Let me repeat that: Nicolas Cage to star in reboot of Left Behindtrilogy. That is to say, Nicolas Cage will star in a movie version of the Apocalyptic Christian-themed books about the survivors on earth following – ahem – the Rapture. Oh. My. God. Literally.
The initial report of the upcoming Cage-tastrophe comes from The Playlist, though I actually had to check several sites before I was convinced that it was not some elaborate Onion joke. But it seems to be true. Cage will indeed be starring in a reboot of the Left Behind trilogy, which has once before been made into films starring – who else? – Kirk Cameron. Does this mean that Kirk and Cage will be teaming up? Please, God, let it be so.
The Left Behind reboot will be produced by Cloud Ten Pictures, the folks responsible for the first series, with Paul Lalonde back as writer and producer. The stunt coordinator Vic Armstrong will direct. Because, y’know, the first trilogy was just so good, we might as well do it again with a first time director at the helm.
I make fun, but actually the Left Behind books are very popular among the evangelical set, and the films were successful within their intended audience. So perhaps the reboot will have success, at least among the Christian evangelical audience.
I doubt it, though. The budget for the film comes in around $15 million, which is barely a fraction of what it would take to mount a serious Apocalyptic epic. This sounds like a worse idea than the remake of The Wicker Man that had Nicolas Cage howling about bees and beating up random women.
Cage really has fallen far. He’s been unpredictable for the past ten years, starring in some truly, remarkably awful films that never seemed like a good idea to begin with. It seems quite sad that an Oscar-winning actor capable of good performances is now remaking straight-to-DVD trilogies.
Production on the Left Behind reboot begins next spring for a theatrical release later in 2013. We may expect an obituary of Nicolas Cage’s career sometime just after that.
