Soul Ferry: Butterfly Dream

Soul Ferry: Butterfly Dream (灵魂摆渡·蝴蝶梦) is an AIGC online feature film from iQIYI and Changxin Media, running 61 minutes. It was released exclusively on iQIYI on 22 August 2026 at 10:00, and a trailer is on YouTube. It is the first of three films in the Soul Ferry "Fusheng Dream" (浮生梦) series, which fills in the timeline of the long-running Chinese IP; Soul Ferry: Dream of the Celestial Maiden came out the same day and Soul Ferry: Dream of the Princess followed on 1 October.

The film was made by directing it with AI. With the actors' likeness authorised, the original cast members Yu Yi, Liu Zhiyang and Xiao Yin dubbed their characters, and the performances were completed with motion-transfer technology. Guo Jingyu, the series' artistic director, said AI was chosen because it suited the story's themes, turning Zhuangzi's butterfly image into a world of shimmering butterflies. Guo told Securities Daily that the two films took under four months to make, and that scenes such as the celestial maiden's battle at Kunlun would otherwise have needed green-screen shooting and long post-production. The series had special support from iQIYI's professional AIGC production platform Nadou Pro, and the company says it built about 500 character assets, 800 scene assets and 200 core item assets for reuse. No page read names the AI models used.

Ding Kuan directs, Xiao Jixiangtian wrote it, and Li Zhichao produced. Securities Daily reports the series was made by Hangzhou Jiuziyuan, a small studio, and that Ding Kuan rose to prominence through it. Securities Daily notes that iQIYI and Changxin Media launched the original Soul Ferry web drama around 2014, and says it passed 100 million plays in six days and still holds an 8.7 Douban rating. The new films reunite the same IP and creative team twelve years later.

iQIYI said the platform put out two AIGC films within a month of its first licensed AIGC online feature, Qitan: Paper Blade Crossing the Wasteland. Securities Daily reported that the first two films reached an on-site popularity of over 6,600 on iQIYI, the highest rating among the platform's 2026 online films, and over 3 million yuan in revenue-share box office in three days to 25 August. China News Service's Zhongxin Jingwei reported over 6 million yuan by 1 September. A later financial report, which the company's figures drive, says the two recovered their production costs in the first week and that the series passed 10 million yuan in revenue-share box office by 3 October. The YouTube upload had 2,625 views when read on 9 October 2026.

Online reaction is mixed. Zhongxin Jingwei says viewers called the series a sincere piece of domestic AI filmmaking and praised the restored look of the original trio and the mountain and Kunlun fantasy scenes. A Sina report on the film says some viewers find the AI look of the faces still obvious, and that industry observers think its success leans on the existing IP and cast nostalgia, which may not carry over to original productions. Guo himself said AI film is still at an early stage and cannot replace human emotion and deep storytelling.

Securities Daily frames the series as a shift in film from competing on budget to competing on output, with small AI-capable teams gaining access to platform projects that were once out of reach.