Chinese abstract animated film Niu Lai ended its theatrical run on Aug. 17, with director Xin Yumeng thanking viewers for their attention and discussion, acknowledging the work still had many shortcomings, and calling the experience especially valuable for the team. The film had previously been pulled across Dalian, where its producer is based, over concerns about the city's image, though reports on Aug. 17 said some local theaters had resumed screenings. A widely circulated claim that no new screenings would be added nationwide from Aug. 17 was never officially confirmed, and most cities were still showing the film on Aug. 16, but schedules have now contracted sharply after the director confirmed the theatrical phase was over. The box office, after surging from just a few thousand yuan at first, rose past 15 million yuan by Friday evening and moved into seventh place on the 2026 Chinese domestic animation box office ranking, with an official celebratory notice released. On BNB Chain (network for BNB-based tokens), the Niu Lai meme coin (speculation-driven crypto token) remained actively traded: market capitalization briefly hit a fresh high of $49.2 million, then fell to $36 million after failing to break $50 million, marking a 26% short-term pullback, while still showing a 142% 24-hour gain and $37.5 million in 24-hour trading volume. BlockBeats cautioned that meme coins often lack real use cases and can be highly volatile.