On October 3, the cumulative revenue sharing box office of the "Floating Life Dreams" series of AIGC online story films, produced by iQiyi Inc. (IQ.US) and Changxin Media, officially exceeded 10 million yuan!
The first two films in the series, "Soul Ferry: Butterfly Dream" and "Soul Ferry: Dream of the Heavenly Maiden," premiered exclusively on iQiyi on August 22 and were well received by audiences. Within the first week of release, they recouped the production costs of both films, and cumulative revenue sharing box office surpassed 8 million yuan in the first month. With the third film, "Soul Ferry: Dream of the Princess," launching on October 1, the series' popularity climbed further, driving continued growth in both viewership and revenue sharing box office. As of October 3, the cumulative revenue sharing box office of the "Floating Life Dreams" series exceeded 10 million yuan.
As a new serialized online story film development of the classic IP "Soul Ferry," the "Floating Life Dreams" series continues the original work's creative core of Chinese supernatural tales that use ghosts and spirits to explore the human heart, while further expanding character backstories and the IP's worldview through new stories. The three works approach the narrative from different angles, gradually revealing the past lives and destinies of the "Soul Ferry Iron Triangle" — Zhao Li, Xia Dongqing, and Ya. "Soul Ferry: Butterfly Dream" unfolds around the Eastern philosophical imagery of Zhuangzi's butterfly dream; "Soul Ferry: Dream of the Heavenly Maiden" explores fateful choices and life's true meaning through multiple layers of dreams; and "Soul Ferry: Dream of the Princess" unravels a century-old vigil and obsession through a bizarre case, with the stories of the three ferrymen continuing to unfold.
Since launching, the "Floating Life Dreams" series has continued to attract audience attention and praise. On social platforms, many new and longtime fans have engaged in discussions about plot details, character backstories, and series foreshadowing. Viewers' emotional resonance with classic characters, along with their anticipation for subsequent stories, has continued to drive the series' online story films to greater popularity.
The successive releases of the "Floating Life Dreams" series also demonstrate the application potential of AIGC technology in developing content for classic IPs. On one hand, leveraging AIGC production methods allows the works to present fantasy, supernatural, and other highly visually imaginative scenes in a more flexible, efficient, and cost-effective manner, expanding new visual expressions for classic IPs. On the other hand, through the creative approach of "AI technology plus live-action performance transfer," the works can break through limitations of character age and linear time, allowing classic characters to enter new storylines and narrative dimensions, opening up more possibilities for serialized IP extension. At the same time, during production, the three works accumulated nearly 500 character assets, nearly 800 scene assets, and nearly 200 core prop assets. These digital assets can be reused in subsequent content development, further enhancing production efficiency and creative flexibility in IP development while maintaining consistency in character appearance and performance style.
On September 23, at iQiyi's iJOY Autumn Enjoyment Event, iQiyi founder and CEO Gong Yu stated that over the past three to four months, AI has begun to see "explosive application" in live-action content, significantly improving audiovisual experiences, shortening production cycles, and reducing costs. He also emphasized that AI is a bonus for content, not a tool for building assembly lines or producing industrialized, standardized products, and that content quality must not be sacrificed. Judging from the audience reception and commercial performance of the "Floating Life Dreams" series, these works have achieved expanding expressive boundaries with AI technology and responding to audience expectations with quality storytelling, fully demonstrating AIGC's application value in production efficiency, digital asset accumulation, and commercial returns. They also provide a reference path for AIGC film and television content to move from technological exploration toward serialized quality creation and commercial returns.