Written by: Cathy

August 17, Monday.

On the opening of A shares, Luoniushan, which focuses on pig farming, hits the upper limit of the increase, while Jinniu Chemical rises over 6%; on the BSC chain, a meme coin called "Niu Lai" reaches a market value of up to 46.79 million USD, setting a new high.

The source of all this is an animated movie. Ten days before its release, its cumulative box office was 7,705 yuan, with fewer than 300 viewers.

How did a movie that was almost swept out of theaters turn into a nearly 47 million USD consensus on the chain in just 72 hours?

A movie with a box office of 3,420 yuan becomes popular

"Niu Lai" was scheduled for 245 screenings on its first day, with a box office of 3,420 yuan. By the 10th day, only 4 screenings were left nationwide.

The producer, originally a renovation company in Dalian, had only two creators: a mother and her son, who were both the director and the screenwriter. Modeling, voice acting, production, and the end song were all handled by this mother-son duo, taking five years without a penny of external investment.

The only promotional material before the release was an ink-wash style poster with a distant artistic conception. Viewers came for the "national style healing" but saw a three-dimensional animation that was mocked for its "4399 game quality" with glitches and stutters. Netizens summarized it aptly: the poster was a buyer’s show, while the main feature was a seller’s show.

On August 14, "Niu Lai’s box office of 7,352 yuan didn't reach ten thousand" trended on social media. The rough visuals were spread to short video platforms, and the group ridicule began.

Then things spiraled out of control. The next day, the daily box office soared to 484,000 yuan, an increase of over 6,000%, as screenings surged from 21 to 359, with cinema managers actively "passionately scheduling" them. Some viewers drove 30 kilometers to buy tickets, not to watch a movie but to "witness history."

No one in the cinema was quietly watching the film. The whole audience was laughing, live-commenting, and filming with their phone screens; some were creating support graphics using seat selection patterns on their ticketing apps and sharing them online for meme interactions. The cumulative box office quickly surpassed 10 million yuan.

After it became popular, questions arose: how did a film of this quality obtain approval from the authorities? An unverified rumor spread online, saying the renovation company was owed 1 million yuan in final payment, and the client suggested making an animated film to qualify for cultural subsidies.

This rumor was soon refuted by industry practitioners, stating that subsidies were allocated according to cost ratios, and a small workshop had no space for arbitrage. However, the fact that this story was able to spread showed what people were willing to believe.

In fact, the approval only concerns the baseline: content compliance and whether there are any presentation failures. The visuals were never a criterion for review. "Niu Lai" focuses on maternal love and growth, which is the safest subject matter.

Thus, the absurdity continued to escalate. The daily box office reached 4.85 million yuan, entering the top ten domestic animated films of the year. Predictions for the total box office briefly rose to 18.37 million yuan.

Who is paying for the "roughness"

It would be too superficial to reduce this to mere curiosity.

Right now, the internet is flooded with AI-generated images that are perfectly composed, flawless, and utterly devoid of warmth. Various industries have pushed the limits, and audiences have grown weary of "high expectations, low delivery" industrial blockbusters.

At this moment, a work "not containing AI" emerged: a mother-son team with limited skills laid their flaws bare. A netizen's harsh yet precise comment described it as a madman running naked at a ball.

A chief strategist from a brokerage firm commented: people have aesthetic needs, but they also have needs for ugliness; there is a need to look up and a need to look down.

This type of script has already been performed in Hollywood. "The Room" has been disparaged by critics for twenty years yet has been screened at late-night shows by audiences for just as long, becoming a cult classic. An animation director directly defined it: "Niu Lai" is becoming a local cult classic for Generation Z, a public cultural event directed and acted by young people.

What's even more interesting is the name. "Niu Lai" is a homophone for "bull market is coming." For A-share investors hovering around 4,000 points and crypto players who have endured years of market waiting, these two characters are not just the film title; they are a wish pool.

Investors posted movie tickets in stock discussion forums with captions like "Niu Lai is skyrocketing." A ticket costing dozens of yuan purchased a symbolic stick of incense for macro expectations. As for Luoniushan, which hit the upper limit on Monday, its main business is pig farming, which has nothing to do with the movie.

72 hours on the chain

The real trigger was the people on the chain.

On August 13, before the movie hit the trending list, someone deployed a contract with the same name on BSC. Once the trend exploded, the coin increased by over 150 times in 24 hours, surpassing a market value of 15 million USD.

Next came the textbook scenario. The market value first broke 20 million USD; it later withdrew 18.65% within an hour, reaching a market value of 13.34 million as early investors cashed out.

There was a rollercoaster ride in the middle. According to on-chain market data, the market value plummeted from 29 million USD to 10 million, then V-shaped rebound with the 24-hour trading volume reaching 37.6 million USD, even surpassing the market value itself.

Of course, high turnover does not mean everyone is cashing out. Some entered and exited within minutes, repeatedly flipping, while others held on from beginning to end. For those flipping, this was not holding; it was a gamble.

By August 17, the expectation for the opening of A shares heated up, and funds rushed to run up prices. According to GMGN data, the peak market value reached 46.79 million USD. As of now, it remains above 36 million USD.

Let’s do the math. After five years of labor, the mother and son achieved a box office of over 10 million yuan, which is about 1.5 million USD, and they still have to share with the cinemas. An anonymous deployer wrote a string of contract codes—a matter of minutes, without copyright, authorization, or any business, triggering a market value of 46.79 million USD.

The issuing address clearly understands the value of this traffic: taking advantage of the heat, it continuously issues new coins, including the "Trip-over" that references the movie. One fish catches many, squeezing every last bit of profit.

In the world of memes, what matters most is whether this story has virality. "Niu Lai" just fits all criteria: it has trending topics, homophones, emotions, and the A-share market as an amplifying tool.

This so-called consensus does not mean everyone believes the movie is valuable; rather, everyone believes "there will be the next buyer." The content is just a cheap hook; the real business is to instantly tokenize public sentiment and harvest liquidity.

How long can this consensus last?

CITIC Securities and Shenwan Hongyuan have already dashed cold water on A shares, advising caution against emotional speculation. In plain words, this type of "bull" lacks fundamental support.

On the chain side, there won’t even be research reports.

The judgment is actually not complicated: the fundamentals of this meme lie in the trend itself, and the lifecycle of the trend defines its lifecycle. There is no team, no lock-up; the chip structure entirely reflects the deployer's mood. You think you are participating in a cultural event, but from the perspective of the operator, you are liquidity.

Of course, some people did make money during the revelry. Early birds who entered on the day the contract was created spent as little as 99 USD, and their paper profits multiplied by thousands.

This is the most alluring aspect of memes, and also the most deceptive: you see screenshots of instant wealth, but you don’t see the timing to exit.

Of course, some memes have really turned into cultural symbols. Dogecoin endured for eight years, evolving from a joke to a belief. "Niu Lai" has only been around for four days; the story is not yet complete.

For meme players, what’s truly worth remembering is not this coin, but this machine: any social hot topic can go from trending to contract deployment in just a few minutes. Where attention lies, so does harvesting. When the next "Niu Lai" appears, the script won’t change; only the name will.

The movie will leave theaters, the trending topics will turn pages, but the contract will remain on the chain. Whether it will gradually return to zero or survive to become the next long-term consensus remains to be seen.

After all, Dogecoin started out as just a joke.