Niu Lai's box-office story is notable because the change happened unusually quickly. Public reporting citing Maoyan Professional Edition showed only ¥7,169 in cumulative box office after the film's first nine days. By August 17, Dengta Professional Edition data cited by multiple outlets showed the film had crossed ¥10 million.
¥10.957 million
Maoyan Professional Edition's dashboard displayed ¥10.957 million in cumulative box office for Niu Lai when this page was prepared on August 17, 2026.
This is a historical snapshot, not a live counter. The number may increase after the page publication date.
Key box-office milestones
First nine days
The Paper reported, citing Maoyan Professional Edition, that the film had accumulated only 7,169 yuan after nine days in theaters.
Source: The Paper / Maoyan Professional Edition ↗Comprehensive box office passed one million yuan
21st Century Business Herald reported that Dengta Professional Edition showed the film's comprehensive box office, including presales, had passed 1 million yuan on August 15.
Source: 21st Century Business Herald / Dengta ↗Cumulative box office passed five million yuan
National Business Daily reported at 16:52 that Dengta Professional Edition showed cumulative box office had crossed 5 million yuan.
Source: National Business Daily / Dengta ↗A single-day surge
IT Home reported from Maoyan Professional Edition's box-office trend that August 16 alone reached 6.093 million yuan, illustrating how sharply demand accelerated after the film went viral.
Source: IT Home / Maoyan Professional Edition ↗Cumulative box office crossed ten million yuan
According to Dengta Professional Edition real-time data cited by Viewpoint, the film crossed 10 million yuan in cumulative box office at 11:06 on August 17.
Source: Viewpoint / Dengta Professional Edition ↗Data table
| Date / time | Reported figure | Metric as reported | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| First 9 days; reported Aug. 14 | ¥7,169 | Cumulative box office | The Paper / Maoyan ↗ |
| Aug. 15 | ¥1M+ | Comprehensive box office, including presales | 21st Century / Dengta ↗ |
| Aug. 16, 16:52 report | ¥5M+ | Cumulative box office | NBD / Dengta ↗ |
| Aug. 16, full-day trend | ¥6.093M | Single-day box office | IT Home / Maoyan ↗ |
| Aug. 17, 11:06 | ¥10M+ | Cumulative box office | Viewpoint / Dengta ↗ |
| Aug. 17 page snapshot | ¥10.957M | Cumulative box office displayed on dashboard | Maoyan Professional Edition ↗ |
What the numbers show
The useful story is not simply that the film eventually earned millions of yuan. It is the scale and speed of the change. A title reported at 7,169 yuan after nine days moved past 1 million yuan on August 15, past 5 million on August 16, and past 10 million on August 17. The sequence matches the period in which discussion of the film expanded rapidly across Chinese social platforms and news coverage.
That does not prove that every ticket purchase had the same motivation. It does show that theatrical demand changed dramatically after the film became a viral topic. For the broader context, see why Niu Lai went viral and the Niu Lai timeline.
How to read these figures
Do not treat every number on this page as one perfectly uniform series. Maoyan and Dengta update at different times, and reports may distinguish cumulative box office, comprehensive box office, presales and single-day box office. Each milestone above preserves the metric used by its cited source.
- Snapshot, not live: the top figure records what Maoyan displayed when this page was prepared.
- Platform attribution: figures are attributed to Maoyan Professional Edition or Dengta Professional Edition through the linked source.
- No scraped private API: this site does not depend on an unofficial real-time endpoint or reproduce another platform's interface.
- No final-total claim: the August 17 figure is not labeled as the film's final theatrical gross.
Primary data links and reporting
The dashboard displayed Niu Lai at 10.957 million yuan in cumulative box office when this page was prepared on August 17, 2026.
Records the 11:06 milestone on August 17 using Dengta Professional Edition real-time data.
Reports the milestone using Dengta Professional Edition.
Reports the milestone using Dengta Professional Edition and explicitly notes the figure includes presales.