The Cannon Group, Inc.
| File:Cannon Films.jpg | |
| Industry | Motion Picture Production, Releasing & Showcasing |
|---|---|
| Founded | October 23, 1967 |
| Defunct | 1993 |
| Fate | Bankruptcy |
| Headquarters | United Staes (Also owned studios and cinema chains throughout the UK, Israel and Europe |
Key people | (1967-1979 Dennis Friedland & Chris Dewey)
(1979-1989 Menahem Golan & Yoram Globus) (1989-1993 Ovidio G. Assonitis (1989-90); Yoram Globus, Giancarlo Parretti & Christopher Pearce) |
| Products | Motion Pictures, Video Releasing, Cinema Chains (UK & Europe) |
| Subsidiaries | Cannon Video, Cannon Cinemas (Various other mergers Cannon International, Cannon France) |
The Cannon Group Inc produced a distinctive line of low to medium budget films from 1967 to 1993.
The Cannon Group refers to Israeli producer Menahem Golan and his cousin Yoram Globus (b. 1929 and 1941 respectively in Tiberias). The duo initially produced Israeli films, like Operation Thunderbolt and the international hit teen comedy Lemon Popsicle (Eis am Stiel), before coming to the United States in 1979. They bought controlling interest in Cannon Films and forged a business model of buying bottom-barrel scripts and putting them into production.
History
1967-1979
The Cannon Group was incorporated on October 23, 1967. It was formed by Dennis Friedland & Chris Dewey (both in their early twenties at the time). By 1970, they had produced films (such as Joe with Peter Boyle) on a larger production scale than a lot of major distributors. They managed this by keeping their budgets tight to a limit of $300,000 per picture or less in some cases. However as the 1970s moved on, a string of unsuccessful movies had already seriously drained Cannon's capital. Added to this were changes in film production tax laws, which led to a drop in stock prices for Cannon.
1979-1985
By 1979, Cannon had hit serious financial difficulties and Friedland & Dewey sold Cannon to Israeli cousins Menahem Golan & Yoram Globus for a mere $500,000. Golan and Globus tapped into a ravenous market for action films in the 1980s, and although they are most remembered for the Death Wish sequels and Chuck Norris action pictures, and even the vigilante thriller Exterminator 2 (the sequel to 1980’s The Exterminator), Cannon’s output was actually far more varied, with musical/comedy films like Breakin’, Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo, The Last American Virgin, and The Apple, historical/romance pictures like Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Bolero, and Mata Hari, science fiction and fantasy films like Hercules and The Barbarians, as well as serious pictures like John Cassavetes’ Love Streams, Zeffirelli’s Otello (a film version of the Verdi opera), Norman Mailer’s Tough Guys Don’t Dance, and Andrei Konchalovsky’s Runaway Train, Shy People and the 3-D action/adventure film Treasure of the Four Crowns.
Among the films produced by the Golan-Globus team include Superman IV: The Quest for Peace[1], Cobra, Death Wish II, The Delta Force, Invasion U.S.A., Missing in Action, King Solomon’s Mines, American Ninja, and Lifeforce. The films also boosted the careers of Chuck Norris, Charles Bronson, and Sylvester Stallone.
One of Cannon’s biggest hits was the Vietnam action picture Missing in Action, with Chuck Norris. But Cannon had put the movie presently known as Missing in Action 2: The Beginning into production first. Only after the two movies were finished did they realize that the planned second movie was vastly superior to the planned first movie. So, the “first” movie became an awkward prequel.
1986-1989
By 1986, when company earnings reached their apex with 43 films in one year, Cannon Films shares had soared hundredfold. Golan remained as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board, while Globus served as Executive Vice President and Co-Chair.
In 1986, Cannon Films released Robotech: The Movie (also called Robotech: The Untold Story) for a limited run in Mesquite, Texas. Cannon was reportedly unsatisfied with Carl Macek’s first version of the movie which was almost a straight adaptation of the anime Megazone 23. It was at their insistence that footage from The Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross (the series adapted as the Robotech Masters segment of the TV series) and Megazone 23 be spliced together to produce a more action-oriented movie. Macek recalls that, although he himself was unhappy with this revised version, Menahem Golan, after viewing it happily said: “Now that’s a Cannon movie!” Nevertheless, Robotech: The Movie was unsuccessful in its brief Texas run and saw no further release. Carl Macek has gone on record as disowning it.
Film critic Roger Ebert said of Golan-Globus in 1987, “No other production organization in the world today has taken more chances with serious, marginal films.”
Golan and Cannon Films were famous for making huge announcements and over-promoting movies that didn’t live up to expectations, or even exist. For instance, Lifeforce was to be “the cinematic sci-fi event of the ’80s” and Masters of the Universe “the Star Wars of the ’80s.” Additionally, Cannon owned the film rights to Spider-Man, and planned to make a Spider-Man movie in the mid-1980s. It was to be directed by Joseph Zito, director of Missing in Action and Invasion USA, and then by Albert Pyun. Despite Zito investing nearly a year of his life in the project, the Cannon version of Spider-Man never appeared despite being announced at Cannes. (Golan would also attempt an Albert Pyun version of Spider-Man in the late 1980s, to similar results.) Also, Golan announced in the early 1980s that Cannon was producing a film starring both Sean Connery and Roger Moore. But neither actor had agreed to appear in such a film.
In 1988, they released David Winning’s debut feature STORM.[2] However that same year, a string of box office flops drained Cannon’s capital and the market had cooled. The mutli-million dollar production of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, whose original $36 million budget was reduced to half ($17 million) by Cannon, had failed at the box office. Cannon signed an agreement with Warner Bros. to handle part of Cannon's assets, however the financial loss was staggering. Cannon Films was severely stretched, having purchased Thorn EMI, and faced bankruptcy, and a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation began which indicated that Cannon Films had fraudulently misstated its financial reports. On the verge of failure, Cannon Films was taken over by Pathé Communications, a holding company which was controlled by Italian financier Giancarlo Parretti, whom during the same period would also eventually acquire Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) as well. Golan and Globus had signed a contract with Parretti in hopes that Pathe Communications would be able to save Cannon's financial problems and bankruptcy. Parretti had been able to obtain refinancing through the lending company, Credit Lyonnais, and $250 million to pay off Cannon Films debt. Then by early 1989, Parretti had only further damaged Cannon Films, of what seemed to be a successful turnaround in Cannon's problems only worsened. Parretti had lied that Cannon Films was moving ahead, when in fact the company had continued operating in the red. Golan, citing differences with both Parretti and Globus, resigned from his position as Chief Executive Officer and left Cannon Films.
One of the final movies produced by both Golan and Globus to get a wide release under the Cannon Films banner was the Jean-Claude Van Damme post-apocalyptic actioner Cyborg. This film was conceived to use both the costumes and sets built for an intended sequel to Masters of the Universe and a live-action version of Cannon version of Spider-Man. Both projects were planned to shoot simultaneously by Albert Pyun. After Cannon Films had to cancel deals with both Mattel and Marvel Entertainment because of their financial troubles, they needed to recoup the money spent on both projects. As part of his severance package from Pathe Communications, Golan took the rights to Marvel's characters Spider-Man and Captain America (Golan struggled to obtain financing for Spider-Man with Carolco Pictures in the early 1990s but was unsuccessful. Golan was able to put Captain America into production and released direct to video through his 21st Century Film Corporation.) Not to let those pre-production works go to waste, Pyun then wrote the story of Cyborg (with Chuck Norris in mind) suggesting it to Cannon Films, and Jean-Claude Van Damme got attached. Some television stations still give the film’s title as Masters of the Universe 2: Cyborg which often confuses many into thinking a sequel to that film was made.
1990-1993
Following Golan's resignation as CEO of Cannon Films, he became the head of 21st Century Film Corporation while Globus went on to continue working with Parretti, who appointed Globus to preside briefly over MGM/UA, which now owns some ancillary rights to most of Cannon’s film library, while television rights are owned by CBS Television Distribution (the successor-in-interest to the Paramount/Viacom television unit).
Parretti's continued preside over Cannon Films, and his significantly poor business and financial decisions raised suspicions in the industry, and once again from the SEC. Parretti recruited Ovidio G. Assonitis, a veteran prolific film producer and businessman to be appointed as the new Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in 1990, when Cannon renamed as the new Cannon Pictures Inc. It was later discovered that Parretti breached his contract with Assonitis through Pathe, and was terminated as CEO the same year, and replaced by Christopher Pearce. Assonitis later recieved a default judgement of $2.9 million from Pathe for the breach of contract with Parretti. Cannon Pictures continued to release films such as American Ninja 4 and No Place to Hide until 1993, when Parretti's problems with the company had finally began to catch up with him. Parretti defaulted on the bond payments to Credit Lyonnais on Cannon's financial reorganization plans, and furthermore, Parretti also defaulted on the payments he made for his acquisition of Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), which he also controlled. The Securities and Exchange Commission sought another investigation into Cannon Films, and it was later discovered that Parretti had tampered with evidence, and later fled the United States before being sentenced. Cannon officially came to an end in 1993. Yoram Globus and Christopher Pearce later joined to together and formed the short lived Global Pictures from 1993 to 1996.
In 1993, the Golan-Globus film Alien From L.A., starring model Kathy Ireland, was used as the basis of episode #516 of the movie-mocking television show Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Distribution
The Cannon Group’s first films in the United States were distributed independently and released on home video on the small Paragon Video label. Then they made a deal with MGM, and their movies were distributed for home video (and later some films theatrically) by MGM, appearing in the ubiquitous gray MGM Video “big boxes.” Later, Golan and Globus had a falling out with MGM, supposedly over the X-rated Bolero with Bo Derek. Their movies were then released on home video for a short time on Heron Communications’ Media Home Entertainment unit, with some of the larger films, like Masters of the Universe and Over the Top, distributed by either TriStar or Warner Bros. Cannon then partnered with HBO and began its own video label, which lasted into the 1990s.
Criticism
Golan-Globus and Cannon Films have been heavily criticized for their pervasive anti-Arab stereotypes, often seemingly going out of their way to demonize Arabs[citation needed]. In particular, Arab American communications scholar Jack Shaheen has heavily criticized Golan-Globus films, and made special note of them in his book Reel Bad Arabs.