The long-awaited Chinese animated feature film "Bigfish & Begonia" will finally have a Chinese theatrical release after having been in production for 12 years, Enlight Media announced on Monday.

Wang Changtian, president of Enlight Media, poses with "Bigfish & Begonia" directors Liang Xuan and Zhang Chun at a press conference held in Beijing on April 18, 2016. [Photo / China.org.cn]

The film, formerly titled "Big Fish & Chinese Flowering Crabapple," is directed by Liang Xuan and Zhang Chun. The story was inspired by a myth from the ancient Chinese Taoist classic "Zhuangzi." The movie also integrates many stories from other Chinese classics such as "Classic of Mountains and Seas" and "In Search of the Supernatural," according to Liang, who also wrote the film's script.

Liang and Zhang spent many difficult years together on the project. It began when they made a short film called "Swallowtail Butterfly" and put it online in May 2004. The film was well acclaimed and they decided to make it into a feature length film, forming B&T Studio in 2005. However, they couldn't get funding for the movie until 2007, when a small amount of money finally came in.

The two immersed themselves in the project, but the money quickly ran out. They finished the script in 2009, but, despite the fact that many investors were interested in the fantasy world made up for the film, no one believed that such a film could sell on the market. The project was filed away for several years and revived after Liang posted on Weibo in June 2013, China's microblogging website, asking for help and spreading word of the film.

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