Baidu now lets anyone invest in movies, will make Chinese version of <em>Gone with the Wind</em>

Chinese web giant Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) today launched a new personal investment fund that lets users crowd-invest in upcoming movies and television shows. Baifa Youxi (百发有戏; translates to “Baifa Me”) promises the same eight percent interest rate as the original Baifa fund, with returns reaching as high as 16 percent, according to Techweb.

Baidu partnered with Taiwan-based film company Central Pictures Corporation, Citic Bank, and Beijing-based DeHeng Law Offices to joinly issue the fund. Users can log into Baidu Finance and start investing in the fund with as little as RMB 10 (US$1.63).

For now, the Baifu Youxi only has one movie: Golden Age (黄金时代), which quickly surpassed its funding goal within hours. As of press time, this Chinese version of Gone with the Wind has already raised RMB 18 million (US$29.3 million) from over 3,300 supporters, 120 percent of its target.

The move into movies mirrors just-listed Alibaba’s (NYSE:BABA) announcement in June that it would allow users of its mutual fund Yu’e’bao to invest in movies. The combination of entertainment and finance seems to be a culmination of many of China’s internet giants’ goals: amassing a library of original video content and getting users to adopt their respective online financial tools such as ewallets, savings funds, and ecommerce platforms.

See: How Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent will dominate China’s movie industry in 3 years

JD (NASDAQ:JD), China’s second-biggest ecommerce company after Alibaba, launched a crowdfunding platform that includes movies, along with gadgets, concerts, and charity drives.

In late April, Baidu rebranded its financial arm, adding personal loans and an interactive dashboard for investors. Online savings funds are growing popular in the country due to the much lower barrier to entry compared to traditional banks; Alibaba’s Yu’e’bao remains the largest with nearly US$100 billion in assets so far.

Baidu also owns majority stakes in two popular Chinese video portals, PPS and iQiyi. The latter has been working with several television studios to set up a content production division to beef up original content offerings.