen it.\n\n## It became viral after the criticism it received\n\nAccording to [Vocal](https://vocal.media/geeks/the-1000-movie-that-broke-chinas-film-industry), the only marketing the film had was a poster, which featured a traditional Chinese ink-wash-style painting, and a brief synopsis that led audiences to think it would be a powerful piece of Chinese cinema.\n\nHowever, they were surprised to see that the computer-generated animation, and the film as a whole, was much more crude than they had expected. Audiences noted that the character movements were jerky and occasionally clipped inside each other, while the textures were flat and smeared together.\n\nAccording to [Shanghai Daily](https://x.com/shanghaidaily/status/2088173505196236978?s=46&t=20kj6g3KiT1o8FE3drcRRQ), some viewers said it was worse than AI-generated clips. Meanwhile, other X user claimed that it still holds more value than something made by AI. One user wrote: “I will respect the most dog a** animation done by humans than the most polished animation done by AI.”\n\nRegardless, it has since gone viral and became a social media phenomenon. Thanks to the coverage it received online, it earned 46,000 yuan on August 15 alone.\n\n## Related\n\nFor more on movies, check out our coverage of [Peter Jackson having no problem with AI being used to make ](https://www.dexerto.com/tv-movies/peter-jackson-has-no-problem-with-ai-being-used-to-make-movies-3364577/), or [Netflix’s TikTok-style vertical feed](https://www.dexerto.com/tv-movies/netflix-launches-tiktok-style-vertical-feed-alongside-ai-recommendations-3353431/).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/chinese-animated-movie-branded-worse-than-ai-goes-viral-after-just-200-people-it", "canonical_source": "https://www.dexerto.com/entertainment/chinese-animated-movie-branded-worse-than-ai-goes-viral-after-just-200-people-see-it-3398718/", "published_at": "2026-08-15 16:34:07+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-15 16:41:54.161487+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["generative-ai"], "entities": ["Niu Lai", "Xin Yumeng", "Sun Lifang", "Shanghai Daily"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/chinese-animated-movie-branded-worse-than-ai-goes-viral-after-just-200-people-it", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/chinese-animated-movie-branded-worse-than-ai-goes-viral-after-just-200-people-it.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/chinese-animated-movie-branded-worse-than-ai-goes-viral-after-just-200-people-it.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/chinese-animated-movie-branded-worse-than-ai-goes-viral-after-just-200-people-it.jsonld"}}