Cloud Ten Pictures

''Cloud Ten Pictures'' is a Canadian film production and distribution company located in St. Catharines, Ontario, who specialised in producing "end times" Christian films.

History

Cloud Ten was formed by brothers Peter and Paul LaLonde in 1994. The Lalonde brothers self-financed the company's early films, which consisted of documentaries addressing Christian theological issues. Prior to forming Cloud Ten, the LaLonde brothers had found an audience in Christian Evangelical circles through their television program, ''This Week in Bible Prophecy''.

The company's first feature film was ''Apocalypse'', a low-budget thriller released in 1998. The company produced three more films in the ''Apocalypse Series'', ''Revelation'' (1999), ''Tribulation'' (2000) and ''Judgment'' (2001).

In 2000, Cloud Ten Pictures released '' Left Behind: The Movie'', based upon the first book in the popular ''Left Behind'' book series, authored by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. It was released into the video market on October 31. It ended up being named the "Best-Selling Title of the Year by an Independent Studio". Cloud Ten also produced two sequels based upon the second book in the ''Left Behind'' book series, '' Left Behind: Tribulation Force'' (2002) and '' Left Behind: World at War'' (2005). Byron M. Jones, the then VP of Entertainment, states that "the pre-orders for Tribulation Force have outpaced those of the original LEFT BEHIND movie by almost 40%". Cloud Ten released ''Left Behind: World at War'' via a coordinated nationwide screening in over 3,200 churches (compared with a typical 1,700 screens in a nationwide theatrical release). The ''World at War'' release started a trend for Christian film church releases, and led Cloud Ten to launch its Church Cinema program. The founders, Peter and Paul Lalonde, were referred to as "The Fabulous LaLonde Brothers" in a profile by '' GQ'' magazine.

Cloud Ten, with the ''Left Behind'' films, was in legal disputes with both their co-producers, Namesake Entertainment, and one of the authors of the popular book series, Tim LaHaye. The dispute with LaHaye resulted in a series of legal actions, originally filed in 2000, that were settled in July 2008. The terms of the settlement are confidential, but Cloud Ten Pictures has stated that Tim Lahaye has the rights for one year to try to remake the ''Left Behind'' films. If he does not exercise those rights within one year, Cloud Ten Pictures will again have the rights to make ''Left Behind'' movies. As of October 1, 2010, the rights to the ''Left Behind'' film series have officially been restored to Cloud Ten Pictures, and the company is planning a remake of the series. Cloud Ten was hoping to start development on the remake by late 2011.

Cloud Ten released three films in 2008: ''Smuggler's Ransom'', '' Genius Club'' and '' Saving God''. Both ''Smuggler's Ransom'' and '' Genius Club'' were acquired for distribution. '' Saving God'' is a co-production with Clear Entertainment and stars Ving Rhames, Ricardo Chavira and Dean McDermott. They also distributed '' The River Within'' in 2009.

Movies

Documentaries

*Left Behind Docudrama (1994/1996 recut)
*Final Warning (1995)
*Startling Proofs (1995)
*Last Days: Hype or Hope? (1996)
*The Mark of the Beast (1997)
*Vanished (1999)
*The Gospel of the Antichrist: Exposed
*Racing to the End of Time (formerly: 2000 AD: Are You Ready?)
*Shadow Government (2009)
*Dragons or Dinosaurs? (2010)
*12 Biggest Lies (2010)

Films

Abandoned projects

In 2003, the company started pre-production on a movie called ''End Game''. The movie was supposed to be their first film planned to have a wide theatrical release. Eleven pages of the shooting script went up on the official website, but production came to a halt shortly after.

In mid-June 2003, production was supposed to begin on an animated remake of their film '' Left Behind: The Movie''. Cloud Ten's VP of films, André van Heerden, said, "the storyline will be even closer to the original books than a live-action movie can be simply because of the freedom animation gives." This film was not made.

Shortly after the release of '' Left Behind: World at War'', a television show based on ''Left Behind'' was in the planning stages for airing on the PAX television network. Planning for the television show also includes casting calls in the United States and Canada, but creative differences on the direction of the proposed television series led Cloud Ten Pictures to abandon the project.

Defunct

Cloud Ten Pictures CEO Paul Lalonde opened the new Christian production company Stoney Lake Entertainment, which produced the '' Left Behind (2014 film)'' remake, a film that was originally going to be produced by Cloud Ten Pictures.

References

External links

Official Website

{{Authority control
Film production companies of Canada
Entertainment companies established in 1994
Christian film production companies
Film distributors of Canada
Defunct film and television production companies of Canada