Utopai and Huace to Produce Fully AI‑Generated Journey to the West Series

Overview

• Utopai Studios and Huace Film & TV have signed a joint production agreement to make Journey to the West: The Lost Five Hundred Years as a fully AI-generated animated series.
• Under the deal Huace will use Utopai’s PAI film-narrative AI to create the series while Utopai will hold distribution rights outside mainland China.
• The first season is planned for broadcast, streaming and digital platforms with the companies saying they intend to expand the property into theatrical releases and future seasons.
• The series reimagines the classic by exploring a previously untold 500-year backstory focused on Sun Wukong and repeated reincarnations of the monk, while executives stress they aim to preserve the story’s cultural and emotional core.
• Utopai pitches PAI as a tool for world-building, character continuity and reusable digital assets, a model that could speed franchise scaling but also raises questions about creative oversight and how audiences will receive a fully AI-generated take on a beloved work.