China's First AI Movie Fails to Recoup Even a Tenth of Its Budget Within Three Days

'Sam Sung-ui: The Future's Past,' China's first AI-animated film cleared by authorities for theatrical release, grossed 900,000 yuan (about 1.8 billion won) in its first three days following its July 23 release — less than a tenth of its production budget.

Despite roughly 11,000 screenings nationwide on opening day, advance ticket sales amounted to only about 140,000 yuan (around 28 million won). On the day of its premiere, a Beijing cinema screened the film for an audience of just four.

Chinese companies including Boweisingjilantu took part in the production, with the AI firm Shengshu Technology's video generation platform 'Vidu' providing technical support. A team of about 100 creators spent two years generating more than 1.2 million base images and revised the entire film over 100 times. AI was used across the production process, from character creation and background building to scene rendering.