Niu Lai 200 Dollar Chinese Animation Disaster

A review of Niu Lai, the Chinese animated movie that has taken the country's social media by storm.

This story originally ran in “Sketch to Screen,” an animation newsletter. Subscribe here to receive it in your inbox. 2026 has been a year where small films have broken out to become major box office phenomena. “Obsession.” “Backrooms.” And now, a new movie that most Americans definitely haven’t heard of yet has emerged as the latest viral success story: “Niu Lai.” A microbudget animated film made on a budget of roughly $200, “Niu Lai” has a bizarre, dreamlike plot, and production value that would generously look rough for a Nintendo 64 game. And it’s now, thanks to the power or word of…

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