BEIJING – Sanxingdui: Past Events of the Future (Sanxingdui: Weilai Wangshi), the Bona Film Group feature made with artificial intelligence, had taken an estimated RMB1.59m ($239,000) after nine days in Chinese cinemas by the evening of Saturday 31 October, according to Maoyan Pro data reported by the 21st Century Business Herald. A little over a week into its run, the film’s share of screenings had fallen to 0.6%.
Key facts
- RMB1.591m ($239,000) cumulative by the evening of 31 October, nine days after the 23 October release (Maoyan Pro)
- RMB1.476m ($222,000) by 11:00 on 30 October, eight days in (Maoyan Pro)
- Stated production cost of more than RMB10m ($1.5m), from a team of 70 to 80 people working for more than two years
- More than 10,000 screenings were scheduled for opening day, according to Maoyan
- Bona has a second AI-made feature in production, and Huayi Brothers has announced one of its own
The figures go beyond one title. The 100-minute science-fiction film, known in English-language reports as Sanxingdui: Future Past, has been billed as the first fully AI-produced feature to receive a Chinese theatrical release permit. AI-generated short dramas are already popular on phones in China: they drew more than 200 billion views on Douyin in September alone, AFP reported. The cinema run tests whether that audience will pay for a feature-length AI film on a big screen. So far, few have.
A slow second week
The second week has added little. FilmBunch reported a four-day total of about RMB1.23m ($185,000) on 27 October, at an occupancy rate of 0.2%. The Global Times, the state-run paper, put the total at about RMB1.42m ($213,000) on Thursday 29 October, with occupancy still at 0.2%, citing Maoyan. By 11:00 on 30 October it stood at RMB1.476m, and over the next day and a half the film added roughly RMB115,000 ($17,000).
At that pace the gross will cover only a small part of the stated cost, and gross is not what reaches the producer: cinemas, distributors and levies take their share first. A commentary by Dingduan News, carried by Phoenix New Media on 30 October, noted that the film still had no score on Douban, the review site many Chinese audiences check before buying a ticket.
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What Bona says it was testing
Bona has framed the release as an experiment rather than a commercial bet. The film’s makers have said in interviews that box office was not Bona’s first goal and that the aim was to find a workable route for AI into film production, the 21st Century Business Herald reported. Bona executive Jiang Defu told the Chinese industry outlet Yuli before the release: “We are the first to try it, the first to get a theatrical release permit and the first to be tested by the audience. I think that is not easy at all,” according to AFP.
Lianhe Zaobao, citing Xinhua and The Beijing News, reported that the team generated more than 1.2 million base images and revised the film more than 100 times, with people in charge of the concept and artistic decisions. The producer, Quji Xiaojiang, put the cost at more than RMB10m and said a live-action version could have cost RMB800m to RMB900m ($120m–$135m). AI video platform Vidu, owned by Shengshu Technology, provided technical support. Accounts of the team’s size differ: the producers told Chinese media 70 to 80 people, while AFP reported nearly 100.
The story travels
The run has become an international talking point. The Hollywood Reporter called it arguably the first real commercial test of AI for feature-length work, citing an AFP estimate of $198,000 at the time, and set it beside the poor reception of the first instalment of an AI-made version of The Odyssey from Elon Musk’s xAI, released on X. IndieWire reported that Bona had received requests to screen the film outside China. Cartoon Brew contrasted it with Niu Lai, a low-budget animated film by director Xin Yumeng and his mother, screenwriter Sun Lifang, which took about RMB7,700 ($1,160) in its first ten days from 5 August and had grossed RMB64.29m ($9.7m) by 26 October after spreading online.
What comes next
Bona is pressing on. Its second AI-made feature, Ji Hua Wai: Guang Han Xing Dong (“Unplanned Operation in the Cold Moon”, as IndieWire translates it), is in production, and Huayi Brothers has announced an AI feature whose Chinese title translates as “Euler’s Identity”, as FilmBunch reported on 27 October. Bona’s AI film and series unit remains small: it reported revenue of RMB1.93m ($290,000) in the first half of 2026, 0.42% of the group total.
The film’s results come as the rest of the Chinese industry is under pressure, with Shanghai Film’s nine-month profit down 87%. In the US, guilds and talent agencies are asking a federal court to hear how AI training can be licensed.
Our reading
Nine days of thin screenings answer a narrower question than the one Bona set out to test. The AI pipeline delivered a 100-minute film for a stated RMB10m; the release showed that the way a film is made is not, by itself, a reason to buy a ticket. The phone audience for AI short dramas has not followed the format into cinemas.
For distributors, the Niu Lai comparison says more than the gross. A crude film found a paying audience once people had a reason to watch it together, and Sanxingdui has not yet given them one. The next evidence is how Bona and Huayi release their AI features, whether wide, narrow or online first, and what they cost.
Sources
- 21st Century Business Herald (21jingji), 首部AI院线电影“遇冷”, 31 October 2026, citing Maoyan Pro and Jiemian
- 21st Century Business Herald (21jingji), 国内首部AI电影4天票房仅119万元, 26 October 2026
- Phoenix New Media (ifeng), 上映8天，票房147万元, 30 October 2026
- Lianhe Zaobao, citing Xinhua, The Beijing News and AFP
- AFP, China's first AI film hits cinemas, but ticket sales lag
- The Hollywood Reporter, 29 October 2026
- IndieWire, 28 October 2026
- Global Times
- Sohu (Cailian Press), 27 October 2026 (Bona H1 AI unit revenue)
- Time Weekly, 26 October 2026 (Bona and Huayi AI features)
- Cartoon Brew, 26 October 2026