Niu Lai: derided animated film challenges blockbusters at Chinese box office

A crude, low-tech animation about a cow and a skylark has become a sleeper hit in China’s box office, sitting alongside blockbusters like The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day in cinema revenue rankings.

Niu Lai, which translates to The Cow is Coming, is an 86-minute budget animation about a newborn calf and a skylark whose relationship develops over the course of an abstract dream sequence.

Released on 5 August, the film reportedly made just 7,700 yuan (£842.32) in its first ten days of screenings, with fewer than 300 people nationwide buying a ticket. It did not have any promotional tour, pre-release publicity or even a trailer.

But discussion online about how bad the film was turned it into a meme, which drove hordes of film fans to the cinema. It has now made more than 14.9m yuan, according to movie tracking site Mao Yan. That makes it one of the top-performing films of the year in a season which as also seen the release of Christopher Nolan’s epic The Odyssey released in China.

The Odyssey earned 192m yuan (£21m) across its official three-day opening weekend in China, coming in second place to the homegrown film Once Upon a Time in the Middle East, which tells the story of a Chinese chef who opens a restaurant in the Middle East as conflict erupts. The Chinese film took in 477.9m yuan between 14-16 August.

Niu Lai’s success appears to stem less from its merits and more from its “so bad it’s good” energy. Made by a team of just two people over five years, it is the antithesis of the slick, bedazzling animations that have drawn in huge crowds in China in recent years, such as Ne Zha 2. The film’s writers, directors, voice actors and producers are Xin Yumeng and Sun Lifang, who are reported to be a mother and son team.

Niu Lai’s distributor was quoted in Chinese media as saying that he had been advised against releasing the film because of its quality. But he persevered because he was a friend of the director, he said.

Some film fans have praised the shoddy animation as being a welcome tonic in the age of artificial intelligence. One user wrote on the film review website Douban: “In an era where AI is so popular, did the creative team choose a handcrafted, somewhat crude visual style to convey a sense of ‘returning to one’s true self?’”

One film industry professional, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said that Niu Lai was unique because it was “bad in every aspect imaginable, including the story, special effects and almost every element that a movie is expected to have”.

“Ironically, this is exactly what attracted audience curiosity,” he said.

Niu Lai’s success hasn’t been wholly welcomed by the film industry. Some commentators said that Niu Lai’s popularity came at the expense of higher-quality productions. The film industry professional said Niu Lai’s success “feels like an embarrassment to the Chinese film industry”.