- Chinese animated film Niu Lai is outperforming The Odyssey and Spider-Man at China's box office
- The film earned just 7,700 yuan in its first 10 days with fewer than 300 tickets sold nationwide
- Niu Lai's crude graphics and awkward voice acting sparked social media ridicule and memes
A Chinese animated film described as "bad in every aspect imaginable" is now beating The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day at the box office, as audiences rush to cinemas to see just how terrible it really is.
Niu Lai, translated as The Cow Is Coming, is an 86-minute animation about a newborn calf and a skylark whose relationship unfolds through an abstract dream sequence.
Released in China on August 5, the film initially appeared destined to disappear without a trace. It earned just 7,700 yuan, around Rs 1.04 lakh, during its first 10 days, with fewer than 300 people nationwide buying a ticket.
There was no promotional tour, no pre-release publicity and not even a trailer.
Then clips from the film reached social media.
Viewers began mocking its crude computer graphics, stiff characters, awkward voice acting and confusing story. Some compared it to a poorly made student project. Others called it "worse than AI" and possibly the "worst movie of 2026".
Instead of destroying the film, the ridicule turned it into a meme. People began buying tickets simply to discover whether Niu Lai was really as bad as everyone claimed.
The film has now collected more than 14.9 million yuan, approximately Rs 20 crore, according to Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan. Its sudden rise has placed it alongside far bigger films in China's cinema revenue rankings.
The success is particularly remarkable because Niu Lai was reportedly made by only two people over five years. Xin Yumeng and Sun Lifang, believed to be a mother-and-son team, are credited as its writers, directors, producers and voice actors.
The film's only known advertisement was an elegant poster featuring traditional ink-wash artwork. The polished poster bore little resemblance to the primitive animation awaiting audiences inside.
Even its distributor reportedly admitted that he had been advised against releasing the film because of its quality. He went ahead because he was a friend of the director.
A newly released animated film called “Niu Lai” (牛来) is going viral for all the wrong reasons in China.
— Tong Bingxue 仝冰雪 (@tongbingxue) August 15, 2026
People are calling the visuals “disaster-level” , the entire production team was basically just two people: the director and the screenwriter. After 9 days in theaters, the… pic.twitter.com/l7RM9ZER67
Not everyone sees its roughness as a failure. Some viewers have described the handcrafted visuals as oddly refreshing at a time when artificial intelligence can produce slick imagery within seconds.
One industry professional, however, offered a less generous assessment, calling the film bad in nearly every area, including its story and special effects.
Ironically, that has become its biggest selling point.
Audiences are not buying tickets despite thinking Niu Lai is terrible. They are buying tickets because they have to see the disaster for themselves.
