The first feature-length film entirely created using artificial intelligence (AI) premiered in Chinese cinemas on Friday. Due to low demand for advanced tickets, this film may pose a significant challenge to box office revenue in the country's rapidly growing technology industry.
According to ticketing platform 'Maoyan', over 10,000 screenings of the sci-fi thriller 'Sansindui: Past Future' were scheduled for Friday. However, audiences did not show much enthusiasm. According to 'Maoyan', preliminary sales reached only 65,000 yuan by Thursday evening (equivalent to $9,700 or 900,000 Indian rupees). It is projected that total box office collection will remain below 100,000 yuan, which constitutes only a small fraction of the film's stated production cost.
Jiang Defu, CEO of the production company 'Bona Film Group', admitted in a recent interview that the public reaction to the film was reserved. Nevertheless, he emphasized that the picture aims to explore new boundaries. He stated in the publication 'Julie' that they are the first to take such a step, receive permission for theatrical screening, and present their work to the audience for the first time.
'Bona Film Group' reported that creating this film took over two years of work by about 100 people, with costs exceeding 10 million yuan ($1.5 million, or 150 million Indian rupees). Despite this, the film failed to impress Iris Yang. She watched a free preview on Thursday and noted that given the quality of the picture, she would never pay for a ticket.
Yang added that if any AI-created film could provide a cinematic experience comparable to 'Avatar', she would be willing to consider buying a ticket. While AI-generated videos are gaining popularity in China, the world's second-largest economy, AI dramas on the Chinese version of TikTok, 'Douyin', were viewed over 200 billion times in September. Meanwhile, independent AI director Zhang Jun told AFP that the mere fact of creating a film with AI does not guarantee viewers' willingness to pay for it.
Chinese social media users are also not showing much interest in the appearance of AI films in theaters. One Weibo user commented that the film could become very popular if it were available to watch for free on streaming platforms, but people are not yet ready to pay for viewing.