Viral Chinese Hit ‘Niu Lai’ Projected To Top $9M After Selling Fewer Than 300 Tickets In Its First 10 Days

Two weeks after becoming one of China’s unlikeliest box-office hits, handmade animated feature Niu Lai, made by a mother-and-son team, has grossed more than RMB 60 million ($8.9 million). Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan currently projects that it will finish its theatrical run with RMB 61.239 million ($9.1 million).

According to Maoyan, the film drew 2.16 million moviegoers through September 1. That is an extraordinary turnaround for a feature that sold fewer than 300 tickets during its first ten days in theaters.

When we first wrote about the film on August 17, it had earned RMB 14.9 million ($2.2 million). Its gross has since more than quadrupled.

The speed of that rise is as remarkable as its scale. On August 13, immediately before online mockery transformed the film into a viral attraction, Niu Lai earned just RMB 921 ($137). Three days later, it took RMB 6.09 million ($906,000) in a single day. At its peak, daily screenings reportedly climbed from fewer than five to about 22,000.

Its theatrical run also continued despite director Xin Yumeng appearing to announce its conclusion on August 16. At the time, several cinemas in Dalian had reportedly removed the film, prompting rumors of a wider takedown. Cinemas elsewhere in China continued to screen it, however, and the film added nearly RMB 50 million after Xin’s statement.

Xin and his mother, Sun Lifang, made the 86-minute feature largely on their own over five years, handling nearly every major production role. Xin has since said that another animated film, titled Yang Gao, is in development, although no firm production or release details have been announced.

Given the film’s fiercely independent nature and the difficulty of covering the Chinese box office in general, rumors should be taken with a grain of salt. But regardless of the film’s final numbers, its turnaround is true lightning in a bottle and worth documenting.