China's first AI feature film opens to weak ticket sales

Bona Film Group's fully AI-generated science-fiction feature Sanxingdui: Future Past opened in Chinese cinemas on Friday, October 23, 2026, with more than 10,000 screenings scheduled for its first day and advance ticket sales of 80,000 yuan (about $11,980), according to Maoyan figures reported by AFP.

Maoyan forecast total box-office takings below 150,000 yuan, a fraction of the more than 10 million yuan (about $1.5 million) Bona said the film cost to make. Ticket prices range from 20 to 90 yuan, which puts the number of tickets sold at a few thousand at most.

The wire moved those figures during the day. The version carried by The Straits Times has presale revenue at 65,000 yuan and forecast takings below 100,000 yuan as of the evening of October 22. AFP's own copy, updated on the morning of October 23, puts presale at 80,000 yuan and the forecast below 150,000 yuan. The two sets are not averaged here; the October 23 figures are the current ones. The Maoyan box-office pages would not load for a direct check.

Bona said nearly 100 people spent more than two years on the film, and that every actor, voice and backdrop is AI-generated. The film runs 100 minutes. SLOP TV covered the release-date announcement on September 29, 2026, and ended by saying whether an AI feature could draw a theatrical audience would not be known until the film actually opened.

At one of the first screenings in central Beijing on Friday evening, AFP counted four audience members present.

Bona chief executive Jiang Defu acknowledged the reception in an interview with the Chinese film industry outlet Yuli. "We are the first to try it, the first to get a theatrical release permit, and the first to be tested by the audience," he said. "I think that is not easy at all."

Iris Yang, who attended a free preview screening for acquaintances of the production team and industry workers on October 22, told AFP she would not have paid for a ticket given the film's quality. "If AI generation can match the theatrical experience of Avatar, I think I would be willing to pay for it," she said. Independent AI director Zhang Jun told AFP that "the audience won't automatically pay for the tickets just because it's an AI-generated film."

AI-generated video is growing quickly in China. On Douyin, AI-generated short dramas drew more than 200 billion views in September alone, according to AFP.

The next scheduled test sits outside China. The AI-generated science-fiction feature Gods Don't Give Gifts opens in US theaters on December 4, 2026, and a virtual actor called Tilly Norwood is set to star in a film called Misaligned.

For creators weighing an AI feature, Sanxingdui: Future Past shows that a theatrical release permit and a national screening count do not by themselves produce ticket demand. If the opening weekend holds near the presale figure, the case for a mid-budget AI feature will rest on its cost rather than on audience appetite.

The film's opening-weekend hold is the first hard read on whether Chinese audiences will pay for an AI feature; the US release of Gods Don't Give Gifts follows on December 4, 2026.