Golan-Globus

Infobox Defunct Company
company_name = The Cannon Group Inc.
company_
location = United States (Also owned studios and cinema chains throughout the UK, Israel and Europe
slogan =
fate = Bankruptcy
successor =
foundation = October 23, 1967
defunct = 1993
industry = Motion Picture Production, Releasing & Showcasing
key_people = Dennis Friedland & Chris Dewey (1967-1979) Menahem Golan (1979-1989) Yoram Globus (1979-1993) Giancarlo Parretti (1989-1990) Ovidio G. Assonitis (1989-1993) Christopher Pearce (1990-1993)
products = Motion Pictures, Video Releasing, Cinema Chains (UK & Europe)
num_employees =
parent =
subsid = Cannon Video, Cannon Cinemas (Various other mergers Cannon International, Cannon France)

The Cannon Group Inc. was a group of companies including Cannon Films which produced a distinctive line of low to medium budget films from 1967 to 1993. The extensive group also owned amongst others, a large international cinema chain and a video film company which invested heavily in the video market, buying the international video rights to several classic film libraries.

=Cannon Films=

History

1967–1979

Cannon Films 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. The two cousins forged a business model of buying bottom-barrel scripts and putting them into production.

They 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 such as "The Delta Force" and "Invasion U.S.A.", 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’", "", "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", "Lifeforce" 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", Andrei Konchalovsky’s "Runaway Train", "Shy People", and action/adventure films such as the 3-D "Treasure of the Four Crowns", "King Solomon’s Mines", "Cobra" and "American Ninja".

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.

During this year, Cannon Films released "" (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 "Robotech" 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.” He did so with reasons. That year Cannon gained its greatest artistic success: its Dutch production "The Assault" won the 1986 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

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". [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090084/ IMDb.com—STORM] ] However, that same year, a string of box office flops drained Cannon’s capital and the market had cooled. The multi-million dollar production of , 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, and 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 the aforementioned live-action 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 (whose part in Cannon history today is explained below in "Distribution").

Parretti’s continued presidency 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 was 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 received a default judgement of $2.9 million from Pathe for the breach of contract with Parretti. Cannon Pictures continued to release films such as "" 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, with "Street Knight" being the last film the company would release. Yoram Globus and Christopher Pearce later joined 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 erotic unrated film "Bolero", with Bo Derek. Their movies were then released on home video for a short time by Media Home Entertainment, 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.

Today, the theatrical and home video rights to a majority of Cannon's product are owned by Paramount Pictures and MGM, with the following exceptions:

*Certain Cannon films distributed by Warner Bros. in most territories (including the domestic and most foreign home video and television rights to "") are now owned by WB themselves (worldwide theatrical and all other rights in other European territories for "Superman IV" are now with MGM in conjunction with Sony Pictures Entertainment).
*MGM owns theatrical and home video rights to "Lifeforce". The television rights however, belong to Sony Pictures Television (due to Sony-owned production company TriStar Pictures distributing the film in the U.S.).
*Theatrical and home video rights to most Cannon films made after 1987 are now with Warner Bros. (these include "Masters of the Universe" and "Little Dorrit").
*Cannon films made through its merger with Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment (such as "Link") are now with EMI successor StudioCanal, with Anchor Bay Entertainment handling home video rights.
*MGM does not own the home video rights to "The Company of Wolves", a Cannon/ITC Entertainment co-production that has been released on DVD by Hen's Tooth.

In all cases (except worldwide television rights to "Lifeforce" and the domestic television rights to "Superman IV"), CBS Television Distribution handles television rights to the Cannon library.

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 ArabsFact|date=February 2007. 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".

References

External links

* [http://www.cannon.org.uk/ Cannon.org.uk -The Cannon FIlms Archive]
* [http://www.cannonfilms.com/ Cannon Films Appreciation Society]
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* [http://media.blubrry.com/radiodan/http://radiodanshow.podomatic.com/entry/2007-02-14T17_11_04-08_00/ Cannon Films Night on "The Radio Dan Show"]