iQIYI AI Film Push Accelerates With Nine New Projects

iQIYI is expanding its push into AI filmmaking with nine new feature-length projects, taking generative entertainment another step beyond the short clips and experimental videos that have dominated the technology so far. The projects span adventure, suspense, action, romance and animation, giving the Chinese streaming company a much broader test of whether AI can support complete films across very different genres.

The move follows a period of rapid expansion for iQIYI’s AI entertainment strategy. It has already released feature-length AI productions, developed a professional filmmaking platform and unveiled a multi-season drama combining generative AI with performances from professional actors.

Nine AI films have been selected

More than 100 projects from around the world were submitted for consideration before nine were selected to move into production. The films form part of the Peter Pau • iQIYI Film Theater initiative, which is designed to push AI-generated storytelling toward longer and more commercially viable productions.

The selection is significant because the projects are not restricted to a single type of story. AI filmmaking has frequently leaned towards fantasy, science fiction and visually unusual concepts, but this slate also includes romance and suspense, where character consistency and emotional storytelling can become just as important as spectacular images.

Feature-length production creates a very different challenge from generating individual clips. Characters must remain recognisable, locations need visual continuity and separate scenes have to feel as though they belong inside the same world.

AI filmmaking is moving beyond short experiments

Generative video has developed quickly, but much of the material audiences encounter still lasts seconds or a few minutes. A visually impressive sequence can attract attention online without proving that the same technology can sustain a story for an hour or longer.

That is the hurdle iQIYI is increasingly attempting to cross. In July, Mystic Tales: The Spider Lady’s Vendetta became one of its early attempts at a full AI-generated internet feature film, while August brought two longer productions based around The Ferry Man.

Those releases started testing whether viewers would remain interested after the novelty of AI-generated images had passed. The new nine-film slate gives the company an opportunity to see whether that interest can extend across different genres rather than remaining tied to one established property.

NadouPro sits behind the wider strategy

Much of iQIYI’s AI production work is being developed through NadouPro, its filmmaking platform created specifically for professional content production. Rather than functioning as a single video generator, NadouPro brings tools for scripts, images, voices, video generation and other production tasks into one connected environment.

The platform is designed to support the filmmaking process from an initial idea through to completed footage. It also includes digital assets and production resources intended to help creators maintain greater consistency when moving between individual scenes.

That difference becomes increasingly important with long-form entertainment. Generating a convincing shot is one task, but maintaining the same character appearance, visual atmosphere and narrative direction throughout a complete film demands much more control.

iQIYI is testing more than the technology

The next stage of AI entertainment will depend on audiences as much as the tools themselves. Viewers may be curious enough to sample an AI-generated film, but a sustainable entertainment business requires people to remain engaged because they care about the story rather than simply how it was produced.

iQIYI has already started gathering evidence on that question. Its first two The Ferry Man AI films recovered their production costs within their first week and went on to generate more than RMB 8 million, around $1.19 million, in platform revenue-sharing earnings during their first month.

Those results do not mean every AI film will find an audience. They do, however, give iQIYI a commercial reason to keep testing the format rather than treating generative filmmaking solely as a technology demonstration.

Smaller creators could eventually benefit

The development also matters beyond large streaming companies. If AI tools reduce some of the costs attached to environments, effects, previsualisation and other areas of production, independent creators could eventually attempt stories that previously demanded much larger budgets.

That could be particularly relevant for creators producing LGBTQ+ and WLW entertainment, where ambitious projects can struggle to secure the same financing available to mainstream franchises. Lower production barriers could create opportunities, although technology alone cannot replace strong writing, authentic representation or the creative decisions behind a compelling film.

There are also unresolved concerns around copyright, consent, training material and the effect of automation on existing creative jobs. As AI projects become more commercial, those questions are likely to become more important rather than disappearing.

The next test is whether the films work

The nine projects now entering production will provide another measure of how far generative filmmaking has progressed. Audiences will ultimately judge them using many of the same standards applied to traditional entertainment, including whether the characters work, whether the story holds attention and whether the finished film feels worth watching.

That is a much tougher test than producing an impressive AI clip. With feature-length films now becoming a larger part of iQIYI’s strategy, generative entertainment is moving into a stage where the quality of the storytelling may matter more than the novelty of the technology.