Overview
- The film, released on Aug. 5, earned only a few thousand yuan in its first 10 days before clips and jokes that surfaced around Aug. 15–18 sent audiences rushing to cinemas.
- Niu Lai was made over several years by Xin Yumeng and his mother Sun Lifang with an estimated micro‑budget reported between a few hundred and about $1,000.
- Box‑office trackers such as Maoyan report cumulative grosses in the tens of millions of yuan, with outlets citing figures roughly between 11 million and 33 million yuan as estimates continue to evolve.
- Viewers and commentators have framed the film’s handmade, imperfect look as a human counterpoint to AI content, a theme that helped fuel Gen Z interest, memes, merchandise and even investor attention tied to the film’s bull imagery.
- Exhibitors reacted unevenly by adding extra screenings, creating hand‑drawn posters and selling merchandise in some places while a few regional cinemas reportedly pulled the title, raising questions about programming driven by social‑media traffic.