Sanxingdui: Future Past flops with $181,000 in China

Sanxingdui: Future Past, the first fully AI-generated feature film to win a theatrical release permit in China, opened on October 23 and has flopped. Estimates put it at roughly RMB1.21 million, about $181,000, through Monday, October 26, against a budget over RMB10 million, about $1.5 million.

Bona Film Group produced the 100-minute science-fiction film. Directed by Yue Ming, it follows an archaeologist who decodes seven Sanxingdui characters to save a future world enslaved by a super AI, China.org.cn reported. It is the first full-process AI film China's Film Administration has cleared for commercial theaters. SLOP TV covered the opening weekend on October 23.

The exact figure moved as coverage continued. Fortune reported about $180,000 through Monday, citing the ticketing platform Maoyan. Cartoon Brew and IndieWire put it at RMB1.21 million, about $181,000; IndieWire credited Bona. By October 28, 36Kr, citing Maoyan Professional Edition, reported a total of RMB1.348 million and a producers' share of RMB430,000, which 36Kr said may not cover the film's computing costs. Two days after release, on October 25, the ticketing platform Lighthouse had the film at RMB914,000 by midday, Asia Daily reported.

How Sanxingdui compares to Niu Lai

Two months before Sanxingdui opened, Chinese audiences turned a far cheaper film into a hit. Niu Lai, made by director Xin Yumeng with his mother, screenwriter Sun Lifang, earned roughly RMB7,700, about $1,150, in its first ten days after opening on August 5, Cartoon Brew reported. Clips of its crude modeling and stiff animation spread online, and the shortcomings became the draw. Niu Lai has now grossed RMB64.29 million, nearly $10 million. 36Kr put its budget at about RMB50,000.

Bona spent more than two years on Sanxingdui and staffed it with nearly 100 people, Cartoon Brew reported. IndieWire, citing a Bona blog post, said the team numbered 70 to 80 and that the film was still being tweaked a week before release. The production generated more than 1.2 million base images and went through more than 100 full-film revisions, Asia Daily reported. The team worked with ShengShu Technology, the company behind the video generation model Vidu, China.org.cn reported.

More than 10,000 screenings were scheduled for opening day, Cartoon Brew reported. Asia Daily put opening-day seat occupancy at 0.9 percent, rising to 1.2 percent the next day.

The gap matters for anyone banking on AI to cut the cost of a feature. Sanxingdui's predecessor, an AI short drama called Sanxingdui: Future Revelation, drew more than 200 million views across platforms after its July 2024 launch, 36Kr and China.org.cn reported. A short drama plays free on a phone. A 100-minute film asks for a ticket and a seat.

Bona has started production on a second AI feature, Unplanned Operation in the Cold Moon, and has fielded requests to screen Sanxingdui in other countries, IndieWire reported.

Sanxingdui: Future Past is playing in Chinese theaters and opened in Malaysia the same day as in China; Jiang Defu said 14 other countries and regions are in talks about overseas releases, China.org.cn reported.