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China's first fully AI-generated film "Sanxingdui: Future Past" makes about $181,000

Bona Film Group's "Sanxingdui: Future Past", billed as the first fully AI-generated feature released in Chinese cinemas, grossed about $181,000 in its first days against a roughly $1.5 million budget. Two US left-leaning entertainment outlets cover it as a flop.

2 outlets · 2L · 0C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: The A.V. Club
Image: IndieWire

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The story, neutrally told

Left · 2"Sanxingdui: Future Past", described as the first fully AI-generated feature to open in China, made about $181,000 (RMB 1.21 million) at the box office after opening on 23 October. Left · 2The producer, Bona Film Group, put the budget at 10 million yuan, about $1.5 million, so the opening gross was a small fraction of the cost. Left · 1The A.V. Club, citing Cartoon Brew, reported that the film opened on 10,000 screens on its first day, with a per-screen average of $20.

Left · 1The 100-minute film, set thousands of years in an AI-dominated future where a global crisis breaks out, uses AI-generated characters, actors and backgrounds. Left · 2Bona says it took about two years to make. The A.V. Club puts the team at more than 100 people, while IndieWire, citing a Bona blog post, says 70 to 80. IndieWire adds that the film was still being tweaked until a week before release, and that some creators objected to the idea that the images were made with a single click. Left · 1Bona CEO Jiang Defu told the Chinese industry outlet Yuli, as relayed by AFP: "We are the first to try it, the first to get a theatrical release permit and the first to be tested by the audience... I think that is not easy at all."

Left · 1An attendee quoted by AFP said the AI still "falls short" of a human-made, live-action production, and that few people would currently pay to watch such a film, though that might change decades from now. Left · 1IndieWire says Bona had reason to expect an audience, since the film began as an AI microdrama series with nearly 200 million views. It notes that a 100-minute feature must pass a content review that a short microdrama avoids, which slowed its release. Left · 1Bona has already begun production on a second AI-generated feature, "Unplanned Operation in the Cold Moon", and says it has received requests to screen the film outside China.

Left · 2Both outlets look beyond China. The A.V. Club contrasts the film with the hand-made animated movie "Niu Lai", reportedly made for $200 by a mother and son, which it says has earned $10 million. IndieWire points to Gossip Goblin's AI feature "Gods Don't Give Gifts", due in US theaters in December.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left2 outlets

Framing
Both outlets treat the film as a box-office flop and a sign that audiences resist AI-made cinema. The A.V. Club is sardonic and sets it against a hand-made hit, while IndieWire is more analytical about the industry.
Emphasis
The A.V. Club stresses the low per-screen average and the success of human-made 'Niu Lai'. IndieWire stresses the budget against gross, the microdrama origins, content review, and the upcoming US AI release.
Leaves out or plays down
Neither gives the film's plot or reviews in detail, and neither includes a critic's assessment of the film's quality. Their team-size figures differ.
Charged language
“slop”“Torment Nexus”“fails to generate an audience”“big flop”
For example
“No one—family, friend, or foe—is coming together over that slop.” — The A.V. Club
“it makes it a big flop” — IndieWire

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