Chinese Animated Film Niulai Becomes Viral as Box-Office Hit

A crudely animated Chinese film mocked online as "ugly" and "eerie" has unexpectedly become a box-office sensation with driven largely by viral mockery rather than praise.

"Niulai" an animated story about a calf dreaming of growing up with his family's help and earned just 10,000 yuan ($1,480) in its first 10 days after releasing on August 5 some days pulling in as little as 200 yuan ($30). But by Monday its box office jumped to 8.2 million yuan ($1.2 million) with nearly 300,000 admissions, pushing its total to 17.1 million yuan ($2.5 million) according to tracking platform Maoyan.

Chengdu-based Red Star News reported the film was made over five years by just two people director Xin Yumeng and his mother, Sun Lifan though this could not be independently verified. Promotional posters featured a hand-drawn and colorless calf with blunt slogans like "Come on over if you're into the bizarre" and "No refunds."

On review platform Douban, viewers flooded the site with sarcastic comments calling it "unbelievably terrible" and joking it was "a must-watch for stock market investors" a pun on the film's name, which means "the bull is coming" a phrase associated with market rallies.

Nineteen-year-old Shanghai student Du Mingxi said he watched it purely to prank friends also comparing the trend to America's viral "six-seven" slang craze things people find funny without being able to explain why.

Not everyone was mocking it, though. Guangzhou teacher Zhong Jiaming praised its simplicity with calling it "a bedtime story for children" in an era of polished films with weak storytelling.