Santa Monica CA-headquartered film and television product Lionsgate has signed a blockbuster deal with the Société générale de financement du Québec (SGF), which will see the provincial economic development agency provide up to 35% of budget costs - up to a maximum of $410 million in aggregate funding - for select Lionsgate productions shot in Quebec over the next four years.

The deal will include the Lexi Alexander-directed motion picture based on Marvel Comics' Punisher, due to begin filming in Quebec in 2007. SGF chair, president and GM Pierre Shedleur estimated in a media release that the deal could mean the equivalent of 6,700 full-time jobs for Quebec, generating total wages in excess of $270 million.