Why Did China's First Fully AI-Produced Theatrical Film "Sanxingdui: Future Past" Fail at the Box Office?
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China's first fully AI-produced feature-length theatrical film to receive a Dragon Seal, "Sanxingdui: Future Past," earned only 1.246 million yuan at the national box office in its first four days of release, with an average occupancy rate of less than 1%, far short of its ten-million-yuan budget. The article argues that AI performs well in grand scenes and artistic texture, but the characters' expressions are dull, the lip-syncing does not match, and the splicing of short shots causes narrative jumps, leading viewers to complain that it looks like a high-end game CG. The flood of free AI short films on short-video platforms has also made audiences unwilling to buy tickets for long-form AI videos. The Dragon Seal only addresses whether a film can be released in theaters; it does not address whether audiences are willing to pay.
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The film earned only 1.246 million yuan in its first four days of release. The article breaks down the reasons for the cold reception of a fully AI-produced theatrical film from two aspects: the viewing experience and audiences' willingness to pay.
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一部电影,定档时,曾刺激出品方股价涨停。它全程无真人演员,所有角色均为AI生成的数字形象,故事将三星堆文明(青铜神树、纵目面具)与未来AI危机(二进制密码、超级AI)进行了科幻联结,听起来酷炫又时髦。但上映后,作为国内首部获得龙标的AI院线长片,《三星堆:未来往事》票房崩盘,上映四天全国仅收获 124.6万元,平均上座率不足1%,预测总票房与千万级成本相去甚远,冰冷的票房数据甚至让资本市场也迅速降温。 上映四天票房仅124.6万元 这到底是为什么? 首先,观影体验的“割裂感”相当严重。虽然AI在处理宏大场景和美术质感上表现出色——影片中的三星堆青铜神树、古蜀祭祀场面以及科幻场景的光影效果非常惊艳,细节丰富,展现了AI在图像生成上的强大算力——但一到动态表演,AI的短板就暴露无遗,人物表情呆滞(“面瘫感”)、微表情缺失、口型对不上,甚至出现“几十年不老”的造型漏洞,被观众吐槽像“高配版游戏CG”或“把短剧思维拉长了”。而且,可能是为了避开AI不擅长的复杂调度,影片大量使用短镜头拼贴,导致场景跳跃,叙事逻辑硬伤不少((如伏笔回收不力、反派设定单薄),观众反馈“看得好累”、“像几组不同的小组作业拼在一起”。 其次,“AI”的噱头虽然此前在资本市场吃香,但对普通观众而言,很难转化为付费动力。其一,短视频平台上免费的AI短片泛滥,观众早已习惯,甚至形成了“AI=短视频”的固有印象,不愿意为一个“长版AI视频”支付高昂的电影票。其二,大银幕放大了AI的冷漠感,相比真人演员(尤其是明星)的个性化魅力和情感张力,AI角色显得千篇一律,难以打动普通观众。 AI角色缺乏个性和张力 由此可见,尽管《三星堆:未来往事》拿到了龙标(影片备案类别是动画影片,龙标前缀是“电审动字”,走的是动画电影审查路径),但龙标解决的只是能不能上院线,并不能解决观众愿不愿意买票。院线电影要面对的是票价、排片、明星效应、故事完整度、情绪共鸣这些硬指标。《三星堆:未来往事》这张龙标对行业探索有价值,对出品方博纳的技术路线有价值,但对单片商业回报几乎没有直接帮助。它更像一次“AI院线长片压力测试”:合规通道跑通了,观众接受度还没跑通。换句话说,市场对“AI全流程”这个卖点并不买账,观众只为故事和体验买单,而不是为技术标签买单。当AI技术还无法支撑起一部院线电影所需的细腻情感和严谨叙事时,仅靠“首部”这个名头是很难在竞争激烈的市场中立足的。