Niu Lai Explained uses a deliberately small set of attributable sources. Stable regulatory and film metadata are separated from time-sensitive box-office snapshots. For current mainland-China box-office observations, the site now prioritizes the public China Film Box Office dashboard, while Maoyan and Dengta remain useful for historical cross-checks and timestamped milestones. Statements made by creators are clearly attributed to the speaker rather than silently converted into independently verified facts.
Source priority
- Government and primary records for screening permits, regulatory facts and the public China Film Box Office dashboard.
- Professional data platforms such as Maoyan and Dengta for timestamped historical snapshots and cross-platform milestone confirmation.
- Direct creator interviews or reputable reporting of those interviews for first-person production claims.
- Established news organizations for dated historical milestones, audience response and social-media context.
- Film databases for basic metadata that can be cross-checked against other public records.
Important: box-office platforms update continuously. When this site uses a live figure, it records the observation date and, where a reliable precise time is available, the time as well. A later number on the linked platform does not make an earlier dated snapshot inaccurate.
Government and primary records
The April 3, 2026 notice lists Niu Lai under permit 电审动字〔2024〕第33号 and identifies Dalian Jingyuan Culture Film and Television Media Co., Ltd. as the first production company. The site treats April 3 as the notice publication date, not as an assumed permit-issuance date.
Preferred source for the latest timestamped box-office snapshot. At 22:21:06 Beijing time on October 2, the dashboard displayed Niu Lai at ¥63.9899 million on its 59th day of release. The same snapshot showed ¥63,800 (¥6.38万) in October 2 comprehensive box office so far, a 0.13% schedule share and 91.48% online-sales share. The page states that its real-time market figures include service fees.
About the China Film Data Information Network ↗Professional box-office platforms
Used for earlier timestamped historical observations and cross-checks. The August 25 public dashboard snapshot showed Niu Lai at ¥48.544 million. For the October 2 latest snapshot, this site prioritizes the public China Film Box Office dashboard and uses Maoyan as a rounded cross-check where useful.
The public Niu Lai movie page offers a rounded cross-check. On October 2 it displayed cumulative box office at approximately ¥63.97 million in ten-thousand-yuan units. This site does not force exact equality with China Film Box Office because public pages may refresh at different times and apply different rounding or metric conventions.
A professional entertainment-data platform that provides real-time box-office data. For historical Niu Lai thresholds, this site links to the reporting outlet that recorded the exact Dengta value and timestamp.
A timestamped brief published at 20:43 records Dengta Professional Edition real-time data showing the film above ¥60 million at 20:42 on September 1. This source is used for the realized ¥60 million threshold, while China Film Box Office is preferred for the latest timestamped snapshot.
Film metadata
Used as a secondary source for the August 5, 2026 mainland China release, 86-minute runtime, director Xin Yumeng, writer Sun Lifang and the high-level synopsis. Stable metadata is cross-checked where possible.
Historical reporting and box-office milestones
Records the ¥7,705 first-10-day total, the more-than-¥360,000 cumulative figure at 18:00 on August 15, the day's roughly ¥350,000 box office, cinema additions and the spread of related discussion.
Cites Dengta Professional Edition for the August 16 five-million-yuan milestone.
Cites Maoyan Professional Edition at 14:55 on August 17, when Niu Lai had exceeded 12 million yuan and entered August's top ten.
Reports more than ¥14.9 million according to Maoyan and documents how the film's online reception became an international story.
Records a total above 18 million yuan at 13:00 on August 18 and also discusses a changing Maoyan forecast. This site uses the realized revenue milestone but does not treat the forecast as a factual outcome.
Reports Dengta Professional Edition's ¥20-million threshold at 16:35 on August 18. It also covers an interview recorded on August 2 in which Xin Yumeng said he spent five years making the film himself and did not use AI elements.
Provides a dated August 21 snapshot citing Maoyan Professional Edition at 08:00 and reports Broadway Cinematheque's account response about possible Hong Kong exhibition. The site treats the latter as an unconfirmed discussion, not a scheduled release.
A timestamped brief states that Dengta Professional Edition real-time data showed Niu Lai passing ¥40 million at 23:16 on August 22.
Reports that Niu Lai had passed ¥46 million in cumulative box office and 1.5 million admissions by August 24, citing Maoyan data. It also records the creators saying a new work titled Yang Gao was in preparation.
The public dashboard showed Niu Lai at ¥48.544 million cumulative box office at 14:44:43 Beijing time on August 25, 2026. Because the page is live, later visits will show newer values; this site preserves the observation time.
Reports Maoyan Professional Edition above ¥50 million at 10:47:31 on August 26. This is used as a realized historical threshold, not a forecast.
Reports Dengta Professional Edition real-time data above ¥50 million at 11:32 on August 26. Together with the Maoyan-based report, it provides cross-platform corroboration of the threshold.
A dated interpretive article published August 27. It is used for cultural-analysis context, not as the primary source for film metadata or live box-office values.
Reports on August 28 that Beijing Normal University scholar Yu Guoming had published a roughly 14,000-character paper on August 24 analyzing the film’s viral spread as a communication and social-participation phenomenon.
States that cumulative box office had passed ¥53.26 million at the time of the 09:15 publication on August 28. Because this is not the underlying professional data platform, Niu Lai Explained labels it as a secondary snapshot and does not present it as an audited final total.
Reports, citing Dengta Professional Edition, that the film had reached ¥59.641 million and that its theatrical authorization was extended to October 4, 2026. The site treats this as authorization for continued exhibition, not a guarantee of continuous showtimes at every cinema.
Reports that director Xin Yumeng introduced Niu Lai 2: Qihang in a September 13 Weibo post and said the sequel was planned for 2027. The article notes that the referenced post was no longer visible by September 15. It also reports the first film at ¥63.041 million in cumulative box office.
Reports that Maoyan Professional Edition showed the film above ¥63 million as of September 15 and confirms that the social-media message about a 2027 sequel was no longer visible when reporters checked. This source is used to distinguish a dated announcement from a currently visible release notice.
Account and identity reporting
Records that, on August 16, the distributor said the accounts then circulating as official were not official and that the film had not yet opened official accounts across those platforms. This is treated as a dated historical statement, not a permanent claim about future account status.
Later reporting attributes posts from “感恩的牛来” to director Xin Yumeng. Because the distributor's August 16 statement concerned accounts circulating at that time, while September reporting directly attributes later posts to Xin, this site treats account status as time-sensitive and attributes each claim to the dated source instead of making a permanent blanket statement about which account is “official.”
Editorial rules
- No invented facts. If a detail cannot be supported, it is omitted.
- Absolute dates and times. Historical events use explicit dates rather than “today” or “recently.”
- Date live data. A Maoyan or Dengta figure is tied to an observation or reporting date; an exact time is included when the source provides one or when it was reliably captured.
- Keep metrics distinct. Cumulative box office, comprehensive box office including presales, and single-day box office are not silently merged.
- Attribute creator claims. Statements such as Xin Yumeng saying he worked for five years or did not use AI are presented as his statements unless independently verified.
- Do not convert forecasts into facts. Box-office predictions can change substantially and are not presented as achieved revenue.
- Attribute criticism. Descriptions of artistic quality are identified as audience, critic or media reactions rather than objective measurements.
- Avoid copyrighted movie media. The site does not depend on posters, stills, clips, subtitles or other copyrighted film assets to explain the topic.
- Label secondary snapshots. If a fresh number is available only through a secondary market article rather than a preserved direct Maoyan/Dengta capture, the page says so explicitly instead of implying stronger provenance.
Current review window
The site's fast-changing historical pages were reviewed against public sources on October 2, 2026. The current preferred snapshot is the public China Film Box Office dashboard, which displayed ¥63.9899 million at 22:21:06 Beijing time, on the film's 59th day of release, with the dashboard noting that real-time market data include service fees. The same snapshot showed ¥63,800 (¥6.38万) in October 2 comprehensive box office so far and a 0.13% schedule share. Maoyan's public movie page provided a rounded cross-check near ¥63.97 million. The latest reliable theatrical-extension source retained on this site remains the August 31 notice extending exhibition through October 4, 2026; this October 2 review does not add a later extension. All live figures remain dated observations rather than a final theatrical total.
Corrections
If you find a specific factual error, send the page URL, the disputed sentence and a reliable supporting source to [email protected]. Corrections are evaluated using the same source hierarchy above.