China's Sanxingdui: Future Past Grosses $198,000 in Wide Release
The sci-fi thriller, backed by Bona Film Group, earned roughly 12 percent of its production budget during its first week in theaters.
By Naomi Whitaker ·
Sanxingdui: Future Past, a 100-minute science fiction thriller, opened in Chinese theaters last week and has collected an estimated $198,000 at the box office. The figure represents the first wide commercial test for a feature-length film generated entirely by artificial intelligence.
The movie, produced by Bona Film Group, cost 10 million yuan, or approximately $1.5 million, to make. Its early ticket sales covered only about 12 percent of that budget. The release included more than 10,000 screenings on opening day, a scale that distinguishes it from previous limited releases of AI-generated features in other markets.
Jiang Defu, the chief executive of Bona Film Group, described the project as an experimental milestone for the industry. Speaking to the Chinese film outlet Yuli, Jiang said the company was the first to secure a theatrical release permit for such a film and the first to face direct audience judgment. He added, "We are the first to try it, the first to get a theatrical release permit, and the first to be tested by the audience. I think that is not easy at all."
Audience reaction has been mixed, with critics and viewers noting gaps in production quality. One moviegoer told Yuli that the film, compared with traditional human production, "still falls short" in terms of overall quality. This sentiment mirrors the reception of Elon Musk’s AI-produced version of The Odyssey, which has been turning off viewers in the United States.
The plot of Future Past draws on artifacts from the ancient Sanxingdui civilization. The story depicts a future where a super-intelligent AI controls the globe and humanity has surrendered decision-making to algorithms, leading to a global crisis. The narrative themes align with the technological shift already visible in the Chinese market, where AI has become dominant in the production of short online dramas. According to Fortune, 95 percent of these microdramas are now AI-generated.
Other AI-generated features have had smaller runs in different countries. India’s musical Love You, a 95-minute film, released in May 2025, and Malaysia’s Pirate Queen: Zheng Yi Sao, which arrived in January, both held limited engagements. In the United States, the first AI-generated feature is scheduled for a limited release on December 4. That film, titled Gods Don’t Give Gifts, is an R-rated anthology of four sci-fi stories created by YouTuber Gossip Goblin and distributed by Fable.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
