China’s First Fully AI-Generated Film Struggles at the Box Office

China’s first fully AI-generated feature film, *Sanxingdui: Future Past*, has opened to weak ticket sales despite costing more than 10 million yuan to produce. The 100-minute science-fiction thriller was made over two years by nearly 100 people. Its characters, voices and backgrounds were generated with artificial intelligence rather than filmed with human actors. It mixes ancient Chinese civilisation with a futuristic story about humanity’s relationship with AI. Advance sales reportedly reached about 80,000 yuan, while projections put its total cinema earnings below 150,000 yuan. Viewers who attended early screenings said the technology alone was not enough to justify cinema ticket prices, arguing that AI films must match the visual quality of major blockbuster productions. The film’s slow start raises a wider question for the entertainment industry: can AI-generated films persuade audiences to pay for a cinema experience when similar content is widely available online for free?

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