China's First Theatrically Released AI-Generated Feature Film Earns $180,000 Against a $1.5M Budget

Sanxingdui: Future Past, a sci-fi thriller about an archaeologist fighting an AI-enslaved future, became the first fully AI-generated film to receive a Chinese theatrical release — and then promptly lost most of its $1.5 million budget, grossing an estimated $180,000 through its opening weekend. The film was produced by Bona Film Group, whose COO called it "an important experiment."

Chinese audiences have shown little resistance to AI-generated microdramas — over 95% of the 120,000-plus short-form dramas released in China in Q1 2026 were AI-made, at costs as low as $3,000 each. Feature-length cinema, it turns out, is a different ask. One viewer on Xiaohongshu summarized the experience as being "totally traumatized." USC professor Stanley Rosen put it more clinically: audiences won't accept AI features unless they can match the quality of Avatar or Nezha 2, and Sanxingdui did not.