So bad it’s good: How the Chinese cow movie ‘Niu Lai’ became a box office hit

Niu Lai, a low-budget Chinese animation film about a cow in a dream sequence, is going viral. Released on August 5, it earned less than $1,500 in its first ten days. But then — following snarky comments, bad reviews and widespread mockery by Gen-Z — the film found a larger audience and has now brought in more than $1.6 million dollars.

We speak with William Lee Adams, a BBC culture reporter, and Mengchen Zhang from the BBC’s Global China Unit. They discuss the film’s plot, its rudimentary animation and how bad publicity has helped it go viral at home and abroad. We also hear about the origins of the film, which was made by a mother and son over the course of five years.

Plus: Chinese content creator Marcelo Wang offers his hot take, and Utah-based content creator Cameron Cowley shares three of his favourite “so bad they’re good” films.

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Presenter: Iqra Farooq

Producers: Benita Barden and William Lee Adams

Editors: Verity Wilde