The makers of Overdo, a big-budget Chinese drama about fate, romance and revenge starring Zhang Linghe and Wang Churan, have pulled its AI-generated opening sequence and replaced it with newly shot live-action footage after viewers attacked it.
The series premiered on 19 July after strong hype built on leaked set photos, and the opening quickly became a trending complaint. Viewers mocked the AI opening's stiff figures, uneven lighting and flat backgrounds, which many said gave it a plastic look, comparing it to PowerPoint animation and cheap online games and calling it unworthy of such an expensive series.
In a statement on Sina Weibo, the team said the fast montage was meant to sketch the leads' teenage past and plant clues about later twists. They apologised for a response they had not expected and said they began remaking it overnight after the first complaints; after days of work the new opening went online.
Citing the Beijing Daily, the Global Times said AI already fills short-video platforms with ever more polished short dramas, and audiences who expected more from a prestige series felt betrayed when it made AI footage its public face. The report asked where cost-cutting ends and craft begins.
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