{
  "id": 1917152,
  "title": "Niu Lai: How a 'terrible' Chinese animated film became an unlikely box-office hit",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/19/niu-lai-how-a-terrible-chinese-animated-film-became-an-unlikely-box-1917152",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-08-19T10:42:49.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The National UAE",
    "slug": "the-national-uae",
    "url": "https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/film-tv/2026/08/19/niu-lai-how-a-terrible-chinese-animated-film-became-an-unlikely-box-office-hit/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "How did a low-budget, low-quality animated film become a surprise smash hit at the Chinese box office ? Niu Lai , which translates to “the cow is coming”, is an 86-minute animation about a calf and a skylark whose relationship develops over the course of an abstract dream sequence. Made by just two people over five years, the film is the work of Sun Lifang and his mother Xin Yumeng, who served as…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 3,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The National Business",
        "title": "Niu Lai: How a 'terrible' Chinese animated film became an unlikely box-office hit",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/19/niu-lai-how-a-terrible-chinese-animated-film-became-an-unlikely-box",
        "published": "2026-08-19T10:42:49.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "New Straits Times",
        "title": "#SHOWBIZ: Chinese animated film mocked as 'bad' becomes a box office hit",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/19/showbiz-chinese-animated-film-mocked-as-bad-becomes-a-box-office-hit",
        "published": "2026-08-19T11:53:23.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}