Corus Entertainment has finalized a deal to invest, through its pay-TV outfit Movie Central, in six features from Serendipity Point Films and producer Robert Lantos over the next four years.

The deal is ‘a milestone in Canada,’ says Lantos, in that it provides ‘long-term, predictable investment’ for independent film and signals Corus’ ‘willingness to take risks and make substantive commitments to important Canadian productions.’

The first project, Norman Jewison’s $27-million The Statement, is already underway in France and is due in theatres through Sony Pictures Classics by Christmas.

The other projects covered by the deal have not yet been named, but likely candidates include David Cronenberg’s Painkillers and Istvan Szabo’s latest, Being Julia, both of which Lantos is producing.

-www.corusent.com

-www.serendipitypoint.com