COMING SOON FOR CHRISTIAN MOVIES, IS THIS THE WAY?

Byline: Bob Strauss Film Writer

Will ``Left Behind'' be left behind at the box office? Or will the low-budget Christian action thriller, adapted from the first novel in the series of phenomenally best-selling, apocalyptic adventure novels, prove a theatrical hit this weekend despite a highly unconventional marketing strategy?

Like many things biblical, the meaning of it all may depend on how one interprets it.

Much like last year's surprise but relatively modest hit ``The Omega Code,'' ``Left Behind'' bears several hopes of those in the Evangelical Christian community. Not only is this core audience hungry for entertainment that reflects its religious beliefs and moral values, but many members of it pray that a strong commercial showing will influence mainstream Hollywood to produce movies with the same point of view.

But today's 1,100-odd screen release of ``Left Behind,'' whatever the weekend numbers, is bound to confound studio suits. To begin with, the film - which producer Peter Lalonde says cost $17 million to make and promote, declining to break down the figures any further - has already been released on home video. And quite successfully; it topped video sales charts last fall, at least partially through direct sales to church groups and other religious organizations.

But how that will affect theatrical grosses is anybody's guess. The videos included discount theater tickets and a message from the movie's star, former ``Growing Pains'' kid Kirk Cameron, urging purchasers to see the film on the big screen. And whatever advertising efforts there have been have indeed been targeted at this already converted audience - there were no coming attraction trailers in theaters, few ads in mainstream publications and TV spots have been bought mainly on such outlets as the culturally conservative PAX network.

All of which has led to some skepticism about the movie's ability to attract, as the 30 million-selling books have, a substantial secular audience. And not just among nonreligious showbiz types; Lalonde acknowledges that one of the books' two authors, Tim LaHaye, is so unhappy with the way the film has been made and marketed that he has a lawsuit pending (an interview request with the books' other writer, Jerry B. Jenkins, was denied).

Lalonde, who with his brother Paul runs Ontario-based Cloud Ten Productions, co-produced ``Left Behind'' with a small Kentucky outfit called Namesake Entertainment. Namesake bought the film rights to the first books in the series before they exploded on the sales charts, then hooked up with Cloud Ten - which has done good business with its own series of straight-to-video, apocalyptic thrillers - which had the wherewithal to actually produce the film.

That, and a vision of how to make Christian-themed entertainment palatable to a wider audience.

``I think one of the phrases that has been used to describe Christian film for many years is 'Becky Goes to Bible College,' '' cracks Peter Lalonde, a sharp, personable and energetic type who would not seem out of place in a swanky Burbank office suite. ``Just no drama in the thing. These have to be real movies. My brother and my's goal is to make supernatural thrillers. We want to make movies that are on the cutting edge of what's happening in terms of the thriller genre today, but that have the spiritual truth.

``We want to make a real movie that has the proper action breaks and turning points and character development,'' Lalonde adds. ``But at the same time, every film is going to reflect the view of the filmmaker, whether it's an African-American film, a women's film, a gay film or whatever. As Christians, that point of view is going to come through in our films. But if you try to make it a sermon, it's not a movie and I don't think it's going to stand up.''

The ``Left Behind'' books are perhaps more popular than most Christian fiction for the very same reasons. Based on the Book of Revelations prophecies, they posit a post-Rapture near future, when all of the true believers have suddenly vanished from the face of the Earth and those left behind come under the seven-year rule of the Antichrist.

The film charts the initial development of what comes to be the Tribulation Force, a resistance group of latecoming believers who include Cameron's journalist Buck Williams and pilot Rayford Steele (Brad Johnson).

For Cameron and his wife, Chelsea Noble, who also appears in the film, ``Left Behind'' was a rare opportunity to combine their jobs with work based on both favorite novels and their born-again beliefs.

Which is not quite the same thing as saying that Cameron views the project with missionary zeal.

``Is this some sort of, like, Christian propaganda mission? No,'' the actor says. ``But I think it would be great if this has some influence on the mainstream media because it's fascinating stuff and important stuff. I don't feel weird about saying that because I don't think it's a sneaky movie, either. You do a great movie like 'Schindler's List' not just because you want to show off great lighting, but because Spielberg wants people to think about an important thing.

``That's the hope, I think, of any writer, director or artist,'' Cameron adds. ``They want to communicate a passionate message about something that's important, that will enrich people's lives, in their mind. And that's what we want to do, too. We want people to say, 'Maybe the Bible is relevant, and maybe we ought to blow the dust off it, open it up and see what it says.' ''

That was not necessarily the effect working on the Toronto production had on nonbelievers in the cast and crew, which included India-born director Vic Sarin and actor Johnson. Nevertheless, mutual respect was a production watchword.

``I said, 'Guys, I'll be one of two actors. I'll either show up and do the work, or I can help give you a little idea of a secular viewpoint here,' '' Johnson says. ``They wanted my help, and my thought was that you don't have to hammer people over the head with the message. You've got your core audience, you don't need to throw meat to the lions, they're coming regardless. But if you want to get people like me to come, emphasize the story. When people hear it, they love it, they don't care that it has a religious agenda behind it. But you've gotta entertain 'em or you're gonna lose 'em.

``I thought that there would be prayers on set every morning, but it was a much lower key atmosphere than that,'' Johnson continues. ``They do some things unconventionally and some things I don't agree with. But in terms of trying to convert me or anything, nothing like that happened. I think that they would have liked it if I had come aboard a little more and said, 'Hey! This movie's changed my life,' but the fact of the matter is it didn't.''

At this point, Lalonde seems just as interested in changing the way that movies are marketed.

``I'll use a biblical example: David and Goliath,'' Lalonde says of the controversial video-first release. ``If David had tried to go out and fistfight Goliath, he'd have gotten ripped to shreds. David had to reinvent the rules, he had to play to his own strengths, and that's what we felt we had to do.

``So we made a list of our strengths and weaknesses. Among the weaknesses, I don't have a $50 million advertising budget, I don't have the huge production budget that can compete, and none of the studios this was shopped around to thought this could be a wide release. Then we looked at the video first idea and realized, first of all, that it was unusual, so it was going to get us some ink. Clearly, it worked, and if the theatrical side works, that's going to get us some huge ink. We may be able to earn, through our boldness and our audacity, a publicity campaign that equals a $50 million advertising campaign that we could not pay for.''

Of course, some of the stories about the pre-theatrical video release emphasized that it looked like the producers were risking making the film appear to be a cheap, straight-to-video production in order to ensure getting their investment back quickly.

``That's a bad thing?'' counters Lalonde, who has also sold individual, $3,000 sponsorships of some 700 screens to supporters across the country (he intends to return the money to each investor from first- dollar gross). ``That was a huge consideration. If you are going to have longevity as a filmmaker, you have got to have success. My brother and I self-finance every movie that we make; we don't have outside money whatsoever. You do not want to throw it on the table every time with wild abandon.''

Another difference, perhaps, between these guys and Hollywood. But Lalonde has faith that his dream of making studios realize that Christian entertainment can be viable will come to pass - providing that the message is spoken in tongues the industry understands.

``There are two ways to do it: show them commercial success and bring them some good scripts,'' Lalonde says. ``Where is the 'Ben Hur' script of today? It might be naive, but I'm sure that if that level of stuff is put down on studio executives' desks, we'd see those movies getting made.

``I think we from that Christian point of view need to raise our game a bit,'' he concludes. ``We need to make better stuff.''

CAPTION(S):

8 photos

Photo:

(1) ``Left Behind'' was the work of Cloud Ten producers Paul Lelonde, left, and Peter Lalonde, center, as well as Bobby Neutz of Namesake.

(2) Janata Stephens assists a wounded Kirk Cameron in ``Left Behind.''

(3) Brad Johnson, left, Kirk Cameron, Janaya Stephens and Clarence Gilyard in a scene from ``Left Behind.''

(4) Kirk Cameron as Buck Williams

(5) Clarence Gilyard as Bruce Barnes

(6) Gordon Currie as Nicolae Carpathia

(7) Chelsea Noble as Hattie Durham 

(8) Brad Johnson as Rayford Steele