GoKawiilLu Beike, who directed the big-budget Chinese series "Three-Body," felt theAI-generated scenes he'd tried came out sub-standard. "Lu added that if 90% of a film was generated by AI, a real human performance could appear jarring. A real actor's expressions carried more nuance and emotion. The skin textures did not match. Sometimes the only solution was to process the live-action material until the person looked a little less real — until they fit back into the 'AI world,' Lu said."But at Sun Wei's studio, they're thrilled they can produce a 90-minute AI film for $500,000 where professional productions used to cost millions of dollars. According to the article, Sun's team works with ChatGPT, Kimi or DeepSeek to flesh out entire screenplays from a short paragraph. The screenwriter takes over, but "to produce the finished product, Sun's team uses Chinese video-generation models to input the type of scenes, backgrounds and performers they want, with the AI generating 15 seconds of footage each time."Still, the article points out that "Similar tools are being tested in the U.S., and the AI trends upending China's entertainment industry may be a harbinger for what's to come in Hollywood, said Michael Berry, a professor specializing in contemporary Chinese culture at UCLA. Already, Chinese companies that sell AI-powered video-generation software are seeking inroads in Hollywood..."
While Hollywood Fears an AI Future, China's Film Industry is Embracing It
Why This Matters
China's film industry is rapidly adopting AI tools to slash production costs and speed up filmmaking, with studios producing feature-length films for a fraction of traditional budgets. This trend highlights a stark contrast with Hollywood's cautious, often fearful approach to AI, and suggests China's experience could preview how AI reshapes global entertainment production, labor, and creative processes.
Key Takeaways
- Chinese studios are using AI to cut film production costs dramatically, making a 90-minute film for around $500,000 versus millions traditionally.
- AI-generated content still faces quality and realism challenges, requiring human oversight to blend live-action and AI-created scenes seamlessly.
- Chinese AI video-generation companies are already seeking to expand into Hollywood, signaling potential global disruption in filmmaking practices.
Explore topics:
ai film production
china film industry
sun wei studio
chatgpt
video-generation models
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