First Theatrical AI Feature Film "Sanxingdui: Future Past" Grosses 1.229 Million Yuan in 4 Days

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Only 1.23 million yuan in box office after 4 days in release, attendance rate falls to 0.2%: first theatrical AI feature film suffers box office Waterloo

STAR Market Daily reporter Li Jiayi, editor Mao Mingjiang, 2026-10-27 09:04

① "Sanxingdui: Future Past" has been in release for 4 days, with cumulative box office of only 1.229 million yuan and an attendance rate that has fallen to 0.2%. Based on the officially disclosed production cost in the tens of millions of yuan, the amount Bona recovers through theatrical revenue sharing may be less than one-tenth of the production cost. ② Bona's second AI film, "Unplanned: Guanghan Operation," has been approved and has started shooting, and the mythological animated film "Chinese Strange Tales: Luocha Sea Market" is also on the schedule.

STAR Market Daily, October 27 (Reporter Li Jiayi) — A cost in the tens of millions hard to recoup? The first AI film has met a cold reception in theaters.

Recently, China's first AI full-process theatrical feature film to receive a "Dragon Mark" approval, "Sanxingdui: Future Past," landed in cinemas nationwide. As of the evening of October 26, the film's cumulative box office was only 1.229 million yuan. It had 8,331 screenings, its attendance rate had fallen to 0.2%, and average attendance per screening was 0.3 people. Against a production cost in the tens of millions of yuan, the producers' revenue share may be only about 800,000 yuan, with funds recovered through theaters amounting to less than one-tenth.

The reaction in the capital market was equally sharp. Bona Film Group hit the daily limit during trading on October 26 and closed down 10.06% at 5.54 yuan, with a total market value of 7.615 billion yuan. On the same day, AI comic-drama concept stocks weakened collectively, Ciwen Media hit the daily limit, and Guomai Culture fell by more than 10% at one point during trading.

The first theatrical AI film meets a cold reception: 1.23 million yuan in box office over 4 days

On October 23, the first AI full-process theatrical feature film to receive a "Dragon Mark" approval, "Sanxingdui: Future Past," opened in cinemas worldwide. The film runs 100 minutes, is a science fiction animated title, and is produced by Bona Film Group, with Jiang Defu as producer and chief producer, Qu Ji Xiaojiang as executive producer and producer, and Yue Ming as screenwriter and director. All characters in the film are original digital figures and do not involve digital replication of real actors.

Producer Qu Ji Xiaojiang revealed in an interview with the media that the production cost of "Sanxingdui: Future Past" exceeded 10 million yuan. At the same time, chief producer Jiang Defu said the team followed the film industry production process and set up professional divisions of labor including screenwriting, directing, producing, art, cinematography, lighting, sound effects, and editing.

As China's first AI film, it once attracted extremely high enthusiasm from the capital market. On September 28, the first trading day after the film's release date was set, Bona Film Group recorded a one-line limit-up; subsequently, on October 9 and October 12, the stock price secured two more limit-ups in succession. In just six trading days, Bona Film Group hit the limit three times, and the company's total market value climbed from about 8.7 billion yuan to a peak of 10.5 billion yuan.

Maoyan professional data show that as of the evening of October 26, "Sanxingdui: Future Past" had been in release for 4 days, with cumulative box office of only 1.229 million yuan. It had 8,331 screenings, accounting for 2.3% of screenings, yet its attendance rate had fallen to 0.2%, with average attendance per screening of 0.3 people.

Previously, Lighthouse Professional Edition predicted the film's first-day box office at 311,000 yuan and final total box office at 2.169 million yuan, based on which the producers' revenue share is estimated at only about 800,000 yuan. And based on the officially disclosed production cost in the tens of millions of yuan, the amount Bona recovers through theatrical revenue sharing may be less than one-tenth of the production cost.

The novelty of the technology failed to conceal the shortcomings at the core of the narrative, which also confirms the stringent requirements of the big theatrical screen for content quality.

The cold reception of "Sanxingdui: Future Past" also reflects the current commercialization dilemma of AI film and television: it can reduce costs but struggles to generate revenue, which is also directly reflected in Bona's financial report data. The financial report shows that in the first half of 2026, Bona's AI film and television drama business recorded revenue of 1.9323 million yuan, with corresponding operating costs of only 61,300 yuan, for a gross margin of 96.83%. By comparison, in the same period the company's traditional film business had a gross margin of 35.51%, while the gross margin of the cinema and theater chain business had fallen to -3.99%.

Although the AI business has demonstrated strong cost-reduction capability, its scale remains too thin. In the first half of the year, Bona's total revenue was 458 million yuan, and the AI film and television drama business accounted for only 0.42%. Bona also emphasized that the company's AI film and television drama business is still in an early stage of business development, and the relevant technical paths, business models, and market acceptance still need continuous verification.

Why does the logic that worked for short dramas fail on the big screen?

In the first five months of 2026, the domestic AI drama and comic-drama market had already exceeded 22 billion yuan, with the full-year figure expected to hit 40 billion yuan, and domestic AI short drama users exceeded 600 million in the first half of the year. Supply-side expansion was even more astonishing: on Douyin alone, 221,900 new AI dramas and comic dramas were added in the first half of the year. Production quotes fell from 5,000 yuan per minute at the beginning of the year all the way to a few hundred yuan.

An efficiency model built on low marginal costs as its foundation and traffic-based revenue sharing as its recovery path has been repeatedly validated on mobile devices, but this model is difficult to transfer to cinemas.

An assembly-line short drama quote of a few hundred yuan per minute corresponds to templated production capacity and flaws that users can swipe past on their phones; however, once resolution, modeling precision, and character consistency are raised to theatrical screening standards, marginal costs are no longer on the same order of magnitude. Based on estimates for "Sanxingdui: Future Past," a cost in the tens of millions spread over 100 minutes works out to more than 100,000 yuan per minute, a price gap of hundreds of times compared with mobile comic dramas.

In addition, short dramas mainly rely on "free viewing + paid traffic acquisition + platform revenue sharing," and the only thing viewers pay is their attention, so on small screens they can tolerate visual flaws well enough; but films are "pay first, watch later," and a ticket costing tens of yuan requires every frame to be worth the ticket price. Flaws that can be tolerated on a small screen, such as lip-sync, consistency, and facial expressions, will be magnified exponentially when put on the big screen.

An AI short drama screenwriter also told a reporter from the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily that live-action films also have the star effect, and fans are willing to pay for their favorite idols. But with something like "Sanxingdui: Future Past," which features entirely original digital characters, audiences are mainly drawn by the "first AI film," and one-time curiosity cannot sustain repeat purchases.

In their view, what AI efficiently replaces is the image generation stage, while script structure, emotional pacing, and directorial judgment have not been replaced at the same time. Once the novelty of the "first AI theatrical feature film" is exhausted in its opening weekend, subsequent box office loses any support it can build on. "In AI film and television, story is the core. If AI films want to cross over into commercialization, they still need to tell the story well first," the screenwriter stressed to the reporter.

Faced with the cold reception of the first AI film, the screenwriter remains optimistic about the industry: "AI is the trend, and there should be more attempts in the future. When web dramas first came out, their production was also jokingly called 'five-mao' quality, and after they later reached scale, they gradually became mature and refined. We still need to give the AI film and television industry some time to develop."

It is worth noting that the industry side has not slowed down because the first film met with a cold reception. It is reported that Bona's second AI film, "Off Plan: Guanghan Operation," has already been approved and started shooting, and the mythological animation "Chinese Strange Tales: Luosha Sea Market" is also on the schedule; ST Huayi has also announced the AI theatrical film "Euler's Identity."

From the box office performance of the first AI film, it is also not hard to see that AI technology can currently effectively lower production costs, but the business model of theatrical films still requires the content itself to be attractive enough for audiences to be willing to go to the cinema and pay for tickets. Only by crossing the threshold of content quality can AI films gradually move toward commercialization.

Cailianshe statement: The content of this article is for reference only and does not constitute investment advice. Investors who act on this do so at their own risk.

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First Theatrical AI Feature Film "Sanxingdui: Future Past" Grosses 1.229 Million Yuan in 4 Days

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