A $150 million production deal has been announced to produce 25 movies and one series in Ontario.
The deal is between northern Ontario-based Hideaway Pictures and Motion Picture Corporation of America (MPCA).
It's the second production contract between the two companies. Previously, MPCA and Hideaway announced a $100 million deal to produce 25 movies, including Flower Shop Mysteries starring Brooke Shields and Brennan Elliott, Crossword Mysteries starring Lacey Chabert, and the award-winning broadcast series, When Hope Calls, which is currently in production on its second season.
Additionally, the companies produced the Netflix productions The Knight Before Christmas starring Vanessa Hudgens and The Holiday Calendar starring Kat Graham.
Other completed productions include multiple Christmas movies for CBS, Lifetime, the Hallmark Channel, GAC Family, Peacock, and Amazon/IMDBTV.
Since 2016, MPCA and David Anselmo's Hideaway Pictures have invested $100 million in film and television production in Ontario creating over 2,000,000 hours of work for northern Ontario residents, amounting to 1,200 full timr jobs in the north since 2016.
For When Hope Calls season 1, the production created a permanent, $2,000,000 turn-of-the-century studio backlot in Powassan during the winter of 2019, generating over 1,000 days of construction work in the span of 12 weeks. This studio backlot is the largest in northern Ontario, and has attracted multiple other productions to the region since, due to its vast, picturesque landscape.
After their 25-picture deal. In 2021, seven original movies were filmed throughout Ontario, including the much-anticipated return of When Hope Calls - Season 2.
MPCA's Brad Krevoy will serve as executive producer in this deal, alongside David Anselmo.
Krevoy has worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, according to a news release. They include the Farrelly Brothers, Jim Carrey, Will Ferrell, Jude Law, Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and many others. MPCA has produced, acquired, and distributed nearly 250 movies over the past 35 years, all totalling more than $1 billion USD in worldwide revenue. Ranging from blockbuster films such as Dumb and Dumber, to the award-winning military drama Taking Chance, with Kevin Bacon,
Since opening Hideaway in 2012, Anselmo has successfully produced over 60 film and television projects in northern Ontario.
"He has been one of the key founders of the film and television industry in the north and a consistent fixture in both the North Bay and Sudbury industry - attracting over $200,000,000 in economic development over the last decade," says the release.
Some of his notable works include The Masked Saint, which won the International Christian Film Festival in 2014, Antibirth, which was selected to the Sundance Film Festival in 2016, and four television series in as many years - Flower Shop Mysteries (2016), VWars for Netflix (2017), Crossword Mysteries (2018) and When Hope Calls (2019).
“I love living and working in northern Ontario," says Anselmo. "It has been truly an honour helping to showcase the region to the world through our stories. I had to move away to pursue my dreams, but now that I’m back, I hope I can create more opportunities for northerners to stay local and work in this wonderful industry.”
