An animated film, initially ridiculed for its poor quality, has experienced a dramatic box office turnaround after going viral online.

The movie "Niu Lai" (translated as "Bull Comes") was harshly criticized for its rough production, earning only 7,169 yuan in its first nine days of release. However, this negative attention sparked widespread curiosity, causing its screening schedule to surge from single-digit showings to 600, and its box office revenue to climb past 100,000 yuan.

According to Maoyan Professional Edition, as of August 15, the number of people interested in seeing the film had risen to 37,000, and its box office total continues to grow, currently exceeding 170,000 yuan (including pre-sales).

This summer, the domestic animated film "Niu Lai" has staged a remarkably surreal market performance. Released on August 5 with a "zero promotion" strategy, it quietly entered theaters without any trailers, marketing from the creators, or a significant online presence. The only promotional material released was a single, evocative Chinese ink-wash style poster. Initially, the film was virtually unknown.

In the early days of its release, the film's box office performance was dismal. After 10 days, cumulative box office revenue was just over 7,700 yuan, with very few viewers, setting a new low for the year for animated films in theaters. Many audience members, who had high expectations after seeing the poster, were deeply disappointed. The promised ink-wash style was absent from the actual film, replaced by rough 3D modeling with stiff character movements, frequent visual glitches, and a loose, obscure narrative, creating a huge gap between the marketing and the final product. Some viewers remarked, "It's hard to believe this is a Chinese animated film from 2026."

Unexpectedly, after a large number of netizens shared their negative reviews online, the topic trended. The film went viral on social media due to this stark contrast, with the number of people interested on Maoyan soaring to over 20,000. Many viewers, driven by curiosity, bought tickets to see the film for themselves, and several theaters responded by adding more screenings. One netizen commented, "A bad movie isn't necessarily worth watching, but if it's bad enough, I want to see what the fuss is about!" Another viewer who had seen it joked, "In an era of AI, it's commendable for someone to stick to manual animation at this level."

On August 14, "Niu Lai" had only 21 daily screenings nationwide. By August 15, that number had surged to 359, and its box office revenue jumped from over 7,000 yuan to 53,000 yuan. Reporting shows that for a midday screening at a theater in Wuhan, more than 60% of the tickets for "Niu Lai" had already been sold.

Public information reveals that the core creative team for "Niu Lai" consists of only two people. The director also handles production, voice acting, and other tasks. The production company's predecessor was a decoration engineering firm, and the company has only one insured employee, making it a very small team that produced this work.