China's First Fully AI Theatrical Feature Flops With About $181,000
Summary
Bona Film Group's Sanxingdui: Future Past cost more than RMB10 million and drew audiences to a fraction of its 10,000 opening-day screenings.
"Sanxingdui: Future Past, billed by its producers as China's first fully AI-generated theatrical feature, has taken about RMB1.21 million (roughly $181,000) since its October 23 release, according to Maoyan estimates cited by Cartoon Brew and Fortune. Bona Film Group put the budget at more than RMB10 million (about $1.5 million), a figure AFP also reported, and Cartoon Brew said more than 10,000 screenings were scheduled on opening day.
The science fiction film follows an archaeologist trying to save a future world enslaved by AI, according to Chinese state media cited by Fortune. Bona says nearly 100 people worked on it for more than two years. Bona chief operating officer Jiang Defu acknowledged the lukewarm reception, Fortune reported, while calling the release an important experiment as the first such film to secure a theatrical permit and face paying audiences.
Fortune noted that AI generated more than 95% of the 120,000-plus Chinese microdramas released in the first quarter of 2026, according to Caixin. Stanley Rosen, a USC professor who specializes in Chinese film, told Fortune he doubts audiences will pay for AI features in theaters unless their quality rivals films like Avatar or Nezha 2."
