₹1 Lakh Budget, ₹20 Crore Collection!

China’s ‘Niu Lai’ is proving that even a tiny film can achieve a remarkable box-office success. Made by just two people on a budget of around ₹1 lakh, the 86-minute animated film has reportedly crossed ₹20 crore in collections, attracting widespread attention. Released in China on August 5, the film initially received almost no response. During its first ten days, it earned only ₹1.04 lakh, or around 7,700 yuan, with just about 300 people across the country buying tickets. The lack of an official trailer and major promotional campaign also affected its initial performance.

However, the film’s fortunes changed dramatically after a few scenes went viral on social media. Netizens heavily criticized the quality of the graphics, with some even trolling them as being worse than AI-generated visuals. Surprisingly, the negative publicity worked in the film’s favour. Curious audiences began visiting theatres to find out what the movie was actually about, leading to a sharp rise in ticket bookings. According to figures from Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan, the film has so far earned more than 14.9 million yuan, equivalent to around ₹20 crore. Xin Yumeng and Sun Lifang reportedly spent nearly five years working on the project.