{"slug": "movie-that-went-viral-for-terrible-animation-becomes-china-box-office-hit", "title": "Movie that went viral for terrible animation becomes China box office hit", "summary": "Niu Lai, a low-budget Chinese animation film, grossed 11.4 million yuan after going viral for its poor animation and confusing plot, up from 7,705 yuan in its first 10 days, according to movie tracking site Mao Yan. Social media users praised the film as 'hand-crafted' proof against AI slop, while state-owned Beijing News warned cinemas risk losing viewer trust by adding screenings.", "body_md": "# Movie that went viral for terrible animation becomes China box office hit\n\nIt's so bad, it's become a box office hit.\n\nNiu Lai, a low-budget animation film about a cow in a dream sequence has seen a huge jump in ticket sales after going viral for its confusing plot and terrible graphics.\n\nIt grossed just 7,705 yuan ($1,140; £843) in the first 10 days after its release, but has now made more than 11.4 million yuan, according to movie tracking site Mao Yan. That means it is holding ground against Hollywood blockbusters like The Odyssey and Spider Man: Brand New Day.\n\n\"You may regret for 80 minutes if you watch it, but if you don't, you'll regret it for life,\" one popular social media post about the film said.\n\nOther social media users have hailed the movie as the antidote to the AI slop that is taking over social media algorithms.\n\nThey are sharing clips praising Niu Lai's \"hand-crafted\" method - a reference to the poor animation quality - as \"proof\" that its creators did not use AI.\n\n\"That's some serious craftsmanship,\" a Weibo user wrote.\n\nAnother social media user called it \"pure handmade\" and the biggest \"dark horse\" of the summer movie season.\n\nOthers say they are rooting for the movie because they desperately hope for a \"bullish\" stock market - a reference to the fact that the words \"bull\" and \"cow\" share the same character in Chinese.\n\n\"If the index reaches 4,000 tomorrow I will go to the cinema to support this movie,\" one Weibo user wrote.\n\n\"It is a terrible movie but has a great name,\" another comment linking the movie to stock investments said.\n\nNiu Lai was a low-budget, lowkey production from the outset, and had received almost no publicity before its release earlier this month.\n\nBut now it has proved so popular that cinemas have added screenings of the film in response to the soaring demand.\n\nBut given that it does not even have a proper promotional poster, cinema staff have resorted to drawing their own posters to entice audiences to watch.\n\n\"This record is unprecedented and will likely remain so,\" a Weibo account dedicated to tracking movies noted.\n\nBut not everyone is celebrating its unexpected success. Over the weekend, a commentary by state-owned Beijing News warned that cinemas risk \"losing the trust\" of viewers if they \"continue to lower their standard\" with additional screenings of Niu Lai.\n\nMentioning previous movies that had been mocked for poor quality, Niu Lai has \"once again lowered the bar for audiences' expectations of poorly made films\", reads a commentary by state-owned Beijing News.\n\nIt 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\".", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/movie-that-went-viral-for-terrible-animation-becomes-china-box-office-hit", "canonical_source": "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g4r0mrmlpo", "published_at": "2026-08-17 20:14:57+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-17 20:41:55.513610+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "generative-ai"], "entities": ["Niu Lai", "Mao Yan", "Beijing News", "Weibo"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/movie-that-went-viral-for-terrible-animation-becomes-china-box-office-hit", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/movie-that-went-viral-for-terrible-animation-becomes-china-box-office-hit.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/movie-that-went-viral-for-terrible-animation-becomes-china-box-office-hit.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/movie-that-went-viral-for-terrible-animation-becomes-china-box-office-hit.jsonld"}}