Bona Film's Sanxingdui: Future Past, the first AI-made feature licensed for Chinese cinemas, opens on 23 October. A report carried by Jiemian finds a crowded field behind it that has yet to produce a breakout.
Streamers already carry many AI films. On iQIYI, two instalments of the Soul Ferry spin-off earned over 8 million yuan in revenue share, helped by a franchise proven as a live-action series. Mango TV's AI series Post Journey to the West has already aired on satellite TV. Director Chen Youxue, whose team switched from ads and live-action features to AI last year, is making Comet Boy by generating it first, then transferring real actors' performances onto it; in his view AI handles art and effects while people carry the emotion. Gezi Media has spent nine months on a film called Shoushan, saying lower costs let small firms attempt features.
Hobbyists work at feature length too. A creator called Yeshengguo posted a 94-minute adaptation of Liu Cixin's story The Mountain that drew 3.35 million Bilibili plays and 17 million on Douyin, but says it has earned nothing and plans a second through a RunningHub programme.
The report cites a breakout rate of 0.117% and describes narrow routes to money: a cinema licence or platform revenue share. Box office is untested, some viewers joke that AI films should be watched by AI, and long-video platforms keep losing subscribers to short video. The genre is still waiting for its first hit.
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