China's first AI theatrical film flopped hard: $1.5M budget, $121K box office
aakashgupta · x · 2026-10-27
The night before China's first AI-generated theatrical film opened, at least two-thirds of its 10,000+ showings had sold zero tickets; presales totaled just $9,700. Box office tracker Dengta projects investors will recoup only 800,000–900,000 yuan against Bona Film Group's 10M+ yuan production cost—about eight cents back per dollar.
The irony: Chinese audiences love AI video—AI short dramas on Douyin pulled 20 billion+ views in September, and this film itself grew out of a 2024 Douyin AI short series. The quoted comparison stings more: 'Niu Lai', crudely animated on a $200–500 budget, made nearly $10M. The long-form vs short-form monetization gap is stark.
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