Chinese social media users appeared unconvinced by AI movies in cinemas, saying they were not worth paying to watch yet. (X pic)BEIJING: China's first fully AI-generated feature film opens 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, are scheduled for Friday, according to ticketing platform Maoyan.
Presale revenue as of Thursday evening stood at 65,000 yuan (US$9,700), while total box-office takings were forecast to remain below 100,000 yuan, only a fraction of the reported production cost, according to Maoyan.
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.
