An AI feature film cost millions of yuan. Its 21-day box office barely reached 1.8 million.

An AI-generated feature reached theaters, but its audience largely did not. Jiemian reported on November 12 that Sanxingdui: Future Past had collected 1.802 million yuan in its first 21 days, citing Maoyan. The previous day's takings were just 3,900 yuan.

The production had cost tens of millions of yuan, its producer previously told Caijing. AI generated every image and some audio. People still organized the screenplay, selected material and edited the result: a finished film required human creative decisions.

Caijing's interviews describe more than two years of work, with newer models prompting repeated revisions. Turning generated clips into a coherent 100-minute movie introduced problems that a striking short demo can avoid, including continuity across scenes and a story that holds together.

Current theatrical receipts fall well short of the disclosed investment, even before revenue sharing. They do not establish the project's eventual total return. The practical lesson is narrower than declaring AI cinema a failure: generating a feature and persuading people to pay for it remain separate achievements.

Original source published: Jiemian, Nov 12, 2026, 15:32 Beijing time / 2:32 AM EST; Caijing, Nov 3, 2026, 18:15 Beijing time / 5:15 AM EST.