Chinese media is buzzing about a film that shows paradox, a film that caused a fever after being criticized as "unbelievably bad", "the worst of all time".
The film became a phenomenon in a paradoxical way: the more it was criticized as bad, the more the film made the audience curious to look at it.
The Chinese animated film "Ngu Lai" unexpectedly attracted attention at the box office when from a near-unknown work it became a network phenomenon.
The Bull" almost disappeared when it was first released in theaters. Only after videos and images from the film were shared by audiences on social networks to mock the rudimentary 3D animation style, bizarre shapes and incomprehensible storytelling, did the work unexpectedly attract many people's attention.
The Bull" has a duration of about 86 minutes, telling the journey of a calf with surreal details.
The plot is considered clumsy, while the visuals are impressive with simple 3D style, rough model surfaces and designs that remind many viewers of video games from decades ago.
These weaknesses have become a source of inspiration for countless comments and mocking videos on social networks.
Behind "Ngưu Lai" is also a special story. The film was made in about 5 years with a key crew consisting only of director Tín Vũ Manh and his mother, Ms. Tôn Lệ Phương.
The two mothers and daughters took on many stages in the production process, in which Ms. Ton also performed the song in the film. The work has almost no significant promotional campaign before release, no trailer or bustling media activities.
Initially, "Ngu Lai" had an extremely bleak debut. After the first 10 days of screening, the film only grossed about 7,700 yuan. But things quickly changed when images and excerpts from the film spread online.
The curiosity of the audience increased sharply, leading to a sudden increase in the number of people going to theaters and film revenue quickly reached tens of millions of yuan.
Sohu said that box office revenue has continuously increased, currently exceeding the 20 million yuan mark at the box office, far exceeding the expectations of experts. Maoyan predicts the film will reach 100 million yuan.
Even some cinemas self-designed posters to promote "The Bull" when they noticed that the film was starting to attract attention.
The somewhat clumsy and humorous posters further spread the story of the work. The paradox is that the criticisms that seemed to make a failed film unintentionally become the most effective form of promotion for "The Bull".
The unusual success of "The Bull" also led to many debates. A part of the audience sees this as an interesting example of a work created with very small resources, and some even see the film as evidence of human creativity in the AI era.
However, there are also opinions that a film that is underestimated in quality should not be turned into a symbol just because it does not use modern technology.
In fact, what makes "Nguu Lai" most noteworthy is probably not whether the movie is good or bad, but the way a work that is almost not promoted can become a phenomenon thanks to social networks.
Audiences come to theaters not necessarily because they want to enjoy a highly appreciated film, but simply because they want to witness firsthand how the work rumored to be "unbelievably bad" actually looks.
The Bull" therefore becomes an interesting paradox of the Chinese box office: the more a movie is criticized, the more ridiculed it is, the more people turn to it.
The success of the work shows that in the era of social networks, sometimes inappropriateness and the ability to create debate can become a strong attraction no less than quality or investment budget. And with "Ngưu Lai", perhaps the saying "the worse the better" has never been so true.
