Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Film Industry 人工智能与电影产业的未来

The booming of artificial intelligence technology has set off craze in many markets, including the film and television entertainment industry. On the one hand, people relish the improved efficiency brought by AI technology to the industry; on the other hand, many people are pessimistic about the impact of artificial intelligence on the industry.

At present, artificial intelligence has influenced content production and distribution mode in an allround way, such as script writing, film production, special effects, audience preference analysis, language translation and distribution modes.

According to media reports, a company called Flawless uses generative artificial intelligence technology to adjust actors’ facial expressions and sync their lips, so as to solve the problem that actors’ lips are out of sync with dubbing when viewers watch foreign movies. This artificial intelligence technology can not only reduce the translation cost of movies, but also help when actors mispronounce lines, thus reducing the possibility of remaking the film, greatly improving the production efficiency and cutting the production cost.

Enlight Media, a wellknown Chinese film production company, announced that it would adapt the novel GO TO YOUR ISLAND into an animated film, and released the first poster of the film. This poster was made by AI. Enlight Media said that besides posters, AI will also deeply engage in the development and production of this film.

It is said that Midjournney,

Stable Diffusion and the newly released GPT4 model are used in the poster making process. The designer assigns the design concept and keywords, uses ChatGPT to improve the instructions, and then inputs the instructions into Midjournney. After generating pictures, the instructions are constantly modified and fine-tuned based on the effects. Finally, the local adjustments are made with Stable Diffusion. And a poster is completed with the cooperation of designers and artificial intelligence. However, it is rare to use AI to make movie posters in China’s film industry.

In an internal letter to employees, Wang Changtian, chairman of Enlight Media, shared his views on the prospects of AI application in the film industry. He said that the new technology represented by AI creates unlimited potential for content creation and called on employees to “embrace this new era”. Compared with liveaction movies, the combination of animated movies and AI has unparalleled advantages. The initiative of Enlight Media may usher in a period of AIGC’s disruption of the film and television industry.

From AI painting to ChatGPT, the possibility of AIGC + film and television is emerging. The industry believes that AI will achieve breakthrough development of film and television content in three aspects: assisting creation, reducing costs and increasing efficiency, and enhancing visual experience.

At the end of January, 2023, Netflix released an animated film THE DOG AND THE BOY with AI being involved in production. This is the first

Admissions of the Chinese Films in Q1 from 2018 to 2023

Maximum box office day: 1.358 billion Yuan on January 22, 2023

Minimum box office day: 16.92 million Yuan on March 9, 2023

Top3 film proportion in Q1: 63.4%

Box Office Top 10 Films in Q1 of 2023

Source: Top Database

Screenings of the Chinese Films in Q1 from 2018 to 2023

Box Office Summary of Q1

Box office of imported films in Q1: 1.92 billion Yuan

Numbers of films released in Q1: 76

Box office of films released in Q1: 15.858 billion Yuan

Source: Top Database

Box office ROI of imported films: 12.1%

Imported films released in Q1: 16

Box office ROI of domestic films: 87.9%

Box office of domestic films in Q1: 13.93 billion Yuan

Domestic films released in Q1: 60

Monthly Box Office in Q1 from 2018 to 2023

Box Office Share of Different Genres Films from 2018 to 2023

Source: Top Database

The three-month box office in the first quarter of 2023 is respectively 10.09 billion Yuan, 3.86 billion Yuan and 1.91 billion Yuan. In January, due to the continuous hot films during the Chinese New year, the box office boosts.

Box Office of Films with Different Modes in Q1 of 2023

Box Office TOP 10 Cinemas in Q1 of 2023

Source: Top Database

Number of Films with Different Modes in Q1 of 2023

Wanda Cinemas of Tongzhou Branch

Jinyi Cinema Beijing Chaoyang Joycity Branch

Jinyi Cinema & IMAX

Bona International Cinema

Dajiaoting IMAX

Wanda Cinemas of SM Branch

Box Office TOP 10 Cinemas Lines in Q1 of 2023

Box Office TOP 10 Cities in Q1 of 2023

Box Office of Cities at Various Tiers in Q1 of 2023

Box Office TOP 10 Provinces in Q1 of 2023