iQiyi's AIGC-Produced 'Soul Ferry: Floating Life Dreams' Series Passes 10 Million Yuan in Revenue Share

The first two installments, "Soul Ferry: Butterfly Dream" and "Soul Ferry: Heavenly Maiden's Dream," launched exclusively on iQiyi on August 22 and recovered their combined production costs within the first week, Leiphone reported. Cumulative revenue share for the two films passed 8 million yuan in the first month. "Soul Ferry: Princess's Dream" was released on October 1, drawing further attention to the series and lifting both viewership and revenue share. By October 3, the three titles together had surpassed 10 million yuan.

The series is a new serialized development of the classic "Soul Ferry" intellectual property. It keeps the original's Chinese supernatural style and its use of ghosts and spirits to examine human nature, while using new stories to expand the characters' backstories and the world of the IP. The three films approach the material from different angles to gradually reveal the past lives and fates of the "Soul Ferry trio" — Zhao Li, Xia Dongqing and Ya.

"Butterfly Dream" is built around the Eastern philosophical image of Zhuangzi's butterfly dream, according to the report. "Heavenly Maiden's Dream" moves through multiple dream layers to explore choices of fate and the meaning of life. "Princess's Dream" follows an unusual case that uncovers a century-old wait and fixation, continuing the story of the three ferrymen.

Since release, the series has drawn continued attention and favorable comment, with old and new fans discussing plot details, character backstories and the foreshadowing laid across the series on social platforms, Leiphone reported. Affection for the original characters and anticipation for later films have helped push the series' popularity higher, the outlet said.

The production also demonstrates how AIGC technology can be used in developing a classic IP. According to the report, the AIGC approach allows fantasy and supernatural scenes with large visual demands to be presented more flexibly, efficiently and cost-effectively. Through a method combining AI technology with the transfer of live-action performances, the works can move past limits on characters' ages and linear time, letting established characters enter new stories and narrative timeframes and opening more possibilities for serializing the IP.

The three films produced nearly 500 character assets, nearly 800 scene assets and nearly 200 core prop assets, according to Leiphone. These digital assets can be reused in later content development, keeping character appearances and performance styles consistent while improving production efficiency and flexibility.

At iQiyi's iJOY autumn showcase on September 23, iQiyi founder and chief executive Gong Yu said AI had begun to be applied "explosively" in live-action content over the previous three or four months, notably improving the audiovisual experience, shortening production cycles and lowering costs. He also said AI is a bonus for content rather than a tool for building assembly lines that turn out industrialized, standardized products, and that content quality must not be sacrificed.