This low-budget film was once derided as a flop, but later achieved a miraculous box office reversal with its unpolished sincerity and real creative effort.
On its opening day, this low-budget film grossed only 3,420 yuan. From the very start, it was widely criticized online for its crude computer graphics and was regarded as a laughingstock in the film industry.
No one could have predicted that five months later, this film—made on a budget of just over 100,000 yuan—would surpass 6 million yuan in a single day at the box office, with Maoyan projecting total box office receipts to reach 135 million yuan.
The
film’s closing song, “A Fragrant Breeze After the Rain,” quickly went viral online. Sun Lifang wrote the lyrics, composed the music, and performed the song herself. Few people know that she is not a professional singer; she is not only the mother of the film’s director, Xin Yumeng, but also one of the core creative team members. When the *Niu Lai* project was
first launched, no one was willing to invest in it,so the mother and son relied solely on their remaining savings of about 100,000 yuan. It took them five years to complete the project, with the two handling nearly all key roles on their own. The final film’s 3D modeling shows some rough edges, and parts of the plot were released to the market before they were fully polished—yet they made no attempt to conceal these flaws.The end-credit song composed by
Sun Lifang has not been elaborately produced; its melody is simple and soothing, and the lyrics center on the ordinary truths of life—spring’s birth and autumn’s splendor, the cyclical nature of all things—which perfectly echo the film’s theme of growth. Her performance is unadorned, even slightly raw, and harmonizes perfectly with the film’s overall atmosphere.
The
film *The Ox Is Coming* had no star power to draw audiences, nor did it receive any funding for marketing and promotion. It was originally scheduled to be removed from theater lineups on its third day of release, but was saved from imminent withdrawal solely through spontaneous word-of-mouth from ordinary viewers.At the heart of
this comeback is the film’s ability to strike a chord with audiences by tapping into long-suppressed emotions. After being inundated with perfectly packaged, assembly-line productions, this unvarnished authenticity has become a rare commodity.
Today, *The Ox Is Coming*—a film once lambasted as utterly worthless—has not only achieved what can only be described as a miraculous box office success but has also spawned a wealth of fan-created content. The production team has capitalized on the film’s popularity to launch a charitable campaign, and even overseas media outlets have dedicated special reports to the phenomenon.
Throughout the entire process, the
mother and son never took shortcuts. They spent five years honing their content in their cramped studio, eschewing flashy gimmicks and instead presenting their most authentic work with complete honesty—and in doing so, they truly touched the hearts of their audience.
These days, many people focus first on how to package their work to look polished and presentable, or how to find shortcuts to minimize effort. Yet this mother and son have proven through five years of steady, solid work that the most precious essence is always the unvarnished truth itself.In an environment where perfection and grandeur are the order of the day, such unvarnished clumsiness and sincerity are rarely seen anymore. Moving
forward, there’s no need to constantly focus on putting on a facade; doing the work at hand with diligence and integrity is far more powerful than any shortcut or trickery.
