The Secret of the Magic Gourd, the first film co-produced by the Walt Disney Company and the Chinese film makers, will be screened in China next year, the investors announced in Beijing on Wednesday.

The film was jointly invested by the Walt Disney Studios, the China Film Group Corporation (CFGC) and Hong Kong's Centro Pictures Entertainment, Ltd.

The film began shooting in China's eastern city of Hangzhou in October, which is based on a popular fairy tale book by the late Chinese novelist Zhang Tianyi.

The film features a boy who decides to bid farewell to a magic gourd, which helps him succeed but brings about inevitable chaos.

The Centro Pictures is in charge of the film's shooting and production, with the CFGC in charge of domestic distribution and the BVI in charge of overseas distribution, the three investors announced.

The film was supervised and directed by John Chu, chairman of Centro. The executive director is Frankie Chung, a Best Visual Effects winner of the 2005 Golden Horse awards for Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle, according to Chu.

The film provides a universal value for the young people, urging them to make success through hard work, said Mark Zoradi, president of the BVI.

The Secret of the Magic Gourd, first published by the China Juvenile & Children's Publishing House in March 1958, is one of the most popular contemporary Chinese children's books.

It was adapted into a black-and-white film by the Tianma Film Studio, the predecessor of the Shanghai Film Studio, in 1963.

There are a lot of stories embedded in China's history that can be made into great movies, Yang said.

"We are glad that we now have a chance to elevate it to an international platform using modern filmmaking techniques. I eagerly anticipate the world to embrace this film when it's completed," he said.

According Chu, the film will have English subtitles.

(Xinhua News Agency December 15, 2005)