This bizarre $1000 Chinese film was so bad it was removed from theaters, but still made almost $5 million

Chinese animated film Niu Lai became an unexpected box-office success after initially attracting very small audiences following its 5 August release. The film, reportedly made over five years by director Xin Yumeng and his mother Sun Lifan, uses rudimentary 3D animation and centres on a calf’s dream of growing up with help from its family. Online clips and reviews mocked its visual style and storytelling, but that criticism appears to have prompted curiosity-driven ticket sales and widespread sharing on Chinese social media. The reported production cost of about US$1,000 has not been independently verified by all outlets.

According to the cinema-data platform Maoyan, Niu Lai took about 10,000 yuan in its first ten days, before rapidly gaining audiences; the Associated Press reported a total of 17.1 million yuan (about US$2.5 million) by 18 August, while GamesRadar+ reported that it had later exceeded US$4 million. Some cinemas reportedly removed it from their schedules during its weak initial run or over reputational concerns, although its renewed popularity led other venues to add screenings, sometimes using hand-drawn promotional posters. The response was not uniformly derisive: while many viewers treated the film as a joke or a prank recommendation, others described its unpolished style as sincere and its story as simple rather than empty.