China’s first fully AI-generated feature film to reach theaters, Sanxingdui: Future Past, opened nationwide on October 23 and has drawn weak ticket sales, according to figures from the ticketing platform Maoyan cited by multiple reports.
The sci-fi film, produced by Bona Film Group, earned an estimated 1.21 million yuan, or about $181,000, through October 26. It had more than 10,000 screenings scheduled on opening day. Screenings on subsequent days averaged as few as two viewers each, with the reported theater occupancy rate falling to 0.1 percent by October 26.
Bona Film Group said the production cost more than 10 million yuan, roughly $1.5 million. Nearly 100 people worked on the project for more than two years. All characters, voices and backgrounds were generated by AI. The film uses original digital characters rather than digital replicas of real actors.
The story follows an archaeologist and draws on the ancient Sanxingdui civilization in Sichuan Province, known for its bronze masks and artifacts. It links those relics to a future in which humanity faces a crisis after handing decisions to artificial intelligence.
Jiang Defu, an executive at Bona Film Group, addressed the early reception in an interview with the Chinese film industry outlet Yuli. “We are the first to try it, the first to get a theatrical release permit and the first to be tested by the audience,” he said.
Presale revenue on the morning of the release stood at about 80,000 yuan. One woman who attended a free preview screening, identified in AFP reporting as Iris Yang, said she would not have paid for a ticket given the film’s quality.
The results stand in contrast to the performance of Niu Lai, a low-budget animated film released in Chinese theaters on August 5. The 86-minute family story about a young calf and its herd was made by director Xin Yumeng and his mother, Sun Lifang, who handled writing, animation, voices and other production tasks over roughly five years.
Xin Yumeng, a landscape designer by trade who taught himself animation, and Sun Lifang produced the film on a reported budget of about $200. It initially drew limited audiences, with fewer than 300 viewers and roughly $1,000 in ticket sales during its first 10 days.
Clips of the film’s rudimentary CGI and awkward character movements spread on social media, where viewers labeled it “worse than AI.” The attention drove curiosity. By late August the film had grossed several million dollars. Reports around the time of the Sanxingdui: Future Past opening put its cumulative total near 64 million yuan, or about $10 million.
Bona Film Group had previously released an AI-generated short-drama series connected to the Sanxingdui theme that attracted significant online views. The feature film received a public screening permit from China’s National Film Administration, marking the first time such a fully AI-generated theatrical project cleared that process.
Ticket prices for Sanxingdui: Future Past ranged from 20 to 90 yuan. Early box-office tracking indicated the film was unlikely to recoup its reported production costs based on the opening performance.
