Film producer seeks to adapt all 16 'Left Behind' books into movies

Paul Lalonde, producer and screenwriter of the apocalyptic adventure film "Left Behind," has announced that he is working to adapt all 16 "Left Behind" books into movies.

In a post on the "Left Behind" Facebook page, Lalonde, who owns the film production company Cloud Ten Pictures, explained that the creators of the "Left Behind" films had previously been "handcuffed" on the film rights to the films, and were only able to access the first two books of the series authored by Jerry B. Jenkins and the late Tim LaHaye.

"Now, I have officially acquired the movie rights to the entire 'Left Behind' series. All 16 books!" Lalonde stated. "I have been working closely with Jerry B. Jenkins and the LaHaye family to make it all happen," he added.

Lalonde said that the entire story of 16-book series will be told over the course of six to eight movies.

"Now you know where I have been and why I haven't been able to share what I have been working on. But it's finally happened, and Lord willing, we can finally bring the message of Bible prophecy and the whole story of 'Left Behind' to the world," he went on to say.

Lalonde has previously worked on three films based on the first two books of the series. He was credited with writing the 2000 movie "Left Behind" and its sequels, "Left Behind II: Tribulation Force" (2002) and "Left Behind: World at War" (2005) starring Kirk Cameron.

In 2012, he formed Stoney Lake Entertainment (SLE), which served as a production company for big budget faith-based films. Its first feature film was the 2014 remake of "Left Behind" starring Nicholas Cage, Jordin Sparks and Lea Thompson.

The 2014 version of the film grossed $4.2 million at the box office. According to Lalonde's mini-biography on IMDB, the movie became the number one home video "new release" when it was launched in January 2015.

Lalonde said that he always wanted to adapt the entire series into films. David Heimbecker, vice president of Cloud Ten Pictures, has noted that Lalonde had testified that his interest in Bible prophecy brought him to faith in Jesus Christ.

Jenkins and LaHaye began writing the apocalyptic Christian novels in 1995. Over 80 million copies of the book series have been sold since then, according to publisher Tyndale House.