About

Niu Lai is a 2026 Chinese animated film about a fearful cow who experiences an immersive dream that's meant to teach him how to be a brave, strong warrior. The movie was released on August 5th, 2026, directed by Xin Yumeng and produced by Dalian Jingyuan Culture Film and Television Media.

Niu Lai did not initially perform well due to its poor animation quality and lack of marketing. It was also sent to theaters without an official poster, resulting in theater employees drawing their own posters to advertise the film. The movie's low quality spread on Chinese social media in the days after the film's release and gave the film a boost in popularity as a "so bad it's good" movie, leading it to make over ¥25.6 million, or roughly $3 million USD.

Clips of the film, along with full, English-subbed recordings of the movie, started spreading on social media in English-speaking countries in the weeks following the film's release. Similar to Morbius, Niu Lai gained a significant ironic fandom online in August 2026, spawning numerous memes.

History

On August 5th, 2026, the animated film Niu Lai was released in China. The production company behind the movie, Dalian Jingyuan Culture & Film Media, was originally an interior decorating firm. The film reportedly only made roughly ¥50,000 ($7,400 USD) in its first week.^[1]

The film started going viral on Chinese social media for its low quality in mid-August 2026. On August 15th, X^[2] / Twitter user @tongbingxue posted a clip from the movie with a description of its viral bump in China due to its quality, garnering over 19,000 likes and 2,600 reposts in four days.

Reportedly, by August 18th, 2026, the film had made over 17.1 million yuan, or roughly $2.5 million USD.^[3]

Online Presence

The full Chinese version of Niu Lai was released by YouTuber^[4] Nota on August 16th, 2026, gaining over 700,000 views in three days.

An English-subtitled version was released by YouTuber^[5] Pet the Actor the next day, gaining over 133,000 views in two days.

On August 17th, Bluesky^[6] user Accented Cinema made a post claiming that Niu Lai was shipped to theaters without a press kit, meaning it had no posters. The post shows images of theater employees making their own posters for the film.

That same day, as the movie continued garnering virality in the West, USA Today^[9] reported on the film and its usage in memes in an article titled "'Niu Lai' is a movie so bad it was ridiculed online. Then it took off."

On August 18th, 2026, TikToker^[7] @andyyjiang posted a video about the movie's virality, garnering over 1.2 million views in a day.

That day, X^[8] user @eugenewei posted a meme about seeing Niu Lai in 70mm IMAX, garnering over 1,800 likes in a day.

Also on August 18th, the movie began sparking discourse on Reddit as word of it spread on the site, including a post to the /r/Damnthatsinteresting^[10] subreddit that showed people creating posters for the film, receiving over 14,000 upvotes and 220 comments in a day.

Search Interest

External References