BlockBeats reported on Aug. 17 that the Chinese abstract animated film "Niu Lai" went viral and, during Sunday's market closure, helped push A-share stocks carrying the Chinese character for "bull" into the top five of Tonghuashun's hot-stock ranking. Jinniu Chemical, Gongniu Group and Tongniu Information were among the names on the list, with Jinniu Chemical holding first place.
In message boards for those stocks, some users called them concept plays tied to the film "Niu Lai." Others posted movie tickets to show support. There were also warnings that trading around the so-called "Niu Lai concept stocks" was driven purely by sentiment and carried investment risk.
One investor described the film as something made for stock traders, saying ordinary viewers might not understand it. The investor said the title sounded exciting and drew people in, but added that once inside, the film felt rough, and leaving midway after paying for a ticket felt like being trapped in a position. The takeaway, the investor said, was not to enter blindly out of curiosity.
Some scenes in the film also struck a nerve with investors. In one example cited by BlockBeats, Niu Lai cries after being tripped. His mother asks why he is crying, and Niu Lai says he was tripped by a rock. She replies, "Silly child, that was a tripping body, even dogs won't touch it."
Box office jumped from a few thousand yuan to millions
The film has recently drawn a wave of curiosity-driven viewership. On its first day, it had 251 screenings but only 122 viewers, generating RMB 3,420 in box office revenue. After 10 days in theaters, cumulative box office was only RMB 7,705, and its highest single-day audience count was just a little over 10 people.
The film is still in theaters, and its box office has since surged from the low-thousands range to several million yuan. Data from Dengta Professional Edition shows that "Niu Lai" has entered the top 10 on China's 2026 domestic animation box office chart. Its current gross stands at RMB 4.648 million, behind the ninth-ranked "Shuke Beta: Miniature Humans," which has grossed RMB 6.732 million.
A meme token with the same name also saw heavy trading
Speculation spread on-chain as well. According to GMGN market data, the "Niu Lai" meme coin on BNB Chain reached a peak market capitalization of $29 million during the day. It later fell to $10 million, then staged a V-shaped rebound to a reported $18.5 million. Its 24-hour trading volume stood at $37.6 million.
BlockBeats warned that meme coins often have no practical use case and can be highly volatile, urging caution from investors.