A frontline director of overseas AI short dramas says the hardest shots are the suggestive ones, where large language models refuse or fumble and the work falls back to hand-written prompts and edits. Just as he learned the craft, platforms began banning the content.
Orca Entertainment's Jingrui AI platform bundles more than 50 AI video models into one production and management tool, claiming per-minute cost savings above 30%. The launch points to a shift from chasing model quality to controlling how AI video gets made, reviewed and budgeted.
A wave of Chinese actors and actresses are publicly saying work has dried up, with some trading film sets for vegetable stalls. The shift reflects a smaller, cheaper and more fragmented screen business in 2026.
Documentary filmmaker Lu Qingyi went back to his home county to care for his dying father and stayed to care for his mother. His new book turns that year of caregiving into a meditation on family, memory and ordinary lives.
A Chinese finance review argues that the US-China trade friction may have dented Hollywood's box office in China by eroding audience goodwill, using cinema data from 2017 to 2019. The finding sits alongside other explanations, from weaker films to stronger domestic competition.
A viral post asks whether Hengdian, China's biggest film and TV production hub, is losing its edge as AI takes over acting and production work. The debate touches on extras, sets and the town's tourism economy.
A gymnastics champion turned actress is now credited as chief producer of a period drama that led its CCTV-8 time slot in March 2026. Online, the conversation still circles old co-star rumors rather than the new job.
A claim that Hengdian film town fed 150,000 background performers' data to AI sparked a backlash, and the platform behind the model denied it. The dispute exposes how China's studios are digitizing extras without clear consent rules.
A new wave of AI-generated short dramas is producing fictional stars with real followings, real music releases and real brand deals. One virtual idol, Shen Zhi from the series NOVA, has drawn tens of thousands of followers and a cosmetics sponsorship without a human ever appearing on screen.
AI has cut the number of new dramas and short series, pushing Chinese actors to study abroad, take odd jobs or change careers. The shift is rewriting who gets to work in front of a camera.
Rehearsals for Hebei's sixth ethnic minority arts festival are turning museum artefacts — Zhongshan script patterns, Warring States drums and a Han dynasty palace lamp — into costumes and props, as a regional variety show rebuilds itself around heritage.
AI-generated short-drama production prices in China have fallen from 5,000 yuan per minute to as little as 200 yuan, a 96 percent drop that one entrepreneur calls a death sentence for the sector. Meanwhile, a Hong Kong-listed firm reported 223 million yuan in AI short-drama revenue.
Hengdian, China's largest film studio complex, is renting idle backlot sets to ordinary tourists for 388 yuan a day, letting visitors star in their own short films. The pivot comes as the number of short-drama crews filming there has fallen sharply year on year.
A portrait-rights lawsuit between producer Xinpai Media and a star of its 2019 hit The Untamed exposes how Chinese long-form drama's blockbuster-or-bust model has cracked, with major projects missing expectations and shows airing with no sponsor at all.
The Three-Body Problem spin-off prequel Sanxingdui: Future Past is the first AI-generated feature to get a Chinese theatrical release certificate and sell tickets. Made by Bona Film Group's AI studio on a self-built platform, it shows how far synthetic filmmaking has come and where it still falls short.
Jet Li, the martial-arts star who once flew across cinema screens, says he has told his wife Li Zhi he wants no tombstone and no funeral, with tree burial or sea burial both fine. At 63, the actor frames the plan as the calm conclusion of a life that nearly ended several times.
In a new interview, director Gu You discusses his film 'First Taste of Loneliness,' arguing that being alone is not always a burden but can be a doorway to clarity. The film opens with a slow pan along the misty Fuchun River.
The cast of The First Half of My Life reunited a decade after the drama aired, prompting fans to revisit its story of a betrayed wife. The moment also highlights how Chinese dramas keep returning to cheating plots, with a new twist each season.
Veteran Chinese actor Li Xuejian, now unable to hear or speak, performed a silent role in a televised gala on October 22 — with an AI-generated voice supplying his narration. The detail has turned a tribute into a debate about technology, dignity and craft.
Tropical-storm rain soaked Vogue's Suzhou gala on October 23, turning a colour-themed red carpet into a test of improvisation. With 18 roaming cameras and no fixed marks, stars competed on gestures rather than gowns.
A wave of new titles lands in Chinese cinemas, led by the romance drama 去你的岛 at 7.5 and the ensemble film 活色生香 at 7.0. The slate mixes mainland animation, British imports and a Keanu Reeves re-release.
A bowl of noodles shared with a younger model put 52-year-old Hawick Lau back in the spotlight, just as ex-wife Yang Mi was commanding Milan Fashion Week. Eight years after their split, Hong Kong paparazzi turned a quiet reunion into a referendum on two very different lives.
Chinese streaming giant iQIYI is suing car rental shops, computer sellers and road-rescue firms over alleged piracy, with critics calling it a 'fishing' campaign. The cases have sparked a debate about who really pays when platforms enforce copyright.
An old interview with Zhao Liying resurfaces, in which she calls kissing scenes 'just work.' Yang Mi's garlic trick offers a very different answer to the same awkward question.
A viral Chinese essay asks where once-ubiquitous stars go when the spotlight moves on, using actor Hu Yitian's reported 673 days without a shoot as its centerpiece. It's a window into how fast fame arrives and fades in China's entertainment industry.
Chinese actress Zhao Lusi has released her first short-form drama as investor and producer, drawing millions of views while her online store reportedly clears 50 million yuan a month. Can her commercial instincts outlast the hype?
Peter Jackson has confirmed that the sequel to The Adventures of Tintin will be his next directing project, with the screenplay already complete. The story remains under wraps, and no filming, casting or release dates have been announced.
At the 35th Feitian Awards, polished speeches by winners like Wang Renjun and Song Jia stood in contrast to viral clips of stars misreading characters and mangling interviews, reviving a CCTV commentary that asked whether 'desperate illiterates' can act.
Currie Barker's low-budget horror film Obsession, an original script that became one of the decade's biggest original theatrical hits, arrives on Netflix on November 17 after grossing over $500 million worldwide.
Veteran Chinese actress Zhou Xun shared the best actress prize at the 31st Busan International Film Festival, days before her 52nd birthday. The tearful acceptance speech became one of the most-shared entertainment moments of the week in China.
China's film and sports authorities have launched a joint push to screen live sports in cinemas, pairing movie tickets with match tickets and discounts. Over a thousand cinemas have already tested the idea, from football and basketball to esports.
In a GQ interview, Ben Affleck discussed tensor math, convolutional neural networks and edge detection, joking that he writes Python scripts. The clip went viral, with fans saying the math genius in Good Will Hunting should have been him, not his character's friend.
A short story from a Song Dynasty bestseller follows a Quanzhou trader who grew rich in overseas commerce, then watched fortune curdle into violence. It survives as a vivid window into China's medieval maritime trade.
Hengdian, China's largest film-production base, has awarded a 235 million yuan contract to a ByteDance-linked consortium to build an AI filmmaking platform, as studio activity in the town slows.
Resident Evil: Night of the Outbreak, a live-action film adapted from the survival-horror video game series, has passed 304 million yuan at the Chinese box office in its first ten days. It blends game lore with a distinctly Chinese setting.
Chen Sicheng's crime thriller The Trace, starring Zhang Yi and Ma Li, is drawing strong reviews in Chinese cinemas. It arrives as a wave of revived crime franchises tests how far a familiar title can stretch.
Playing one of Chinese literature's most seductive villains made Gan Tingting famous — and then trapped her, as rumors about private photos and backers followed her for a decade. Chinese entertainment still struggles to separate an actor from a role.
Two decades after a Taiwanese variety show pressured her into a humiliating game, Chen Qiaoen has become one of the Chinese-speaking world's most bankable leading women — and now she chooses her own projects.
Former Boy'z member Steven Cheung vanished from Hong Kong entertainment after a 2019 marriage scandal. At 41, reports say he is doing manual labor, deep in debt, and still hoping to return to the stage.
At the 35th Feitian Awards in Yantai, little-known stage actor Wang Renjun beat frontrunners to win Best Actor for a drama role. His unpolished acceptance speech about craft over celebrity became the night's most-discussed moment.
