Chinese audiences may be happy to let AI generate their microdramas—but a fully AI-generated feature film may be a step too far.
China’s first AI-generated feature to release in cinemas, the sci-fi thriller Sanxingdui: Future Past, flopped at the Chinese box office. The movie, produced by Bona Film Group, tells the story of an archaeologist who must save the future world enslaved by AI, according to Chinese state media. It only managed to generate an estimated $180,000 through Monday, according to ticketing platform Maoyan. The film had a budget of $1.5 million, according to AFP.
Jiang Defu, the company’s chief operating officer, acknowledged the film’s lukewarm reception in an interview with Chinese film outlet Yuli. Still, he argued Sanxingdui was an important experiment. “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. “I think that is not easy at all.”
Fortune has reached out to Bona Film Group for comment.
Social media reactions to the film have been mixed. “China’s first AI movie totally traumatized me,” wrote one user on Xiaohongshu, a Chinese social media platform similar to Instagram. Another user was more positive: “My biggest takeaway? AI movies are super low-cost and let you tell stories with complete freedom.”
Do audiences want AI feature films?
AI has already taken over microdramas, or shorter narratives designed for social media platforms like TikTok. According to Caixin, over 95% of the more than 120,000 Chinese microdramas released in the first quarter of 2026 were AI-generated, compared with nearly zero just a year ago. The cost of making these dramas has plummeted too, down to as little as $3,000.
But Sanxingdui’s flop suggests that consumers don’t want to see AI in a full-length movie.
“The public is highly skeptical about AI use in major feature films, despite their general acceptance of short-form films,” said Stanley Rosen, a University of Southern California professor who specializes in Chinese film and society.
In the U.S., the use of AI in filmmaking is controversial. In 2023, U.S. screenwriters and actors went on strike, in part to demand protections against the use of AI. AI models like those from ByteDance and Higgsfield AI are already being used in Hollywood productions.
On Oct. 9, Netflix released its crime thriller “Animals,” whose director Ben Affleck admitted that he had used AI. “I used [AI] for lots of things in that movie,” Affleck said during a Bloomberg event, adding that he was “a little bit hesitant to point out what they are” because movies are meant to “foster the illusion of reality.”
Rosen says that he isn’t convinced that audiences would watch an AI-generated film in theatres unless it could match the quality of the likes of “Avatar” or “Nezha 2.” Such films may instead find a home on streaming platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. “The financial loss of Sanxingdui: Future Past will compel others contemplating using AI for feature films to tread more carefully,” he says.
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