ByteDance AI Films Disrupt Cannes with Low-Budget Features
- tech360.tv
- 1 hour ago
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ByteDance showcased its flagship Seedance 2.0 artificial intelligence model at the Cannes Film Festival, featuring works that cost a fraction of traditional Hollywood budgets.
The technology generated Hell Grind, a 95-minute action-fantasy film billed as the world's first feature-length movie fully generated by artificial intelligence.
Higgsfield AI, a US-based video platform, produced the project in two weeks using a 15-person team and Seedance 2.0.
Total production costs for Hell Grind were less than USD 500,000, including roughly USD 400,000 in compute costs.
Higgsfield Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Alex Mashrabov said a comparable traditionally produced film would typically cost about USD 50 million.
The movie premiered at an AI film summit in Cannes city on the sidelines of the main festival.
Chinese platform Chushou AI also used Seedance 2.0 to create two short films, The Golden Tomb Seeker and Series Tower.
The two shorts were among 21 works selected from more than 1,000 submissions spanning 120 countries at Marché du Film, the business hub of the festival.
Volcano Engine President Tan Dai said AI tools increasingly allow creators to focus on storytelling, character development, and creative direction rather than repetitive execution tasks.
Acclaimed Chinese director Jia Zhangke said AI should be viewed as a new cinematic tool rather than a replacement for filmmakers.
Jia previously launched a 5.5-minute short produced via Seedance 2.0, titled Jia Zhangke's Dance, in Feb.. Jia noted that the real challenge is whether creators can preserve human qualities that algorithms cannot replicate.
ByteDance net profits fell by more than 70% in 2025 as the group ramped up investment in AI infrastructure.
Douyin Department Vice-president Li Liang said overall profit and revenue grew when discounting the cost of stock options for employees.
The Cannes showcase comes as Chinese technology groups race to commercialise generative AI products amid intensifying competition in foundational models.
Seedance 2.0 launched earlier this year and opened to developers through a public application programming interface in April as part of a broader push into enterprise AI tools.
An AI start-up venture capital investor, surnamed Li, noted that many generative AI products still lack the economies of scale traditionally associated with internet platforms.
Investor Li stated that inference and computing costs continue to rise alongside user growth, meaning every AI product must justify itself through a sustainable profit-and-loss model.
ByteDance showcased its Seedance 2.0 AI model at Cannes, highlighting significantly reduced production costs.
The AI-generated feature-length film Hell Grind was completed in two weeks for less than USD 500,000.
Traditional production for a comparable film would typically cost around USD 50 million.
Source: SCMP
