Last weekend, the first feature-length AI-generated feature to get a wide release in China opened and quickly bombed at the box-office.
The sci-fi thriller “Sanxingdui: Future Past,” made for a budget of about $1.5 million, grossed an estimated $198,000 in its opening according to the French wire service Agence France-Presse (via THR).
While other AI-generated feature films have had limited releases in various countries, this was the first true genuine AI blockbuster wide release with 10,000-plus opening-day screenings taking place.
Bona Film Group CEO Jiang Defu tells Chinese film outlet Yuli that despite the underwhelming numbers, it was an important release: “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.”
The movie itself is about a future when a superintelligent AI has spread across the globe, and humanity has handed control to algorithms – plunging the world into a crisis.
The rejection comes as China has otherwise embraced AI-generated microdramas – short online films made with the technology, accounting for 95% of them on social media.
The first AI-generated feature film getting a U.S. theatrical run is the R-rated sci-fi anthology feature “Gods Don’t Give Gifts”, opening December 4th.