Terrible-Looking Film Animates the Box Office

The poster for “Niulai” offers audiences two unusually candid promises: “Come on over if you’re into the bizarre” and “No refunds.” Beside the handwritten slogans is a calf drawn in pen, without colour. Having apparently misplaced the usual marketing gloss, the film instead found a hit.

The Chinese animated movie, released on Aug. 5, 2026, has become a sensation among some moviegoers after its rudimentary 3D characters were widely described online as “ugly” and “eerie.” The scathing reviews did not keep people away. They seem to have encouraged them to buy tickets, gaze upon the spectacle for themselves and, in some cases, recommend that others share the experience.

The film follows a calf who dreams about growing up with the help of his family. Its title, “Niulai,” literally means “the bull is coming” in Chinese, a phrase expressing hope for a bull market. This supplied reviewers with one especially pointed recommendation: “a must-watch for Chinese stock market investors.” Presumably anyone accustomed to alarming charts already has the necessary visual resilience.

At first, the box office showed no sign of bullishness. “Niulai” earned only about 10,000 yuan, or $1,480, during its first 10 days in cinemas. On some days it took as little as 200 yuan, roughly $30, according to the movie-tracking platform Maoyan. That was exceptionally low, particularly during China’s competitive summer movie season.

Then the mockery began doing the advertising. By Monday, the film’s box office had surged to 8.2 million yuan, or $1.2 million, with nearly 300,000 admissions, Maoyan reported. Its total had reached 17.1 million yuan, approximately $2.5 million. The road from $30 days to a multimillion-dollar total was evidently paved with people saying how terrible the destination looked.

On Douban, a popular Chinese film-review platform, viewers piled in with comments that were mocking, baffled and oddly effective. Popular verdicts included “unbelievably terrible and eye-opening” and “a symbol of the new internet troll culture.” The film became the sort of thing people recommended as a prank, which is still a recommendation as far as the ticket counter is concerned.

Red Star News, a local news website in Chengdu, reported that “Niulai” was made over five years by only two people: director Xin Yumeng and his mother, Sun Lifan. That account could not be independently verified, and Xin could not be reached.

By Tuesday, Aug. 18, its hand-drawn promotional poster was on display among other film posters at a Beijing cinema. What happens next depends on how long curiosity, internet jokes and the prospect of seeing something “eye-opening” continue to fill seats. For now, the calf has grown up into a box-office success, helped considerably by viewers warning everyone what it looks like.