Trolled Into a Box Office Hit...Know Which Movie It Is?

The recently released Chinese animated film ‘New Lai’ is witnessing an unexpected box-office turnaround. Based on a cow and a sparrow, the film was initially heavily mocked online for its poor quality 3D animation. It earned only 7,705 yuan during its first 10 days. However, clips from the movie went viral on social media, turning the negative publicity into unexpected promotion and driving audiences to theatres.

According to movie-tracking platform Mao Yan, ‘New Lai’ has reportedly crossed 11.4 million yuan at the box office. Trolls, memes and humorous social media posts have become the film’s biggest promotional tools. Netizens have jokingly claimed that watching the movie would mean “80 minutes of suffering,” while not watching it would lead to lifelong regret. The film has also attracted attention from Chinese stock-market investors because the word “cow” is associated with a bullish market trend.