China's First AI Movie Falls Short at the Box Office

China's first feature film entirely produced by artificial intelligence, "Sanxingdui: Future Past," performed well below expectations at the domestic box office following its release on October 23. Against a budget of $1.5 million, the film grossed only $181.

Released broadly to moviegoers by Bona Film Group across more than 10,000 screens, the film generated less than $20 in earnings per screen on average. The company stated that roughly 100 people worked on the production of the film for over two years, noting that all characters, including voices and visuals, were created using artificial intelligence.

Bona Film Group CEO Jiang Defu drew attention to the difficulties of finding an audience for an AI-based film following weak ticket pre-sales. Speaking to the Chinese industry publication Yuli, Defu stated that they were the first production to make this initial attempt, secure theatrical release permission, and face audiences, adding that it was by no means easy.