James Wan's Atomic Monster Inks Deal With China's Starlight Media (Exclusive)

The Chinese company will finance films with budgets up to $100 million.

James Wan's production company Atomic Monster has inked a development deal with Chinese company Starlight Media.

With the deal, Starlight Media will provide a significant development fund and equity finance Wan's films with budgets up to $100 million. The deal, which was celebrated at an event in Beverly Hills on Monday, will assist Wan in growing the slate for Atomic Monster, which he founded in October 2014.

"We are so excited over our innovative partnership with James. Under his creative vision we will generate content, which will have global appeal," said chairman Xu Yan.

Wan, who got his start with the highly successful Saw horror series, has most recently directed and produced (via Atomic Monster) The Conjuring 2. Atomic Monster also produced recent release Lights Out, and the upcoming Annabelle 2, which is currently in production. Wan is also executive producing the series MacGyver, which premieres on CBS on September 23.

Starlight Media started out as a real estate company in China 20 years ago but has recently expanded into a diversified media company run by its chairman Xu Yan and CEO Peter Luo. The company began working in the entertainment business in 2013.

“We hope Alibaba, Starlight and James work closely together to create great movies together," said Zhang Qiang, CEO of Alibaba (Starlight Media and Alibaba Pictures are strategic partners and work together in China).

Wan and Atomic Monster are repped by Paradigm, Stacey Testro International and David Fox. Starlight was represented in the deal by CEO Peter Luo and vp Beely Lee.