BEIJING: 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 ticketsaleslag.

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.-AFP