In China, an animated film became a hit thanks to a wave of “hate-watching”
The Chinese animated film *Niu Lai* (“The Arrival of the Ox”) saw a sharp increase in box office receipts after memes about its poor quality began circulating on social media. The film, which was released on August 5, grossed only 3,420 yuan on opening day, but its audience grew significantly over the next ten days, according to the South China Morning Post.
On Saturday, the film’s box office receipts reached 717,000 yuan, and by Monday, they had exceeded 11 million yuan. Based on its total box office receipts, the film has entered the top ten animated films in China’s domestic market this year.
The film was criticized for its confusing plot, crude animation, and voice acting. The Beijing News described the animation as stiff and appearing to have technical glitches. The bull characters in the film look like multicolored blocks and have almost human smiles.
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At first, users posted memes about the film, but later, interest in it grew into demand for screenings. In just one day, the number of screenings nationwide increased from 21 to 359. According to media reports, some moviegoers went to theaters specifically to see for themselves just how bad the film really is.
The story behind the making of *Niu Lai* also drew additional attention. Two people worked on it—self-taught director Xin Yumen and his mother, Sun Lifang. Xin handled nearly all key production roles, while Sun wrote the screenplay, provided the voiceover, and sang the song for the end credits. They spent five years working on the 86-minute film, creating it frame by frame on a home computer without a professional crew or outside contractors.
Director Liu Bin, commenting on the film’s success, wrote that many people came not for the movie itself, but for the memes and short video clips. In his opinion, for part of the audience, it didn’t matter whether Niu Lai could be considered a full-fledged film.
