The new sensation among some Chinese moviegoers is an animated film whose characters appear to have been created with rudimentary 3D animation and have been described as “ugly” and “eerie.”
But it is the scathing online reviews that seem to have prompted interest in “Niulai,” an animated film about a calf who had a dream about himself growing up with the help of his family, driving a surprising surge at the box office.
The film earned only about 10,000 yuan ($1,480) at the box office in the first 10 days after its Aug. 5 release. On some days, the film took in as little as 200 yuan ($30) at the box office, according to Maoyan, a movie-tracking platform. The figure was exceptionally low, particularly during the competitive summer movie season.
But its box office surged to 8.2 million yuan ($1.2 million) Monday, with nearly 300,000 admissions, according to Maoyan. Its total box office has reached 17.1 million yuan ($2.5 million).
Red Star News, a local news website in Chengdu, reported that the film was made over five years by just two people — director Xin Yumeng and his mother, Sun Lifan. The Associated Press was unable to reach Xin and could not independently verify this.
Posters seen at movie theaters featured a calf, hand-drawn in pen without color, alongside handwritten slogans: “Come on over if you’re into the bizarre” and “No refunds.”
On Douban, a popular Chinese movie-review platform, viewers piled on with mocking and bewildered comments.
Among the most popular: “unbelievably terrible and eye-opening,” “a symbol of the new internet troll culture,” and “a must-watch for Chinese stock market investors.” The last is a play on the film’s name, “Niulai,” which literally means “the bull is coming” in Chinese — a wish for a bull market.
Comments such as “over nine out of ten,” and “awesome and highly recommended” are also among the sarcastic reactions.
“My initial intention has always been to play pranks on my friends,” said Du Mingxi, a 19-year-old college student in Shanghai.
“If a friend asks me what I think about the movie, I’d say good and recommend them to watch,” he said, adding that he successfully tricked two friends to watch the movie with him. Both found it fun, but one fell asleep during the viewing.
Du compared young people going to the movies to see this kind of film to the mysterious “six-seven” craze in the U.S., saying that some are just drawn to things they find weird or funny, with many jumping on a trend whether they get it or not.
“They are just the same, it is funny but hard to describe what's funny about it, and young people just love spreading these memes virally,” said Du.
Despite the flood of criticism and memes, some viewers didn't mind the rudimentary production.
Zhong Jiaming, a vocational schoolteacher in Guangzhou, called it a rare find in an era when movies are often “visually exquisite and polished, but their stories can fail to engage.”
“This is a movie for the young at heart," said Zhong. "It is simple and honest, like a bedtime story for children.”
A child looks at a drawing poster promoting a Chinese animated film "Niulai" on display with other movie posters at a cinema in Beijing, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
A man walks by a drawing poster promoting a Chinese animated film "Niulai" on display with other movie posters at a cinema in Beijing, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A high school student carrying two pistols shot to death a fellow student before killing himself Tuesday in an attack in a southern Philippine high school campus that he livestreamed using a body-worn camera, police and other officials said. It was the second fatal school shooting in the country in just two months.
Hundreds of students were evacuated after shots rang out in the high school building of the Ateneo de Zamboanga university campus in the southern port city of Zamboanga. Two other people were injured, police and city officials said.
The suspect, identified by police as grade 9 student Mohammad Mael Jalani, fired at a teacher sitting in front of a class but apparently missed. He then shot a student on the fourth floor of the building before going up one floor and killing himself, police said in an initial report.
“He entered and started indiscriminately firing, hitting a Grade 10 student at the fourth floor then subsequently went to the fifth floor and jumped from the said building and committed suicide,” Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla told reporters.
“He showed this on Facebook Live starting when he was climbing up the stairs but there were only snippets,” Remulla said. “We'll look into his gaming history and his chat history so we cannot come up with a complete answer why this happened until we do a complete forensic analysis.”
Zamboanga city Mayor Khymer Adan Olaso and the police said the suspect shot himself.
The high school building, where the gun attack happened, is in a secured campus, separate from a larger campus of the privately owned Catholic university, where its colleges and professional schools are located in Zamboanga.
A few hours after the shooting, police said the situation was under control. They asked parents and guardians of students to remain calm and follow the high school's advice and arrangements to pick up their children.
“Authorities are currently establishing the circumstances surrounding the incident,” national police chief Gen. Jose Melencio Nartatez Jr. said. The police “will provide verified information as appropriate and appeals to the public to refrain from sharing unconfirmed reports, photos, or videos that may cause unnecessary concern.”
The national police “assure the public that the safety and well-being of the school community remain a priority. We thank the school administration, parents, guardians, and the community for their patience, cooperation and understanding as authorities continue to manage the situation,” Nartatez said.
The shooting happened despite police assurances that security in schools across the country would be strengthened after a shooting in June in which three high school students were killed and at least 20 others were wounded in central Tacloban city. Police arrested two students, ages 14 and 15, and accused them of carrying out that shooting.
Crimes involving the use of firearms are prevalent in the Philippines, partly due to the proliferation of unlicensed firearms, but school shootings are relatively rare.
Days after the school shooting in Tacloban, Philippine authorities said they temporarily blocked an online gaming app to assess whether it played a role in fostering such violence. The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center said its decision to indefinitely block Gorebox was prompted by an ongoing police investigation which showed that one suspect was an avid user of the app.
The shooting in the Philippines also occurred less than two weeks after a school shooting in Thailand.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul took steps to restrict guns in the Southeast Asian country after a 14-year-old boy killed his grandparents, five school staff members and a 12-year-old girl in Nonthaburi province outside Bangkok.
Thailand’s high rate of gun ownership is second only to Pakistan in Asia, and far surpasses its Southeast Asian neighbors.
Associated Press journalist Jintamas Saksornchai in Bangkok contributed to this report.
Police and security guards secure a junior high school building on the Ateneo de Zamboanga University campus following a shooting incident in Zamboanga, southern Philippines Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo)
A guard secures an area at the junior high school building on the Ateneo de Zamboanga University campus following a shooting incident in Zamboanga, southern Philippines Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo)
Vehicles exit the Ateneo de Zamboanga University following a shooting incident in Zamboanga, southern Philippines Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo) CORRECTION: Corrects date and day
Security guards keep watch as vehicles exit the Ateneo de Zamboanga University following a shooting incident in Zamboanga, southern Philippines Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. (AP Photo)
