How online trolling, ridicule turned $1k Chinese box-office bomb Niu Lai into unlikely blockbuster

A Chinese animated film leveraged online ridicule, propelling its box-office revenue into six figures, according to local media reports.

Social media trolling and ridicule haven't had that many positives in the decade since the trends became mainstream. Over the years, trolling, the bandwagon effect of harsh criticism on social media, has been called out for its harmful effect on mental health. But for a change, trolling has had a positive effect. A Chinese animated film has managed to turn online ridicule into marketing, attracting curious viewers and turning its fortunes around at the box office.

How Niu Lai turned ridicule into success

Niu Lai's simple computer-generated animation received ridicule.

The Chinese animated film Niu Lai generated only about $1,000 in ticket sales in its first 10 days in theatres. It was heavily panned by critics upon its release and soon became a talking point on Chinese social media circles. On Weibo, China's version of Twitter, Niulai was one of the platform’s most-discussed topics on Saturday, with posts featuring clips that viewers described as having poor animation quality and awkward storytelling, Bloomberg reported.

But this led to an increased curiosity about the film. Some social-media users said they bought tickets to judge the film for themselves. As the discussion spread across Weibo and other platforms, ticket sales increased dramatically. In some places, cinemas were forced to increase their screenings due to the sudden surge in demand. Local media reports stated that the film earned merely 7,700 yuan ($1,140) in ticket sales during its first 10 days. This increased to over 100k yuan ($15k) in the days since. On August 15, after intense social media trends, the film saw pre-sales of over 100k yuan. The flood of scorn helped turn the movie into an unlikely box-office phenomenon.

This poster was the only promotional material for the film.

The film’s relative success illustrates the growing power of social media attention in driving consumer behaviour in China, even if the reaction is largely negative.

All about Niu Lai

Directed by Xin Yumeng and written by Sun Lifang, Niu Lai stars Xin Yumeng and Sun Lifang. The film had an unusual run with no promotional campaign, including no trailers or interviews. It was released on 5 August in 245 theatres across China. However, negative reactions led it to being reduced to just four screens by 14 August. That is when the social media push took place, propelling the film.