Niu Lai

In a drifting dreamscape, a skylark witnesses the growth of a timid young calf named Niu Lai. Born fearful and wary of danger, Niu Lai has always lived under the shelter of his mother and the herd. One day, he follows the skylark and tumbles into a long, immersive dream, an ordeal that forces him to confront life and death. Deep within the dream's grasslands, Niu Lai first encounters a mysterious spirit serpent. Patiently, the serpent warns him that the world offers no true safety, and that he must learn vigilance and self‑reliance. Though Niu Lai does not fully understand, he remembers the words.

Later, Niu Lai befriends a brave and righteous leopard named Bao La, who becomes his closest companion. Bao La protects and accompanies the lonely calf during the migration of the herd, yet the cattle herd distrusts and shuns the leopard despite Bao La being the one who distracted a pack of wolves that were about to attack the herd.

The peace does not last. While the cattle were migrating, the wolf pack descends upon the grassland again, this time successfully hunting members of the herd. Bao La leaps to their defense. To shield her young son and buy him a chance to escape, Niu Lai's mother sacrifices herself.

After this loss, Niu Lai shoulders responsibility and begins resisting the humans and their machines who have long damaged the forest that is their home. Niu Lai ultimately wakes up and realizes that everything he experienced was part of a dream. But the dream leaves real growth: the courage, responsibility, and understanding he gains remain with him after waking. When the dream finally dissolves, Niu Lai understands what it means to stand firm, to protect, and to take responsibility. With newfound courage, he faces danger head‑on and ultimately reunites with the herd led by his father.

Niu Lai was directed by Xin Yumeng (信雨萌) and written by Sun Lifang (孙丽芳), a son-and-mother team. They were the sole crew members and voice actors of the animation.^[1][2] This was the first film Xin worked on and Sun taught herself screenwriting.^[3] It took around 3 to 4 months for Xin and Sun to refine the characters.^[4] Sun wrote the soundtrack and performed the theme song.^[5][4]

Xin and Sun respectively are the legal representative and the financial officer for the production company, Dalian Jingyuan Culture Film and Television Media (大连璟园文化影视传媒有限公司).^[2][6] The company was formed in 2016 as Dalian Jingyuan Decoration Engineering (大连璟园装饰工程有限公司) focusing on interior design and decoration, before changing its business registration to be a media production company in July 2021.^[7]

Xin Yumeng came up with the idea for Niu Lai in 2021, and chose to have the plot revolve around an ox as his father was born during the year of the Ox and 2021 was the year of the Ox as well.^[4] Production on the film took over five years^[8] and cost several thousand yuan.^[9] They bought second-hand hardware online as new hardware was too expensive.^[4][3] SketchUp, an architectural modeling program, was used for the animation instead of a specialized animation software.^[10]

The public screening license from the China Film Administration was issued on 25 August 2025.^[11] No promotional campaign was conducted for Niu Lai, including no trailers or interviews. The only advertisement for the film was one poster using traditional ink wash painting.^[12] Theater staff did not have proper promotional posters, and some theatre staff resorted to hand drawing their own posters for the movie.^[13]

Tianjin Yamazaki Film^[11] was advised against releasing Niu Lai due to its quality, but chose to do so due to it being ran by a friend of Xin.^[14] It premiered in 245 theaters^[6] on 5 August 2026,^[15] before being reduced to 4 theaters by 14 August.^[6] The number of daily screenings increased from 21 on 14 August to 359 on 15 August.^[16]

Niu Lai earned ¥7,169 (USD$1,111.47) from 236 people in the first nine days of its release.^[12] However, following mass social media mockery, it earned over ¥100,000 in presales, including ¥46,000 on 15 August.^[1][15] It earned millions of yuan at the box office in the following days.^[5][17] It has grossed ¥41.31 million (USD$6,404,651.16) at the box office.^[18] It is among the top ten highest-grossing animated films in China in 2026^[8] and one of the highest returns on investment for a film.^[9][19] Tianjin Maoyan Weiying Culture Media estimates that it will earn ¥133–135 million.^[11]

FTV News noted that many audience members found a jarring difference between the ink wash painting for the poster and the low-quality computer-generated imagery for the film.^[12]

Niu Lai has been described as a cult film.^[20][21] The BBC noted that social media users preferred the low-quality but human-made animation over AI art.^[13] Animation art director Zhou Shengwei (周圣崴) compared the popularity of Niu Lai to The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) and The Room (2003).^[22] Film critic Ryan Ra wrote that the unconventional character designs and animation incited laughter among the audience.^[23]

Lily Kuo, writing for The New York Times, noted that the plot was baffling and that the animation was compared to a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation.^[24] Ed Power, writing for The Daily Telegraph, compared the animation to the music video for "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits.^[10] Film critic Jenni Zylka [de] criticized the dialogue as sluggish, the lip-syncing was off-key, and compared the cow models to the Teletubbies.^[25]

The Beijing News criticized Niu Lai for lowering the bar on expectations for poorly made films and called for theaters to stop screening the film.^[13] Cui Jingxuan, the director of Citywide Manhunt (全城追缉) (2026), stated that Niu Lai "ripped off the last fig leaf of Chinese cinemas".^[25]