A low-quality animated film, "Niu Lai" (Bull Lai), has unexpectedly become one of the biggest phenomena in China's box office. After a poor start, audiences began discussing the film en masse on social media, causing its box office earnings to surge from a few thousand to millions of yuan within days, reports infohub.kz.

"Niu Lai" hit Chinese theaters on August 5. The first days did not bode well for the film: over nine days, it grossed only 7,169 yuan (490,000 tenge). During that time, fewer than 300 people watched the cartoon, and its opening weekend earnings were just over 3,400 yuan (just over 200,000 tenge).

The film had no famous actors, no massive advertising campaign, or noticeable pre-release hype. Moreover, "Niu Lai" was created by just two people, and the animation itself can confidently be called "low-quality."

Everything changed on August 14. A post went viral on Chinese social media about how the cartoon had earned just over 7,000 yuan in nine days. Users were curious about how bad the film could look and why it was even released in theaters.

Online, "Niu Lai" began to be called a cartoon with a "catastrophic level" of animation. Thus, "Niu Lai" turned into an internet meme. Users started inserting the little bull from the cartoon into posters of famous films, including humorous versions of the movie's own poster.

Ultimately, viral interest changed the film's fate. While "Niu Lai" earned only 7,169 yuan in its first nine days, its cumulative earnings have now exceeded 2.5 million yuan (nearly 171 million tenge).

In the end, the joke went so far that in China's box office, one of the main rivals to "Niu Lai" turned out to be Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey." The film was released in China on August 14 and became one of the most anticipated premieres of the summer season. Against this backdrop, users jokingly began comparing Nolan's massive project to the virtually unknown cartoon that audiences watch out of curiosity.

The creators of "Niu Lai" themselves admit that the cartoon does not meet the usual standards of theatrical animation. The film's official Weibo account (a Chinese social network) stated that the film "does not meet the industry's established standards" in terms of visuals, plot, and other parameters. At the same time, the authors thanked viewers for their positive reaction and said they are open to criticism.

Earlier, Kursiv LifeStyle reported that Nolan's "The Odyssey" entered the top ten highest-grossing films of the year.