Movie that went viral for terrible animation becomes China box office hit

Others say they are rooting for the movie because they desperately hope for a "bullish" stock market. "If the index reaches 4,000 tomorrow I will go to the cinema to support this movie," one Weibo user wrote. "It is a terrible movie but has a great name," another comment linking the movie to stock investments said. Niu Lai was a low-budget, lowkey production from the outset, and had received almost no publicity before its release earlier this month. But now it has proved so popular that cinemas have added screenings of the film in response to the soaring demand."This record is unprecedented and will likely remain so," a Weibo account dedicated to tracking movies noted. But not everyone is celebrating its unexpected success. Over the weekend, a commentary by state-owned Beijing News warned that cinemas risk "losing the trust" of viewers if they "continue to lower their standard" with additional screenings of Niu Lai.Mentioning previous movies that had been mocked for poor quality, Niu Lai has "once again lowered the bar for audiences' expectations of poorly made films", reads a commentary by state-owned Beijing News.