China's 'Niu Lai' Animation Goes from Box Office Flop to Viral Hit Despite Being Called 'So Bad It's Good'

Key facts

• Niu Lai is a Chinese animated film directed by Xin Yumeng, a former interior architect, with a budget of €13,000 from family savings.
• The film was made over five years with Xin's mother, who wrote the screenplay and theme song; Xin did the modeling, animation, and dubbing.
• Released on August 5, 2026, the film initially earned only ¥7,000 (about €900) in ten days, with just over 200 tickets sold.
• After social media mockery, audiences flocked to see the film; box office reached ¥18 million (€2.3 million) by August 17, 2026.
• Projections estimate total box office could reach ¥135 million (over €17 million).
• Niu Lai outperformed Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey' and the latest Spider-Man in China.
• It is among the ten most profitable Chinese films and one of the most lucrative animated films in China in 2026.
• Pengpai (via Courrier international) interpreted the success as 'resistance to the assembly-line production of digital capitalism.'
• Tatler Asia described the film as a 'celebration of human imperfection' against AI-generated content.
• Beijing News warned that such films could lower standards and cause 'loss of public trust'; the director pulled the film from theaters, with rumors of Malaysia and Singapore releases in September.