Sanxingdui: Future Past, China’s first fully AI-generated feature to receive a theatrical release, has underperformed at the box office. Produced by Bona Film Group, the science-fiction thriller follows an archaeologist attempting to rescue a future world enslaved by AI. Ticketing platform Maoyan estimated receipts at $180,000 through Monday, against a production budget of $1.5 million reported by AFP.
Bona chief operating officer Jiang Defu acknowledged the lukewarm reception while defending the project as a significant experiment, citing its pioneering theatrical approval and audience test. Social media responses were divided, with one viewer expressing strong dislike and another celebrating the technology’s low production costs and storytelling freedom.
The disappointing performance contrasts sharply with AI’s penetration of China’s microdrama market. According to Caixin, more than 95% of over 120,000 microdramas released in the first quarter of 2026 were AI-generated, compared with almost none a year earlier. Production costs for these short, social-media-oriented narratives have fallen to as little as $3,000.
Stanley Rosen, a University of Southern California professor specializing in Chinese film and society, distinguishes acceptance of short-form content from skepticism toward AI features. He questions whether audiences will attend theatrical screenings unless the quality matches films such as Avatar or Nezha 2. Streaming platforms, including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, may provide an alternative outlet, while this film’s losses could prompt greater caution.
AI filmmaking also remains controversial in the United States, where protections against the technology were among the demands behind the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes. Nevertheless, director Ben Affleck acknowledged using AI for multiple purposes in Netflix’s crime thriller Animals.
