China’s first fully AI-generated feature film opened in cinemas on Friday in what promises to be a tough box office test for the country’s booming tech industry as advance ticket sales lag.

More than 10,000 screenings of Sanxingdui: Future Past, a sci-fi thriller, were scheduled for the film, according to ticketing platform Maoyan.

Public reception, however, was less than enthusiastic.

Film revenue was approaching 290,000 yuan ($43,000) by Friday evening, and total box office takings were forecast to reach about 390,000 yuan ($55,000), much less than the reported production cost.

Ticket prices range from 20 to 90 yuan, bringing the number sold to a few thousand at most.

Jiang Defu, CEO of the production company Bona Film Group, acknowledged the lukewarm reception in a recent interview, but said the film was pushing boundaries.

“We are the first to try it, the first to get a theatrical release permit and the first to be tested by the audience,” he told a Chinese film industry outlet.

“I think that is not easy at all.”

Nearly 100 people took more than two years to make the film, which cost more than 10 million yuan ($1.5 million), Bona said, although all the actors, their voices and the backdrops are AI-generated.

The film touches on the theme of humanity in a future shaped by AI.

But that was not enough to convince Iris Yang, who attended a free preview screening of the film on Thursday for acquaintances of the production team and industry workers.

Yang said she would not have paid for a ticket, given the movie’s quality. “If AI generation can match the theatrical experience of Avatar, I think I would be willing to pay for it,” she said, referring to the US franchise known for the quality of its animation.

Source: AFP

--Agencies