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 on 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 on 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==