When most of us go to the movie theater, we expect to see the latest blockbuster or star-studded film. This summer, though, many fans in China got an entirely different experience. Niu Lai, an animated film with a budget of just a few hundred U.S. dollars, became an overnight hit not because it was good, but because it was terrible.
Niu Lai premiered on August 5th in 245 theaters, to almost no initial audience. The movie had no promotional campaign, no trailer, and no poster, with some theater employees resorting to drawing their own. Because of the lack of budget, all of the work, from animation to voice acting, was done by the same mother-and-son duo. In fact, the movie was so bad that their distributor was advised not to release it. By August 14th, Niu Lai had done so poorly that the number of theaters showing it had reduced from 245 to four.
Then, the internet found it. Clips of the movie’s terrible animation and awful plot began circulating on various social media platforms, with the mockery fueling infamy. For some people, this mockery turned into affection. In a time when audiences are increasingly concerned about the use of AI in film, Niu Lai’s janky animation was something unmistakably human. Between the social media hype and the pro-human sentiment around the movie, people began going to theaters just to watch Niu Lai, wanting to see the spectacle for themselves.
In just a few weeks, the movie had gone from generating a thousand dollars in its first nine days to earning millions. Having earned over nine million dollars, Niu Lai has produced forty thousand times more than the budget.
Niu Lai’s success speaks volumes about where popular culture lies today.
However, there is a lot of controversy surrounding the movie. Industry critics argue that a movie performing well solely for being a low-quality film sets a bad precedent and lowers standards for the future.
No matter the opinion people have, Niu Lai’s success speaks volumes about where popular culture lies today. In today’s social media age, quality is not the only path to virality. A movie can be publicly labeled atrocious yet still perform better than films with an infinitely larger budget. While no one will remember Niu Lai as a great film, its box office performance and internet fame will likely have real impacts on the future of cinema.
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