Chinese animated films have attracted worldwide attention in recent years, especially after "Ne Zha" roared into theaters last year. The film about a rebellious, buck-toothed, slouchy child deity from Chinese folklore grabbed over 5 billion yuan ($728 million) at the box office.

The film also took home the gold award for animated film at the Golden Monkey King Awards ceremony on Tuesday. The ceremony was an important event at the ongoing 16th China International Cartoon and Animation Festival (CICAF) in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province.

Like Ne Zha, White Snake is a deity from Chinese folklore. Legend has it that a snake spirit fell in love with a human named Xu Xian, a doctor who had saved the snake's life long ago.

Based on the legend, the animated film "The Snake: Become Human" was officially launched on Wednesday in Hangzhou during the 16th CICAF, which runs from September 29 to October 4.

"Disney has lots of princesses in their animation films. I think we should have our own princesses as well. The White Snake, better known as Bai Suzhen, is a princess in my heart," A Du, the film director said at the launch event.

"In this film, I'm trying to tell the story of how Bai Suzhen transforms from a spirit to a human being and finally becomes a deity," the director added. "In the ancient legend, the story happened mostly in Hangzhou and that's also why plenty of the scene designs in the film mimic the landscape in Hangzhou."

It's not the first time that the story of the snake has been made into an animation. Earlier in 2019, the film "White Snake" hit cinemas and earned over 400 million yuan ($58 million).

"The Snake: Become Human" will hit theaters in 2021.

Reporter: Deng Junfang

Video editor: Zhang Chunnan

Project manager: Deng Junfang

Producer: Si Nan

Supervisor: Zhang Shilei