China's first AI-made theatrical film flops: ¥170K box office after two years and ¥10M+ spent

创业邦 · wechat · 2026-11-12

Bona Film's Sanxingdui: Future Past became China's first AI-generated theatrical film to win official release approval — and a cautionary tale:

Weak box office: opened Oct 23 with 2.9% screen share and <1% occupancy; cumulative gross of just ¥1.698M by Nov 3. Yet pre-release hype sent Bona's market cap from ¥8.7B to ¥10.5B before a limit-down on opening day
Cost: 100-person team, 2+ years, over ¥10M spent, 1.2M+ images generated, hundreds of full-film iterations; no traditional director — collective creation instead
Workflow upheaval: scripts rewritten during editing, frame-by-frame "relay-review" consistency checks, resolution/flicker issues fixed until days before release
No business model yet: Bona's AI film/TV revenue was only ¥2.387M in 2025; audiences argue AI films "should be free". The sequel is already in production with a planned 50-person team

The piece also covers Bona's betting history and AI film pushes by iQIYI, Tencent Video, Youku and Mango TV.

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