Look out, Kirk Cameron! Nicolas Cage is rebooting the Left Behind series!

By Alex Maidy

Posted 14 years ago

Nicolas Cage is a crazy man. So, naturally, the logical project would be a reboot of a series of novels about the Christian view of the apocalypse. Makes perfect sense.

The LEFT BEHIND series is one of the bestselling series of all time with more than 65 million copies sold worldwide. They were also filmed as a series starring Kirk Cameron in the lead role. The movies were budgeted at just over $4 million and had limited theatrical runs.

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Paul Lalonde of Stony Lake Entertainment will produce the mainstream reboot of the series, according to Variety. Lalonde produced the original movies through his Cloud Ten Pictures. The new movie will be budgeted at $15 million.

Plot: Left Behind tells the story of the end times (set in the contemporary era), in which true believers in Christ have been “raptured”, (i.e. taken instantly to heaven) leaving the world shattered and chaotic. As people scramble for answers, a relatively unknown, Romanian politician named Nicolae Jetty Carpathia rises to become secretary-general of the United Nations, promising to restore peace and stability to all nations. What most of the world does not realize is that Carpathia is actually the Antichrist foretold from the Bible. Coming to grips with the truth and becoming born-again Christians, Rayford Steele, his daughter Chloe, their pastor Bruce Barnes, and young journalist Cameron “Buck” Williams begin their quest as the Tribulation Force to help save the lost and prepare for the coming Tribulation, in which God will rain down judgment on the world for seven years.

When they say “mainstream” version, I wonder if they are looking to remove the overt religious nature of the story or just tone it down. A budget of $15 million is pretty small by Hollywood standards so I don’t have any hope for this to be much better than the craptastic original films.

The film is reported to be going into production in the spring and aiming for a late 2013 release.

Source: Variety

About the Author

Alex Maidy

TV Critic / Columnist

6,413 Articles Published Started writing in 2012

Favorite Movies: Being There, The Shining, The Royal Tenenbaums, Suspiria, Seven, North By read more Northwest, Citizen Kane, The Monster Squad, Begotten, Fight Club, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Army of Darkness, Children of Men, Blade Runner, The Big Lebowski, Casino, Pi, Dumb and Dumber, The 400 Blows, Small Change, Bonnie & Clyde, Cool Hand Luke, Moulin Rouge, Gangs of New York, Shallow Grave, The Rock, The Incredibles, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, The Gate, Prince of Darkness, Oldboy, The Dark Knight, The Lord of the Rings, The Tree of Life, The Exorcist III, Midnight Special

Likes: To piss you off, unpopular opinions, the novels of Stephen King, read more obscure bands that even hipsters dont know, things that go boom, Reeses Pieces, Cate Blanchett, reading paper books, watching people falling down, a good jump scare, listening to a full album in one sitting, rooting for the underdog, red band trailers, rare steaks, cool beer labels, smooth whisky, properly proportioned image files, top ten lists, VHS tapes, and actually scary movies

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