China’s first fully AI-made film earned just $181,000

A costly first test

Bona CEO Jiang Defu said the film had trouble finding viewers, with advance ticket sales also modest. In an interview with Chinese film-industry publication Yuli, cited by Agence France-Presse, he said Bona was the first company to try releasing a film like this in theaters and the first to receive approval for a theatrical release. It was also the first to face the audience’s verdict. He said the experience was difficult.

The box office figure does not establish that audiences reject AI-made films as a category. But it does show that technical novelty and a wide release were not enough to draw crowds for this one.

The appeal of imperfection

The contrast with “Niu Lai,” a Chinese animated film made by a mother and son for just $200, is striking. Its clumsy animation and amateur acting are far removed from the polished images AI models can generate with little effort. Yet those imperfections and the film’s sincerity helped make it a meme and a small box-office phenomenon.

“Niu Lai” earned nearly $10 million. Against its original budget, it became one of the most profitable films in history.

I think that contrast points to a harder problem than image quality. AI can make polished visuals cheaply, but polish alone is not a reason to care about a film. “Niu Lai” found an audience through qualities its roughness made visible; “Sanxingdui: Future Past” has so far offered no comparable draw.

The unanswered question

Fully AI-generated films also face difficulty reaching US theaters, where many viewers regard assembly-line productions as low-grade work. Several projects with substantial marketing are expected to arrive in cinemas soon, but publicity is not evidence of demand.

What I’d want to know is whether those films can give audiences a reason to show up beyond the fact that AI made them. If the answer is no, the technology may lower the cost of producing images without making the films themselves more valuable.