'Niu Lai', the terrible Chinese animated movie that became a hit, created by a son & his mum in her 60s on 1 computer over 5 years

A low-budget Chinese animated film, which has been mocked online for having visuals worse than AI-generated content, has become an unexpected box office hit.

The background story of how it even got made has since tugged at heartstrings and endeared the film to the audience even more.

According to Agent M, a mother and son spent five years making the film on a single computer, with no team and no external investment.

236 tickets in 10 days

"Niu Lai" opened on Aug. 5 with no official trailer, and only a single ink-wash poster, according to Agent M.

In its first 10 days, it sold about 236 tickets and took in 7,169 yuan (S$1,357), the lowest box office for a Chinese cinema animation this year.

Audiences also initially found the poster and the film bore little resemblance to each other.

The criticism was blunt: low-detail 3D models, characters clipping through each other, stiff and stuttering movement, and a thin plot.

Some parts of the story did not even make sense and appeared almost surrealist in execution.

Someone said it was worse than an AI homework a student had rushed out.

Screenshots of the stiff character expressions turned into memes online, and people started buying tickets to watch how bad the film was.

Made more money

According to China Times, the film went on to pass 10 million yuan (S$1.8 million) as audiences turned up in droves mostly out of curiosity, with some cinemas adding extra screenings to meet demand.

At one point, it even outranked Hollywood blockbusters including "The Odyssey.”

Theatre staff have since hand-drawn movie posters to indicate the film was showing.

Two people, five years, one computer

The film's entire team included director Xin Yumeng and his mother Sun Lifang, who is in her 60s.

Xin had no formal training in film.

His family business was originally in interior design and renovation, and only moved into film and television in 2021.

For the film, Xin handled the modelling, animation, editing and production himself, and voiced characters too.

When he ran into software errors, models clipping through each other, or crashes, he looked up tutorials online and worked through them accordingly.

His mother was credited as screenwriter and also voiced the characters.

She wrote and performed the end credits song herself.

Relatives said Sun had taught herself filmmaking from scratch to help her son fulfil his dream.

They said: "From her spirit to her actions, she was supporting her son."

The story they told

The mother-and-son team created the 86-minute feature.

The film follows a timid calf who goes through a series of trials, accompanied by a lark.

He also meets a spirit snake and a leopard along the way.

He finally finds his courage during a wolf attack, when his mother is killed protecting him.

He eventually becomes a hero to protect the herd.

"Purely handmade"

In an era of AI-generated content, the film's flaws have become part of its appeal, per China Times.

Some viewers have started calling it "purely handmade”, pointing to the unpolished graphics and mediocre effects that could only have been made by a person.