ByteDance's Seedance 2.0 generates feature film for under $500,000 at Cannes

At the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, ByteDance's AI video model Seedance 2.0 premiered Hell Grind, a 95-minute action-fantasy film billed as the world's first fully AI-generated feature-length movie. Produced by US-based Higgsfield AI, the film was completed by a 15-person team in two weeks with total costs under $500,000, including roughly $400,000 in compute costs. Higgsfield CEO Alex Mashrabov noted a comparable traditionally produced film would cost about $50 million. Two short films created by Chinese platform Chushou AI using Seedance 2.0—The Golden Tomb Seeker and Series Tower—were among 21 works selected from over 1,000 submissions across 120 countries at Marché du Film, the festival's business hub. The developments signal ByteDance's accelerating push to commercialize Seedance 2.0 and challenge Hollywood production norms and budgets.