Riding the wave of technology and embracing the flow of culture: A vision for the future of the film and television industry in the new era.
Standing at the vantage point of the film and television industry in 2025, we look back on the past decade of vigorous development: global annual box office exceeding $30 billion, over 5 billion streaming users, and 1.2 billion viewers of virtual reality (VR) films… These figures are not only a measure of the industry's growth but also the driving force behind the team's continuous innovation. As technological revolution intertwines with cultural awakening, and as the global market resonates with local narratives, we clearly see three major trends for the next decade: technology reshaping creative paradigms, culture accelerating cross-border integration, and the continuous upgrading of quality definitions. The team's mission is to use innovation as the pen and collaboration as the ink to write a new chapter for the film and television industry on the canvas of this era.
I. Current Achievements: Industry Leap Forward Driven by Both Technology and Content
Over the past decade, the film and television industry has completed its initial transformation from "industrialization" to "intelligentization," which is mainly reflected in three major breakthroughs:
1. The explosive growth of a diversified content ecosystem
- New formats such as short dramas, interactive dramas, and VR dramas are emerging. For example, "The Metaverse Murder Case" drives the plot through real-time decisions made by the audience, and has more than 1 billion user interactions in three months since its launch.
- Regional cultural IPs have broken through to new heights. "Dunhuang: The Apocalypse of Flying Apsaras" combines mural aesthetics with science fiction narratives and has grossed $1.8 billion worldwide, setting a record for domestic cultural IPs.
2. Disruptive innovation in manufacturing technology
- With the maturity of AI digital human technology, the facial capture error rate of actors has been reduced from 0.1 mm to 0.01 mm, making it difficult to distinguish between the emotional interactions between virtual characters and real actors in "Ex Machina 2.0".
- Cloud computing rendering efficiency increased by 400%, shortening the production cycle of the 20,000-minute special effects for the entire film "Star Trek: Expedition" to 6 months and reducing costs by 30%.
3. The global restructuring of communication channels
- 5G+8K live streaming coverage exceeded 60%, and the number of viewers for the global simultaneous live streaming of "Avengers: Endgame" reached 230 million, with related e-commerce sales exceeding $1 billion;
- Short video platforms have become the "second battlefield" for content distribution. The movie "The Banquet in Chang'an" attracted viewers by using a 30-second highlight clip on Douyin, which increased the number of views of the full episode by 270%.
II. The Future is Here: Technology Reshapes the Underlying Logic of the Film and Television Industry
As technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G, and brain-computer interfaces break through critical points, the "relationship of production" in film and television creation is undergoing a fundamental transformation:
(I) AI Reconstructs the Entire Creative Chain
- Script Development: From "Inspiration-Driven" to "Data-Driven"
The AI screenwriting assistant can now generate outlines for 80% of genre films. By analyzing the narrative models of over 100,000 scripts, it automatically matches the "conflict-twist-climax" rhythm curve. The team's "Wenxin Jujiang" system can generate customized scripts based on regional cultural characteristics (such as Eastern subtle aesthetics vs. Western direct narrative). The Southeast Asian suspense storyline of "Bangkok Chronicles" and the American detective storyline of "New York Undercurrents" were both completed in 48 hours.
- Special Effects Production: From "Hand-carved" to "Intelligent Growth"
The AI visual engine can automatically generate scenes based on director keywords (such as "neon texture in a cyberpunk rainstorm"), improving real-time rendering efficiency by 10 times. In Quantum Frontier, AI completed the "black hole collapse" particle effects in just 3 days, a process that would normally take 3 months, with a physical simulation accuracy of 99.2%.
- Empowering Actors: From "Physical Performance" to "Digital Immortality"
The digital actor asset library has stored dynamic data of over 5,000 actors. Through brainwave capture technology, actors can remotely control digital avatars to complete high-risk scenes. The team is currently testing a "consciousness cloning" technology that could allow deceased artists to "return" to the screen in the future, achieving cross-temporal inheritance of performing arts.
(II) 5G+Web3 Reconstructs Communication and Consumption
- Immersive experience with real-time interaction
5G networks reduce VR viewing latency to less than 10 milliseconds. Combined with brain-computer interface devices, viewers can "directly feel" the characters' emotions. In "Deep Sea Rescue," the divers' feeling of suffocation due to water pressure is accurately transmitted through a neurofeedback system. Heart rate monitoring during the viewing showed that the viewers' stress response was synchronized with the characters' by 83%.
- Decentralized content ecosystem
Web3 technology has given rise to a "viewer-as-creator" model. "The Three-Body Problem: Reboot" allows viewers to submit plot branches via blockchain, and proposals receiving over 100,000 likes will be included in the final cut. This "UGC+PGC" collaborative model enables over 200 derivative plots for a single work, extending the average viewing time to three times that of traditional films.
- A closed-loop business model integrating the virtual and real worlds
With film and television IPs deeply integrated with the metaverse, the "Harry Potter: Magic Awakened" metaverse theme park saw virtual wand sales exceed $500 million in its first month, and offline theme park visitor traffic increased by 40%. This integrated "content-experience-consumption" chain is redefining the profit boundaries of the film and television industry.
III. Cultural Coexistence: A Two-Way Journey Between Globalization and Localization
Over the next decade, the film and television industry will enter a golden age of "cultural decoding," exhibiting three major integration characteristics:
(I) Digital Translation of Regional Culture
- Technological Expression of Eastern Aesthetics: The team is developing the "Dunhuang AI" system, which can automatically extract the color system of murals (such as the color contrast logic of azurite + cinnabar) and clothing patterns (such as the geometric pattern of beaded patterns) and apply it to the scene design of the science fiction film "Kunlun Revelation", so that ancient civilization and future technology can achieve visual symbiosis.
- The global grammar of ethnic narratives: "Mongolian Steppe: The Last Cavalry" uses "flowing long shots" of drone aerial photography, combined with a mix of electronic music and morin khuur (horsehead fiddle), and entered the top ten of non-English films on Netflix within two weeks of its release, proving that localized expression can break through cultural barriers through technological innovation.
This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
