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Niu Lai

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Contents
  1. (Top)
  2. Plot
  3. Cast
  4. Production
    1. Development and conception
    2. Technical execution and animation
    3. Music and sound
  5. Release
    1. Marketing and theatrical rollout
    2. Viral surge and rescheduling
    3. International attention and screenings
  6. Box office
  7. Critical reception
    1. Visuals and cinematic quality
    2. Comparisons to cult cinema
    3. Industry and editorial backlash
  8. References
Niu Lai
Directed byXin Yumeng
Written bySun Lifang
Produced byXin Yumeng, Sun Lifang
Music bySun Lifang
Production companyDalian Jingyuan Culture Film and Television Media
Distributed byTianjin Yamazaki Film
Release date5 August 2026
Running time86 minutes

Niu Lai is a 2026 Chinese animated film directed by Xin Yumeng and written by Sun Lifang, produced by Dalian Jingyuan Culture Film and Television Media. Created by an untrained mother-and-son duo over five years using basic architectural software, the film experienced disastrous box office returns upon its initial August 2026 release. However, after online ridicule of its crude three-dimensional animation went viral on Chinese social media, it became an unexpected sleeper hit, earning tens of millions of yuan and sparking widespread cultural debate and internet memes.

Plot

A newborn calf, Niu Lai, lies on the ground unable to rise.[1] He falls into a dream in which he meets a skylark and asks whether they are different, after which he stands and joins the herd.[1] Niu Lai is timid by nature.[1] Niu Lai sees a snake and, mistaking it for a rope, touches it and is bitten, after which he fears ropes and calls the snake the little rope.[1] Later, about to cross a stream, he is startled to see a snake behind him and leaps across with all his strength.[1] The leap makes him braver.[1]

Niu Lai then meets Bao La, an orphaned leopard cub.[1] Niu Lai gives him food, and the two become close friends.[1] Grateful, Bao La repeatedly drives off the wolves to protect the herd.[1] The cattle, however, grow suspicious and, fearing that he is in league with the wolves, drive him away.[1] The herd resolves to migrate across a demanding desert.

When the herd is trapped in a canyon, the wolves come again in force.[1] Niu Lai's mother gives her life to shield her son.[1] Bao La fights to the death to protect Niu Lai.[1] Niu Lai grows up.[1] He encounters a monster that attacks his companions, which turns out to be a large vehicle-like machine.[1] Ignoring the skylark's advice, he cries out loudly and confronts the machine himself.[1] In an empty, pitch-black void, Niu Lai and the skylark converse and say their farewells.[1]

Niu Lai awakens and realizes that his journey was entirely a dream that occurred while he lay collapsed on the ground after birth.[1] Spurred on by the skylark, Niu Lai finally stands up on his four legs in reality.[1] He then catches up with the herd and is reunited with his parents.[1]

Cast

The voice cast consists of only two performers who handled every character in the production: Xin Yumeng, who directed and produced the film, was also one of its two voice actors.[2][3][4][5] Sun Lifang provided the voices for Niu Lai's mother, who nurtures, guides, and ultimately sacrifices herself for her son, and Yun Ding, the skylark who accompanies and observes Niu Lai throughout his dream journey.[2] Other characters in the dream include a snake, a pack of wolves and a monster in the form of an iron vehicle.[1] A wild boar is mentioned by Niu Lai's mother when presenting a beverage described as 'father's exclusive' to Niu Lai's father, though the animal does not appear visually on screen.

Production

Development and conception

Niu Lai was directed by Xin Yumeng and written by Sun Lifang, a mother-and-son team from Dalian, Liaoning province, China.[2][3] Neither had prior professional filmmaking experience; Xin had never received formal animation training, while Sun taught herself screenwriting from scratch.[6][7][8] The project originated in early 2021 when Xin, having watched numerous animated films, felt inspired to direct his own feature.[8][9] He decided that the story should revolve around cattle because his father was born in the Year of the Ox and 2021 was also the Year of the Ox, selecting the title Niu Lai (literally 'The Ox Arrives') as an auspicious omen.[8][10] Sun supported her son's ambition, and the duo spent three to four months refining the narrative characters.[8][10] The production was formally registered with the China Film Administration under the filing number Ying Dong Bei Zi (2021) No. 104 in late 2021, listing Dalian Jingyuan Culture Film and Television Media as the applicant company and Sun Lifang as the screenwriter.[8][11]

The producing studio, Dalian Jingyuan Culture Film and Television Media Co., Ltd., was originally established in March 2016 under the name Dalian Jingyuan Decoration Engineering Co., Ltd., operating as an interior design and decoration business.[12] In July 2021, the firm amended its commercial registration to enter media and film production.[12] Xin served as the company's legal representative, holding the controlling equity, while Sun served as its financial officer.[3][12][13] Corporate filings indicate that the firm had a registered capital of 100,000 yuan and reported only one insured employee in its annual documentation.[14][15] Xin and Sun served as the entire production staff, animation crew, and voice cast without any outside crew members or financial investors.[2][3][4][16]

Technical execution and animation

The entire production spanned more than five years and was carried out by hand without the use of artificial intelligence tools.[4][10][17] The total production budget was modest, described in various reports as costing several thousand yuan, with classical Chinese summaries indicating an expenditure of around 30,000 yuan, and Arabic data sheets noting an equivalent of approximately 47 to 200 United States dollars.[18][19] Because professional animation equipment was unaffordable, Xin purchased second-hand household computers and used hardware components through the online secondhand marketplace Xianyu.[7][8][10][20] The strain of continuous twenty-four-hour frame-by-frame keyframe adjustments and continuous image rendering led to frequent hardware breakdowns, including motherboards burning out during the process.[8][10][21]

Having majored in landscape design and previously worked in interior decoration and building information modeling (BIM), Xin had no training in professional digital animation software.[8][10] Instead, he modeled the entire film using Trimble SketchUp, an architectural modeling program designed for buildings rather than character animation.[8][22] In a pre-release broadcast interview on Dalian Children's Radio FM106.7 program 'Durian Youth Trend' hosted by Liang Gege, Xin compared three-dimensional animation to his prior construction work, remarking that the underlying logic was identical: 'Previously I built with bricks, now I build with polygons.'[8] The resultant animation featured rudimentary three-dimensional polygonal models, rigid character motion, unnatural mouth movements, and low-fidelity computer graphics.[22][23][24]

Music and sound

Sun Lifang was responsible for the film's sound.[8] She wrote the soundtrack, and she also wrote the words and music of the ending song and sang it.[4][8][10][25][26][27] Sun had never studied music composition or vocal performance prior to the project and taught herself music production from scratch.[8][26] The production's featured musical insert and closing theme song is titled 'Yu Hou Qing Feng You Xiang' (The Fresh Breeze After Rain Has Fragrance).[5] Although a Vietnamese report erroneously attributed the music composition and vocal performance to Xin, all other records verify that Sun wrote and sang the theme song.[4][25][28][29] Later, public fascination with the contrast between the crude visuals and Sun's self-taught vocal performance made the topic 'Niu Lai ending song sounds good' a trending topic on the Sina Weibo social platform.[26]

Release

Marketing and theatrical rollout

The public exhibition license for Niu Lai was issued under code Dian Shen Dong Zi (2024) No. 33, with Chinese and Japanese records noting the technical approval in 2024, whereas multiple other language editions date the license to 25 August 2025, and Spanish text cites 3 April 2026.[30][31][32][33] The film was released with almost no publicity, a so-called 'naked release'.[34] No trailers were released and there were no major interviews before the premiere, although a Dalian radio program broadcast an interview with Xin before the release.[10][24][35] Apart from a single poster in the style of traditional ink wash painting, the film had no other publicity before its release.[34][36] Because the distributor supplied no physical marketing materials or display posters to cinemas, theater staff across China resorted to drawing their own improvised, handmade posters to place inside lobby display cases, which soon circulated widely on social networks.[28][37][38]

Distribution was handled by Tianjin Yamazaki Film Co., Ltd.[32] Company executives, who were personal friends of Xin, originally advised him against theatrical release after viewing the finished cut due to its unpolished quality.[39][40] However, Xin insisted on a theatrical run, and the company assisted in securing official clearance and booking theaters.[40] Niu Lai premiered in 245 cinemas across mainland China on 5 August 2026, earning 3,420 yuan from 122 viewers on its opening day.[13][41][42] Poor audience attendance prompted theaters to slash screenings, dropping to 25 showings on the second day.[43] By 14 August, the film was showing in only four theaters.[13] It earned 7,169 yuan from 236 viewers in its first nine days and 7,705 yuan in its first ten days.[36][43][44]

Viral surge and rescheduling

The film's trajectory reversed abruptly around 14 August 2026, when Chinese social media users discovered its commercial performance and shared screenshots of its animation.[2][43][44][45] The topic 'Niu Lai box office 7,352 yuan without the word ten-thousand' reached the top of search rankings, turning the film into an online viral sensation driven by morbid curiosity and mockery.[44][45][46] On 15 August, related topics appeared on Sina Weibo's trending search lists 72 times.[45] Driven by internet buzz, viewers rushed to cinemas to 'witness history' and view the film as an ironic spectacle.[33][44] Daily screenings rose from 21 on 14 August to 359 on 15 August.[33] The film's box office passed 100,000 yuan, including 46,000 yuan on 15 August alone.[41][47] Single-day box office takings on 15 August reached 717,000 yuan, more than two hundred times its opening-day earnings.[48]

By 16 August, daily box office revenue exceeded 6 million yuan, pushing cumulative gross beyond 10 million yuan on 17 August and 20 million yuan on 18 August.[27][49] On 19 August, official data from the National Film Special Fund Office recorded receipts of 24.41 million yuan.[50] Cumulative box office passed 40 million yuan on 22 August and exceeded 50 million yuan on 26 August.[51][52] In several regions, Niu Lai outperformed high-profile concurrent theatrical releases such as The Odyssey, and rivaled Hollywood blockbusters like Spider-Man: Brand New Day.[33][53] However, some cinemas in Xin's home city of Dalian removed the film from exhibition schedules, with staff citing concern that it would affect the city's image.[54][55]

International attention and screenings

The viral phenomenon spread beyond mainland China. In Singapore, an online poster circulated claiming that Niu Lai would premiere in local theaters on 1 September 2026; while reported as an upcoming release in Bengali and Malay editions, Singaporean newspaper Lianhe Zaobao investigated the claim and confirmed the poster was counterfeit, though local theatrical distributors confirmed they were evaluating the title for potential acquisition.[56][57][58] In Malaysia, cinema chain TGV Cinemas posted about Niu Lai on social channels and published job listings for promotional poster designers, hinting at prospective screenings.[59][60] In Hong Kong, Broadway Cinematheque stated that it was considering arranging screenings in response to audience requests, though no dates were formalized.

In the United States, Chinese-American filmmaker Yifan Gu organized two unauthorized screenings of Niu Lai at the Unbound Bookstore in San Francisco's Chinatown.[61] Gu acknowledged that his exhibition copy was sourced from unauthorized recordings circulated on Chinese social networks, but stated that for every 10-dollar admission ticket sold in San Francisco, he purchased a genuine theatrical ticket online in China to support the original mother-and-son creative team.[61] Additionally, users on YouTube shared bootleg recordings captured from theater screens with amateur English and French subtitles. In South Korea, the Korea Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE) published analytical reports documenting how the movie's online mockery transformed into an unprecedented cultural and economic event.[62]

Box office

Language editions report differing milestones for the ultimate box office gross of Niu Lai. English, Thai, and French sources record the gross at 60.27 million yuan (approximately 9.34 million United States dollars), while Chinese Wikipedia records the theatrical total at 63.41 million yuan.[63][64] Japanese sources report that ticket sales surpassed 50 million yuan by 26 August 2026, whereas earlier snapshots in other language editions cite figures such as 14.9 million (Spanish), 23.53 million (Indonesian), 26.2 million (Cantonese), 27.43 million (Ukrainian), 28.67 million (Bengali and Vietnamese), 31.54 million (Malay), 36.91 million (Persian), 41.31 million (Korean), and 45.17 million yuan (Hindi).[39][52][63] Its theatrical run is scheduled to conclude on 4 October 2026.[65]

The film ranked among the ten highest-grossing domestic animated films in China for the year 2026.[17] Given its nominal production budget of a few thousand yuan, financial analysts highlighted it as one of the highest returns on investment in the history of Chinese cinema.[18][66] Ticketing platform Maoyan originally projected that total theatrical revenues would climb to between 133 million and 135 million yuan, but later revised its lifetime forecast downward to 61.239 million yuan as daily admissions normalized.[32][67]

Critical reception

Visuals and cinematic quality

From the time it opened, reviews criticized the film's 3D graphics, character movement, lip sync and story structure.[24][28] FTV News reported that many viewers found a jarring difference between the ink wash poster and the low-quality computer-generated imagery of the film.[34][36] Writing for The New York Times, Lily Kuo described the plot as baffling and observed that viewers frequently likened the animation to a moving Microsoft PowerPoint presentation.[68] Ed Power in The Daily Telegraph compared the animation to the music video for 'Money for Nothing' by Dire Straits.[22] Film critic Jenni Zylka criticized the pacing of dialogue as sluggish, pointed out severe lip-sync discrepancies, and compared the bovine character models to the children's television figures Teletubbies.[23]

On the Chinese review aggregation website Douban, public evaluation opened on 19 August 2026 at an average score of 5.9 out of 10 across more than 20,000 participating users (later recorded as 25,752 users in Classical Chinese records).[69][70][71] Ratings displayed an extreme bimodal distribution: 35.8 percent of users awarded a maximum five-star score, while 37.8 percent assigned a minimum one-star rating.[69][70] Commentators dubbed this polarized U-shaped or C-shaped curve the 'ox horn rating' (niujiao pingfen), noting its visual resemblance to bovine horns.[71][72] An analysis by The Paper on 18 August examining 838 short reviews and 652 long reviews found that almost 80 percent expressed unequivocal negative assessments of the movie; approximately 90 percent of the five-star short ratings were verified to be sarcastic and ironic jokes rather than genuine praise.[48][73] The most upvoted review on Douban, gathering nearly 8,500 helpful votes, sarcastically lamented: 'It is a pity it clashed with Wen Muye and Christopher Nolan; otherwise it would have been an absolute box office explosion and gone down in cinema history.'[73]

Comparisons to cult cinema

Numerous commentators categorized Niu Lai as a cult film phenomenon.[74][75][76] Animation art director Zhou Shengwei compared its reception to classic cult films such as Jim Sharman's The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) and Tommy Wiseau's The Room (2003), suggesting it could become a defining cult classic for Generation Z.[24][76] Zhou noted that unlike controversial low-budget flops driven by an auteur's narcissistic self-indulgence, Niu Lai conveyed a sense of unpretentious exhaustion and helplessness that honestly reflected the creators' technical limitations.[76] He argued that its relaxed, uncalculated earnestness resonated emotionally with overworked young urban professionals.[76] In The New York Times, Lily Kuo similarly endorsed the comparison with The Room, describing it as potentially the first cult film for China's Generation Z.[77]

Hong Kong film critic Ryan Ra observed that the eccentric character anatomy and awkward rendering elicited non-stop laughter in packed theaters, arguing that its unpretentious humor was more effective and authentic than the calculated gags of commercial comedies such as the concurrent release Kung Fu Soccer Girls.[78][79] Ra characterized the film as a return to raw innocence, concluding that its lighthearted and soothing tone possessed a therapeutic quality comparable to the popular Japanese manga Chiikawa.[79] In contrast, commercial animation director Wang Yunfei dismissed the film entirely, asserting that it did not even qualify as an artistic product.[24][76] Wang stated that even professional animators making deliberate mistakes could not produce such flawed work, arguing that public attendance was pure voyeuristic novelty: 'It is like there has never been a piece of feces placed in a movie theater before; because someone managed to put one there, everyone feels they must visit and check it out.'[24][76]

Industry and editorial backlash

Some commentators worried that the film's success could lead to bad money driving out good money, with filmmakers chasing hype rather than quality.[37][80][81] Critic Han Haoyue published an editorial in The Beijing News arguing that screening shoddy productions degraded public standards and damaged long-term trust in theatrical filmgoing.[37][82] Han called on cinema operators to act as gatekeepers for their audiences rather than chasing short-term ticket revenues by lowering the entry threshold for commercial cinema.[82] Cui Jingxuan, director of the concurrent domestic release Citywide Manhunt, published multiple impassioned statements on Weibo stating that the success of Niu Lai had 'ripped off the last fig leaf of Chinese cinemas' and rendered the painstaking technical standards of dedicated directors meaningless.[23][83][84] Cui said that numerous young filmmakers had phoned him questioning whether to abandon the cinematic profession entirely, expressing distress that the episode would demean the global reputation of Chinese film production.[85]

Writing in Hong Kong 01, a cultural commentator characterized the movie's virality as a cynical product of the contemporary attention economy and negative marketing, arguing that populist indulgence of amateurism represented a ruthless mockery of cinematic professionalism.[86] The article warned that commercial investors, observing enormous profit margins on near-zero budgets, might slash investments in complex, high-risk industrial productions to pursue speculative viral gimmicks.[86] Hong Kong critic Liao Weitang criticized commentary that romanticized the mother-son production as heartwarming, labeling such sentiments as 'kitsch'.[87] Liao argued that marketing the film with an ink wash poster that suggested a delicate, poetic animation amounted to deceptive advertising.[87] However, Liao also dismissed post-modern interpretations that viewed the film as a deliberate, subversive anti-intellectual artwork, concluding from pre-release interviews that Xin sincerely believed he had created a poetic, moving exploration of maternal love, saying that what he saw in the episode was 'only the willfulness of a mama's boy'.[87]

Where editions disagree (5)
Public screening license issuance date
  • English: Issued on 25 August 2025
  • Chinese: Issued in 2024 under license code Dian Shen Dong Zi (2024) No. 33
  • Spanish: Issued on 3 April 2026
  • Japanese: Recorded under public screening license code Dian Shen Dong Zi (2024) No. 33
Total box office gross
  • Chinese: Exceeded 63 million yuan (specifically 63.41 million yuan)
  • English: Grossed 60.27 million yuan (9,344,186.05 USD)
  • Japanese: Exceeded 50 million yuan as of 26 August 2026
  • Bangla: Totaled 28.67 million yuan
  • Ukrainian: Totaled 27.43 million yuan
  • Korean: Totaled 41.31 million yuan
  • Spanish: Reported above 14.9 million yuan
Production budget
  • English: Cost several thousand yuan
  • zh_classical: Reported to be no more than 30,000 yuan
  • Arabic: Estimated between $47 and $200 USD
Music composer and performer
  • English: Sun Lifang composed the soundtrack and performed the theme song
  • Vietnamese: Xin Yumeng composed the score and sang the theme song
Singapore theatrical release
  • Bangla: Scheduled to be released in Singapore on 1 September
  • Chinese: The 1 September release date poster was verified as false, though Singaporean distributors were evaluating the film
Sources (24 Wikipedia editions)

Non-English editions provide extensive documentation omitted by the English article, particularly from Chinese, Japanese, and Classical Chinese sources. They detail the pre-release radio interview on Dalian Children's Radio FM106.7, the use and hardware failures of SketchUp modeling, the specific insertion of the song 'Yu Hou Qing Feng You Xiang', and the debunking of a viral rumor involving a Sichuan Normal University academic. Furthermore, they supply detailed analyses of the Douban 'ox horn' bimodal rating curve, cultural theories of 'huorengan' (living human presence), academic papers by Yu Guoming and Gu Zhenjing, the unauthorized San Francisco Chinatown screenings by Yifan Gu, and the A-share stock market frenzy surrounding 'Niu Lai concept stocks'.

Assembled from the Wikipedia articles below, each pinned to the revision read on 2026-09-24. Together they hold 693 references; the English article alone has 50.

EditionArticleRevisionSizeRefs
EnglishNiu Lai137640758224.5 KB50
Chinese牛来9447175148.5 KB74
Banglaনিউ লাই912014133.6 KB38
Thaiหนิวไหล1327620928.9 KB45
Laoໜິວໄຫຼ13057626.8 KB45
Japanese牛来11091929126.4 KB60
VietnameseNgưu Lai7551012924.9 KB45
zh_classical牛來44477324.6 KB79
UkrainianНю Лай4862254823.2 KB35
Korean뉴라이4237048721.5 KB45
Hindiनिउ लाइ660449020.7 KB15
IndonesianNiu Lai2967483816.7 KB36
Persianنیو لای4445182615.5 KB34
MalayNiu Lai693384512.3 KB33
SpanishNiu Lai17525868811.9 KB23
FrenchNiu Lai2395333858.9 KB4
PortugueseNiu Lai728985877.7 KB13
Wu Chinese牛来3982414.6 KB14
ItalianNiu Lai1523044823.2 KB0
Arabicنيو لاي765627552.1 KB0
zh_yue牛來24487511.4 KB4
cdoNgìu Lài1054590.9 KB1
zh_min_nanGû Lâi32874420.6 KB0
Hakka ChineseNgiù Lòi1345620.2 KB0
The text on this page comes from the Wikipedia articles listed above, written by their contributors, and is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. It was translated and merged from those articles, may contain errors, and has not been reviewed by Wikipedia editors. SuperCharged Wiki is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. How this works.

References

  1. 《5分钟，看完《牛来》全剧情》曰：被蛇咬、学跳小溪、结交豹子、随牛群迁徙、母亲牺牲、豹拉牺牲、独自面对怪物……全是梦！收「新京报」，二〇二六年八月二十三日覽之。（中文）
  2. Zhu, Jiazhang (15 August 2026). 《牛來》｜國產動畫災難級畫質及無厘頭劇情惹議 10日票房7700元 [Niu Lai: the animated feature provoking debate over its disastrous animation quality and nonsensical plot, with a 10-day box office haul of 7,700 yuan]. HK01 (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 15 August 2026.
  3. Deng, Bo (14 August 2026). 动画片《牛来》被指"灾难级画质"，上映9天票房未过万，剧组仅导演和编剧两人，网友边吐槽边说"想看" [Animated film Niu Lai labeled "disaster-level animation" with box office below 10,000 yuan after nine days; the crew is just the director and the screenwriter, and netizens mock it while saying "we want to watch it"]. Phoenix Television (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 15 August 2026.
  4. 朱必胜. 电影《牛来》“粗糙到极致”反向出圈，主创亲友：60后妈妈为孩子圆梦出钱出力，没投资纯手搓耗时5年；发行方：看了成片后曾劝导演别上了. 红星新闻. 2026-08-15.
  5. 《《牛来》带火“牛字辈”个股？市场人士：警惕情绪炒作》曰：核心主创仅有两人，其中信雨萌身兼导演、制片人、配音数职收「新浪财经」，二〇二六年八月二十三日覽之。（中文）
  6. 越烂却越火的低成本动画《牛来》让中国观众花钱买的不是电影是一个下午的欢乐 [The low-budget animated film "Cow Comes," despite its poor quality, became incredibly popular, allowing Chinese audiences to enjoy an afternoon of fun without actually watching a movie.]. Radio France Internationale (in Chinese). 29 August 2026. Archived from the original on 5 September 2026.
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  8. 解析｜《牛来》导演唯一音频采访：续集《羊高》已启动，这次“不用等五年”. 凤凰网. 2026-08-17 [2026-08-17] （中文）.
  9. 梁源初. 电影《牛来》导演雨萌专访. 小宇宙 (播客). 2026-08-02.
  10. 《牛来》导演：用的二手设备，母亲完成谱曲，曾多次有放弃念头 [Niu Lai director: used second-hand equipment, mother composed the score, and he often considered giving up]. Phoenix Television (in Chinese). 18 August 2026. Archived from the original on 18 August 2026.
  11. “国家电影局关于2021年10月全国电影剧本（梗概）备案、立项公示的通知” (中国語). 国家电影局 (2021年12月13日). 2026年8月28日閲覧。
  12. Wei, Shunshun (14 August 2026). 电影《牛来》上映9天票房未过万 出品方前身是装修公司 [Niu Lai's box office stays below 10,000 yuan after nine days; the producer's predecessor was a decoration company]. Jimu News (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 15 August 2026.
  13. 《牛來》國產動畫10日票房僅¥7,705 網民諷「聽過的人已後悔」 [Niu Lai domestic animation earns only ¥7,705 in 10 days; netizens mock that "those who have heard of it already regret it"]. Headline Daily (in Chinese). 15 August 2026. Archived from the original on 15 August 2026.
  14. 《电影牛来关联方曾为装饰工程公司》曰：注册资本10万元人民币收「ITBear科技资讯」，二〇二六年八月二十三日覽之。（中文）
  15. 《暴涨超6000%！《牛来》，突然刷屏！》曰：年报信息显示，该公司仅1人参保。收「东方财富网」，二〇二六年八月二十三日覽之。（中文）
  16. 《牛来，我去……》曰：没有投资，没有团队收「新浪财经」，二〇二六年八月二十三日覽之。（中文）
  17. Ma, Yidong, ed. (16 August 2026). 票房超550万元，《牛来》成今年国产动画票房第10名 [Box office tops 5.5 million yuan; Niu Lai becomes the 10th highest-grossing domestic animated film this year]. Phoenix Television (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 18 August 2026.
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  19. 《辣眼睛動畫片《牛來》爆紅 成本3萬票房千萬》曰：據報導，本片成本只有三萬塊人民幣收「新唐人電視台」，二〇二六年八月二十三日覽之。（中文）
  20. 《一个年轻人执着的五年：非科班导演信雨萌和他的《牛来》》曰：没有使用任何人工智能工具，靠一台台从闲鱼淘来的二手电脑逐帧完成收「新浪财经」，二〇二六年八月二十三日覽之。（中文）
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  24. 《深度｜这么糙的《牛来》为什么能公映？听专业人士详解》曰：低精度建模、人物动作卡顿收「澎湃新闻」，二〇二六年八月二十三日覽之。（中文）
  25. Zhong, Han (15 August 2026). 大巧若拙还是抽象猎奇？电影《牛来》反向登顶 [Clumsy genius or absurd curiosity? The film Niu Lai tops the charts in reverse]. Shangguan News (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 15 August 2026.
  26. 《牛来》为何爆红？观众、导演与电影从业者解读“粗糙”动画的意外狂欢. BBC中文网. 2026-08-19. （原始内容存档于2026-08-19）.
  27. 《《牛来》导演信雨萌访谈全文：5年仅靠自己1人制作，曾多次想放弃，得知能全国上映心情很矛盾》曰：片尾曲是自己的母亲包揽了词、曲、演唱收「新浪财经」，二〇二六年八月二十三日覽之。（中文）
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  29. Zhong, Han (2026년 8월 15일). 大巧若拙还是抽象猎奇？电影《牛来》反向登顶 [Clumsy genius or absurd curiosity? The film Niu Lai tops the charts in reverse] (중국어). 《Shangguan News》. 2026년 8월 15일에 원본 문서에서 보존된 문서.
  30. 电影《牛来》反向爆火：今日票房已超20万，剧组仅导演和编剧两人，网友边吐槽边说“想看”. 新华报. 2026-08-15. （原始内容存档于2026-08-19）.
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  33. Teng, Chao (15 de agosto de 2026). «《牛来》靠"抽象"出圈：有观众驱车30公里只为见证"历史"» [«Niu Lai» se hace popular por su carácter «abstracto»: algunos espectadores condujeron 30 kilómetros para «presenciar la historia»]. The Beijing News (en chino). Consultado el 17 de agosto de 2026.
  34. 朱加樟. 《牛來》｜國產動畫災難級畫質及無厘頭劇情惹議 10日票房7700元. 香港01. 2026-08-15.
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  38. 《牛来》零宣发没海报？各地影院整活海报大汇总. 游民星空. [2026-08-17].
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  40. 动画电影《牛来》反向出圈 网友调侃“老抽象依然坚持手搓” 发行方回应票房疯涨. 荔枝新闻. 2026-08-15.
  41. Kong, Xiaoping (15 August 2026). 影院反向加场，《牛来》总票房已怒破10万 [Theaters buck the trend and add screenings as Niu Lai's total box office surges past 100,000 yuan]. Yangtse Evening Post (in Chinese). Archived from the original on 18 August 2026.
  42. 《中信证券：牛来》曰：全国排片251场，仅122人观看，票房3420元收「新浪财经」，二〇二六年八月二十三日覽之。（中文）
  43. 劉育良. 2026暑期檔電影長這樣 中國災難級動畫《牛來》10天票房3.7萬元. 壹蘋新聞網. 2026-08-14.
  44. 邵梓恒. 邬嘉宏 , 编. 2026年最“炸裂”电影诞生：国产动画《牛来》上映10天票房仅7705元. 金羊网. 2026-08-14.
  45. 关聪 (2026年8月16日). “火线评论｜蹩脚动画电影《牛来》走红 说明我们无法再忍受平庸”. 财新网 (中国語（中国）). 2026年8月28日閲覧.
  46. 新浪剧评社《《牛来》票房10天暴涨1000倍背后，谁在推动这场“烂片”狂欢？》曰：“票房7352元没有万”的调侃话题登顶热搜收「新浪网」，二〇二六年八月二十三日覽之。（中文）
  47. 孔小平. 影院反向加场，《牛来》总票房已怒破10万. 紫牛新闻. 2026-08-15.
  48. 《骂它、捧它、玩它、见证它，1490条影评里的《牛来》》曰：单日票房从前一日的不足4000元陡增至71.7万元收「澎湃新闻」，二〇二六年八月二十三日覽之。（中文）
  49. 《国产动画电影《牛来》票房突破 1000 万元，制作过于粗糙引发观看热潮》曰：8 月 16 日票房达到了 609.3 万元的高峰收「IT之家」，二〇二六年八月二十三日覽之。（中文）
  50. 关聪 (2026年8月19日). “谁在看“烂片”《牛来》？票房超2400万元 一二线城市、青少年观众占比高”. 财新网 (中国語（中国）). 2026年8月28日閲覧.
  51. 《据灯塔专业版实时数据，截至8月22日23时16分，影片《牛来》票房突破4000万》曰：截至8月22日23时16分，影片《牛来》票房突破4000万。收「新浪财经」，二〇二六年八月二十三日覽之。（中文）
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  55. 《大连有影院将下架《牛来》不再上映，工作人员：怕影响大连形象》曰：大连有影院表示，接到通知下架《牛来》不再上映，工作人员称大连不让放，怕影响大连形象收「同花顺财经」，二〇二六年八月二十三日覽之。（中文）
  56. লাউ, এভলিন (১৯ আগস্ট ২০২৬)। "'নিউ লাই': কীভাবে একটি 'ভয়াবহ' চীনা অ্যানিমেটেড চলচ্চিত্র অপ্রত্যাশিত বক্স অফিস সাফল্যে পরিণত হলো"। দ্য ন্যাশনাল। ২০ আগস্ট ২০২৬ তারিখে মূল থেকে আর্কাইভকৃত।
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