There's a Chinese film so bad it became a hit The absurd story of the animated film "Niu Lai"
Sometimes, to become a phenomenon, you don't need to be beautiful, perfect, or cost millions. You just need to be ugly enough to become a meme. That's exactly what's happening with Niu Lai, the Chinese animated film that, starting from virtually nothing, has become one of the most absurd cinematic stories of the summer.
How "Niu Lai" Beat the Box Office
Released in China on August 5, Niu Lai had earned just 7,705 yuan (less than a thousand euros) in its first few days. Then the internet turned it into a meme, forever changing the film's fate. Within days, Niu Lai's earnings exploded, surpassing 19 million yuan (2 million euros), while cinemas began adding screenings to meet demand.
The title, which means "The Cow Is Coming," fairly clearly sums up the film's plot: a calf journeys through a dreamlike landscape, encounters talking creatures, and gets caught up in a series of surreal adventures. All of this is accompanied by rough CGI animation, a rather muddled story, and deliberately provocative visual quality.
@straitstimes The surprise popularity of the Chinese movie Niu Lai has prompted cinemas to make their own posters to promote the viral hit. #HereComestheCow #牛来 #China original sound - The Straits Times
The film was made by Xin Yumeng and his mother Sun Lifang, director and screenwriter, who worked on it for over five years, also handling the voices, music, and animation. Xin had conceived the project in 2021, choosing an ox as the protagonist partly due to its connection with the Year of the Ox in the Chinese zodiac and with his father's birth year.
Anti-AI Imperfection Is the Future of Art
After the hand-drawn cinema posters took over the internet, Chinese fans just raised the bar—with a whole new wave of stunning, art-house-worthy posters for Niu Lai. pic.twitter.com/dQMcK59bB1
— Tong Bingxue 仝冰雪 (@tongbingxue) August 20, 2026
What is particularly striking about this story is that the film's success was not the result of any marketing strategy, given that it was promoted only through a poster featuring a stylized cow and the title characters. Niu Lai's success comes at a time when any project made without the help of artificial intelligence takes on special value. Its imperfect, ugly aesthetic is unmistakably the work of a human being, which makes it far more interesting than any film with phenomenal special effects produced by a computer. If even a truly terrible film can find such great success thanks to its imperfection, perhaps the creative industry is not really at such great risk. There is hope for everyone — even for flops.
