8th October, 2014
The new Left Behind movie, starring Nicolas Cage, took in $6.3 million last weekend after opening in the US and Canada on Friday.
Based on the best-selling book series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins, the film follows the story of Rayford Steele (played by Cage) who is piloting a commercial aircraft when millions of people around the world (including in the plane) vanish in what is known as the ‘Rapture’, a term to describe the belief that in end times those who follow Christ will be taken from earth to meet with God, leaving those who don’t follow Him ‘behind’.
The film opened in 1,790 screens in the US and 35 in Canada. Paul Lalonda, producer and co-writer, said he was pleased with the response. "With a marketing budget less than one tenth of what the studios spend on the movies we’re competing with, we had focused our marketing efforts towards our core Christian audience…Our goal was to enlist those fans to spread the word and to bring friends and family who weren’t believers."
The movie, which has been savaged by critics with only one of 50 reviewers listed on Rotten Tomatoes giving it an overall positive rating, is the latest film adaption of the books and follows a 2000 adaption which starred Kirk Cameron.
– DAVID ADAMS