Overview
Cloud Ten was formed by brothers Peter LaLonde and Paul LaLonde in 1994. The Lalonde brothers self-financed the company's early films, which consisted primarily of a series of documentaries relating to Christian theological issues. Prior to forming Cloud Ten, the LaLonde brothers had earned some notoriety in Christian Evangelical circles through their television program, This Week in Bible Prophecy.
The company's first feature film was Apocalypse (film) (1998), a low-budget thriller. The company has since 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. Released into the video market on October 31, Left Behind: The Movie became one of the highest grossing videos of the year.. Byron M. Jones the then VP of Entertainment said this "Already, the pre-orders for this sequel have outpaced those of the original LEFT BEHIND movie by almost 40%. Those numbers are impressive considering LEFT BEHIND was the #1 selling video in America its first week of release, beating out Toy Story 2 and The Green Mile. It also 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). 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 nationwidewhere? Canada-wide? theatrical release). The World at War release started a trend for Christian film church releases, and led Cloud Ten to launching its Church Cinema program. The marketing success of the Left Behind films generated significant publicity for the company and its founders, Peter and Paul Lalonde, who were referred to as “The Fabulous LaLonde Brothers” in a profile by GQ magazine.
Cloud Ten's success with the Left Behind films was marred by 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, which were finally 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 the film company, Cloud Ten Pictures, and the company is planning a remake of the series. Cloud Ten hopes 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.
Read more about this topic: Cloud Ten Pictures