Bona Film Group's "Sanxingdui: Future Past" Receives Dragon Mark and Hits Theaters; AI Theatrical Feature Film Box Office Approximately 1.229 Million Yuan
The 100-minute sci-fi animated film "Sanxingdui: Future Past," produced by Bona Film Group, recently opened in theaters nationwide, becoming the first domestic AI full-process theatrical feature film to obtain a public screening license. According to Maoyan Professional Edition data, as of the evening of October 26, cumulative box office over 4 days of release was approximately 1.229 million yuan, with a screening share of 2.3%, a shortfall in recoupment against production costs in the tens of millions of yuan. The film was completed by a team of nearly 100 people at Bona's AIGMS Production Center over more than two years, cumulatively producing over 1.2 million base images; the company's self-developed "Boka Film Cloud Studio" platform has launched a web version and provides SaaS services, with AI film and television drama business revenue of 1.9323 million yuan and a gross margin of 96.83% in the first half of 2026.
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Bona's first AI full-process theatrical feature film to receive the Dragon Mark saw a cold reception at the box office, but the production costs and cost-reduction data from its self-developed platform offer another perspective.
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In fact, the market's enthusiasm for this film had already been fully released before its release. On September 27, the film announced its release date, and the next day Bona Film Group recorded a "one-line" limit-up; on October 9 and October 12, the company's stock price successively hit two more limit-ups, sealing the board three times within just six trading days, with total market value climbing from about 8.7 billion yuan to a peak of 10.5 billion yuan, making it the leading target in the AI film and television and short drama concept sectors at the time. During this period, the company twice issued abnormal fluctuation announcements, warning of uncertainty in box office returns.
After the film's release, the calm box office performance is closely related to the current macro environment in which the overall film market is under pressure. Against the backdrop of slowing moviegoing demand, according to Maoyan Professional Edition data, as of the evening of October 26, "Sanxingdui: Future Past" had accumulated about 1.229 million yuan in box office over four days of release, with a screening share of 2.3%. Compared with a production cost in the tens of millions of yuan, there is a clear gap between theatrical recovery and investment—the topical heat of the "first AI film" ultimately struggled to withstand the test that the content itself poses to audiences.
However, beyond the box office, the weight of this "Dragon Mark" is more worth writing about.
As far as "Sanxingdui: Future Past" is concerned, the very fact that an AI full-process theatrical feature could pass review by the China Film Administration and obtain a theatrical public screening permit proves that Bona Film Group can do—and can do well—this thing called AI film and television: a theatrical film bearing the "Dragon Mark" inherently represents China's highest standard of film and television production. According to disclosures by the producers, the film was assembled by the Bona AIGMS Production Center with a team of nearly 100 people, continuing the professional division of labor of the traditional film industry in screenwriting, directing, producing, art design, cinematography, lighting, sound effects, editing, and other areas. It took more than two years to polish and cumulatively produced more than 1.2 million base images, going through hundreds of full-film iterations; all characters in the film are original digital images and do not involve digital replication of live-action actors. Producer Qu Ji Xiaojiang revealed that the film's production cost was in the tens of millions of yuan, whereas if the same subject matter had followed the traditional live-action path, the cost might have reached 800 million to 900 million yuan. Having crossed the highest threshold of theatrical films, doing television dramas, short dramas, short films, and other content with relatively lower requirements is undoubtedly more comfortable.
Beyond the project, what Bona Film Group has truly accumulated is a reusable AI video platform. As early as the end of 2023, the company established the Bona AIGMS Production Center; this year, the self-developed "Boka Film Cloud Studio" creation platform was officially launched, with its web version already online, providing SaaS services to the industry and integrating professional processes such as scripts, storyboards, visuals, dubbing and music, characters, scenes, and lighting into a unified workflow. Chief producer Jiang Defu likened it to an "online Hengdian." Financial data also confirms the cost-reduction potential of AI production: in the first half of 2026, the company's AI film and television drama business achieved operating revenue of 1.9323 million yuan, with operating costs of only 61,300 yuan and a gross margin as high as 96.83%, far exceeding the 35.51% level of the traditional film business in the same period; this business was first written into the company's annual report as an independent segment in 2025.
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