Little Door Gods: E-Commerce Giant Alibaba Invests in Chinese Animated Film Due Jan. 1, 2016

It seems the recent success of homegrown animated features in China (this summer's “Monkey King: Hero Is Back” has grossed over US$150 million) may just be the beginning of a larger trend.

A Sept. 1, 2015 piece by Patrick Frater in Variety explains how Jack Ma's Alibaba is putting a fraction of its IPO money into an animated feature from Beijing-based studio Light Chaser Animation.

Per Light Chaser's press release: "Inspired by Chinese folklore, Little Door Gods tells the story of two guardian spirits who return to the human world to stir up some fun trouble and bring modern non-believers back to the old ways."

The picture is rumored to have cost between US$15-30 million to make.

"Light Chaser was founded by Gary Wang, founder and former CEO of Chinese video streaming site Tudou.com. It raised $20 million in a 2014 funding round that brought in investors including GGV Capital and Chengwei Capital."