According to QQ, in early March 2026, the Chinese short film industry experienced a major upheaval.
Leading short film platform Hongguo Short Drama has created a wave of controversy in the community of production units: this platform began to large-scale abolish the "minimum guarantee + revenue sharing" model for live-action short film projects; instead switching to a full revenue sharing model or a stricter selective purchase mechanism.
Many people in the industry said that the number of real-life short films ordered has halved; a series of companies have temporarily suspended real-life short films, started cutting staff and adjusting operations.
At the same time, the launch of AI models such as Seedance 2.0 also caused much debate at home and abroad, and created heated discussions about the future of short film actors.
Over the past time, the Chinese short film industry has exploded strongly, even disrupting the long-running film market. But it seems that the market is changing because of the rise of AI short films.
In the entertainment industry, "minimum guarantee" means a platform willing to share risks with producers in exchange for a stable content supply.
This adjustment of the Hongguo platform mechanism is essentially a statement that the "big guys" no longer want to pay for mid-range and mediocre content.
In the past few years, short films produced at a cost of several hundred thousand CNY, filmed in 5 days, with scripts revolving only around shocking details, have gradually lost living space due to the double competition from AI animated films and high-quality industrially produced works.
According to observers, this reorganization actually opens the process of "removing the bubble" of the short film industry.
In the early stages of short films, most platforms "run after traffic". As long as the content hits the feeling of "satisfying viewers", whether the costumes are rudimentary or the acting is clumsy, the platform is still ready to push advertising to turn it into a "hit".
However, the 2026 short film market is completely different.
Currently, the cost of most medium-length short films starring real people ranges from 500,000 CNY to 1 million CNY.
This price is quite unreasonable: In terms of visual effects, they cannot compete with films created by AI - where the cost of special effects is almost zero. Previously, an effect frame could cost 3,000 CNY, but with AI it is only 3 CNY, equivalent to a reduction of 1,000 times.
In terms of emotional transmission, they also cannot compete with high-quality works costing more than 3 million CNY, because these works are willing to spend money on good actors and meticulously crafted scripts.
Platforms realize that profits from investing in medium-length short films starring real people are decreasing year by year.
Outwardly, the short film market seems prosperous with hundreds of millions of active users every day; but internally, competition is extremely fierce.
Only a few companies can make money in a serious content assimilation environment. Viewers are too tired of repetitive motifs like "gates", "badass presidents".
According to analysis, a real-life short film costs 400,000 - 500,000 CNY, with quite rudimentary sets, costumes and scripts, plus promotional costs, it needs to achieve revenue of 700,000 - 800,000 CNY to make a profit.
But if AI production is used, image quality and viewing experience are much better, costs can be reduced to about 50,000 CNY, just 100,000 CNY in revenue is already profitable.
In this situation, the Hongguo platform is also in a position to launch a policy to support AI scripts.
The promulgation of a new mechanism will certainly create a cleansing wave in the short film industry. Especially in the context of AI technology developing at an extremely fast pace, the threshold for short film production is being sharply lowered.
Short film studios in 2026 have had changes in personnel structure.
Recently, the AI short film project "Hoac Khu Benh" confirmed that there are nearly 20 members in the creative group, it only took 48 hours to complete 2 versions longer than 4 minutes and more than 6 minutes.
And the project "Triangle Airways" was even implemented by a group of 3 people in 5 days, but has produced 75 episodes of content.
