Pearl River Film and Media has joined forces with Black Body Interactive and Meng Guo Ji Media to establish a dedicated studio with Chinese author Guo Ni, committing to adapt eight of her youth and sci-fi franchises for the screen, with Baidu AI Cloud on board as a production technology partner.

The first title out of Pearl River Film and Guo Ni Studio will be “Dreamship,” an animated feature adapted from a novel that has sold more than five million copies. The film is slated for Chinese theatrical release on June 27. A new music video for “Us,” the “Dreamship” soundtrack song performed by Chinese idol group Teens in Times, has been released as a preview.

Beyond “Dreamship,” the studio has lined up adaptations of seven additional Guo franchises: “Angel Street No. 23,” “Lady’s Revolution,” “Adooraki,” “Time Spaceship,” “Animal Space Agency,” “Wan Zi Deng” and “Chang’e.” Chen Junjie, founder of Black Body Interactive, said “Angel Street No. 23” is also in preliminary talks for a live-action series adaptation.

Wang Xi, chair of Pearl River Film, said: “The launch of the studio today represents a key milestone in our franchise development. This is not only a mutual rewarding partnership between a historic state-owned film studio and an outstanding creator, but also a powerful synergy between our full industry chain resources and high-quality YA fantasy properties. Guo Ni has been deeply rooted in the field of YA literature and franchise development for many years. Her vibrant, youthful body of work delivers uplifting values that perfectly align with Pearl River Film’s commitment to creating premium content, engaging the market and promoting inspiring narratives.”

Guo Ni, who published her debut work “Lady’s Revolution” in 2006 and ranked in the top six on China’s writers’ rich list two years later, has been one of the country’s most enduring bestselling authors. She expanded into sci-fi children’s fiction in 2017. Guo said: “Pearl River has enabled original stories to truly integrate into the cinematic platform and industrialized production. The technological framework and Baidu AI Cloud have allowed AI imaging and cloud computing capabilities to serve as wings for human imagination, rather than tools that replace creative inspiration.”

Pearl River Film, a state-owned studio based in Guangdong, previously applied a similar literary adaptation approach with “White Snake” (2019), a retelling of “The Legend of the White Snake.”

Guo added: “I have always believed that the content worth investing in for the future is never heat online, but a spiritual asset that truly accompanies a generation as they grow. Therefore, what we celebrate today is not merely the launch of a studio. What I truly want to say is that a much longer journey has begun.”

The studio was unveiled on the sidelines of the Shanghai International Film Festival.