The Cannon Group, Inc. was an American group of companies, including Cannon Films, which produced films from 1967 to 1994. The extensive group also owned, amongst others, a large international cinema chain and a video film company that invested heavily in the video market, buying the international video rights to several classic film libraries. Some of their best known films include ''
Joe'' (1970), ''
Runaway Train'' (1985) and ''
Street Smart'' (1987), all of which were
Oscar-nominated.
History
1967–1979: Beginnings
Cannon Films was incorporated on October 23, 1967. It was formed by Dennis Friedland and Chris Dewey while they were in their early 20s. They had immediate success producing English-language versions of Swedish
soft porn films directed by
Joseph W. Sarno
Joseph W. Sarno (March 15, 1921 – April 26, 2010) was an American film director and screenwriter.
Sarno emerged from the proto-pornographic sexploitation film genre of the 1950s & 1960s; he had written and directed approximately 75 theatric ...
: ''
Inga'' (1968), aka ''Jag––en oskuld'' and ''To Ingrid, My Love, Lisa'' (1968), aka ''Kvinnolek''. By 1970, they had produced films on a larger production scale than a lot of major distributors, such as ''
Joe'', starring
Peter Boyle
Peter Lawrence Boyle (October 18, 1935 – December 12, 2006) was an American actor. Known as a character actor, he played Frank Barone on the CBS sitcom '' Everybody Loves Raymond'' and the comical monster in Mel Brooks' film spoof '' Young ...
. They managed this by tightly limiting their budgets to $300,000 per picture—or less, in some cases. The success of ''Joe'' brought more attention to the company. However, as the 1970s moved on, a string of unsuccessful films seriously drained Cannon's capital. This, along with changes to film-production tax laws, led to a drop in Cannon's stock price.
1979–1985: Golan-Globus era
By 1979, Cannon had hit serious financial difficulties, and Friedland and Dewey sold Cannon to Israeli cousins
Menahem Golan
Menahem Golan ( he, מנחם גולן; May 31, 1929 – August 8, 2014, originally Menachem Globus) was an Israeli film producer, screenwriter, and director. He was best known for co-owning The Cannon Group with his cousin Yoram Globus. Cannon ...
(who had directed ''
The Apple'') and
Yoram Globus for $500,000. The two cousins forged a business model of buying bottom-barrel scripts and putting them into production. They produced such films in a variety of genres, although their biggest successes were with
action film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include l ...
s; they tapped into a ravenous market for
B movie
A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...
s in the 1980s. After buying the rights to the 1974 film ''
Death Wish
Death Wish or Deathwish may refer to:
Common meanings
*Suicidal ideation, term for thoughts about killing oneself
*Death drive, term in Freudian psychiatry
Arts and entertainment Radio
*"Death Wish", a 1957 episode of the radio series ''X Minus ...
'', Cannon produced three sequels to it in the 1980s, all starring
Charles Bronson. Despite negative reviews, these films were financially successful, especially ''
Death Wish II
''Death Wish II'' is a 1982 American vigilante action film directed and co-edited by Michael Winner. It is the first of four sequels to the 1974 film ''Death Wish''. It is the second installment in the ''Death Wish'' film series. In the stor ...
'' (1982), which earned over $40 million on an $8 million budget.
Other major hits for Cannon were a series of action movies starring
Chuck Norris
Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist and actor. He is a black belt in Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo. After serving in the United States Air Force, Norris won many martial arts championshi ...
, including ''
Missing in Action'' (1984), ''
Invasion U.S.A.'' (1985) and ''
The Delta Force'' (1986). ''Missing in Action'' was criticized heavily as being a preemptive cash-in on the
''Rambo'' franchise.
James Cameron
James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post- New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly pushing the boundaries of cinematic capability ...
's story treatment for ''
Rambo: First Blood Part II'' was floating around Hollywood in 1983, which Golan and Globus reviewed and were "
inspired" by.
The writers of ''MIA'' even gave Cameron credit saying their film was inspired by his script treatment. But Cannon had initially put the prequel ''
Missing in Action 2: The Beginning'' into production. Only after the two movies were completed had the company realized that the planned second movie was superior to the first one. So, the first movie produced became an awkward prequel.
The Cannon Group ignited a worldwide ninja craze with "The Ninja Trilogy", a film series which consisted of ''
Enter the Ninja
''Enter the Ninja'' is a 1981 American martial arts film directed by Menahem Golan and starring Franco Nero, Susan George, Sho Kosugi and Christopher George. The film is about a martial artist named Cole (Nero) who is visiting his friend F ...
'' (1981), ''
Revenge of the Ninja
''Revenge of the Ninja'' is a 1983 American martial arts–thriller film directed by Sam Firstenberg, and starring martial artist Sho Kosugi, Keith Vitali, Virgil Frye and Kane Kosugi. The plot follows a ninja trying to protect his only son fro ...
'' (1983), and ''
Ninja III: The Domination'' (1984), all starring
Sho Kosugi, as well as ''
American Ninja
''American Ninja'' is a 1985 American martial arts action film produced by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus's Cannon Films. Directed by Sam Firstenberg, who specialized in this genre in the 1980s, the film stars Michael Dudikoff in the title role ...
'' (1985) and its sequel ''
American Ninja 2: The Confrontation'' (1987). Other action/adventure films they produced included the
3-D ''
Treasure of the Four Crowns
Treasure (from la, thesaurus from Greek language ''thēsauros'', "treasure store") is a concentration of wealth — often originating from ancient history — that is considered lost and/or forgotten until rediscovered. Some jurisdictions leg ...
'', ''
King Solomon's Mines
''King Solomon's Mines'' (1885) is a popular novel by the English Victorian adventure writer and fabulist Sir H. Rider Haggard. It tells of a search of an unexplored region of Africa by a group of adventurers led by Allan Quatermain for the ...
'', and the vigilante thriller sequel ''
Exterminator 2
''Exterminator 2'' is a 1984 American action thriller film written and directed by Mark Buntzman (with additional scenes directed by William Sachs), starring Robert Ginty, Mario Van Peebles, and Deborah Geffner, with cameos by Arye Gross in his d ...
''.
The Cannon Group's biggest financial success has been with the 1986 action film ''
Cobra'', which starred
Sylvester Stallone
Sylvester Enzio Stallone (; born Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone, ) is an American actor and filmmaker. After his beginnings as a struggling actor for a number of years upon arriving to New York City in 1969 and later Hollywood in 1974, h ...
; not a low-budget film, it earned $160 million on a $25 million budget.
Cannon also produced musical and comedy films such as ''
Breakin''', ''
Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo'', ''
The Last American Virgin'', and the U.S. release of ''
The Apple''; erotic period drama pictures such as ''
Lady Chatterley's Lover'' (1981), ''
Bolero
Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It has ...
'', and ''
Mata Hari'' (1985); science fiction and fantasy films such as ''
Hercules
Hercules (, ) is the Roman equivalent of the Greek divine hero Heracles, son of Jupiter and the mortal Alcmena. In classical mythology, Hercules is famous for his strength and for his numerous far-ranging adventures.
The Romans adapted the ...
'', ''
Lifeforce'', and ''
The Barbarians''; and serious pictures such as
John Cassavetes' ''
Love Streams'',
Franco Zeffirelli
Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli (12 February 1923 – 15 June 2019), was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post-World War II era, ...
's ''
Otello'' (a film version of the
Verdi opera),
Norman Mailer's ''
Tough Guys Don't Dance'', and
Andrei Konchalovsky's ''
Runaway Train'' and ''
Shy People''.
During these years, Cannon prominently advertised at the
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...
each year. Substantial pre-sales of the next years' films were made based on the strong salesmanship skills of Globus. The deposits made from these sales financed production of the first film in the production line-up, which—when completed and delivered to theatre owners around the world—generated enough money to make the next film in the line-up. in the Netherlands (which had provided Cannon's start-up capital in 1979) provided
bridge financing
A bridge loan is a type of short-term loan, typically taken out for a period of 2 weeks to 3 years pending the arrangement of larger or longer-term financing. It is usually called a bridging loan in the United Kingdom, also known as a "caveat loan, ...
until the pre-sales amounts were collected.
In 1982, The Cannon Group, Inc. entered into a relationship with
MGM/UA Entertainment Co. whereas MGM/UA would distribute Cannon's films for theatrical and home video distribution via the
MGM/UA Home Video MGM/UA may refer to:
*Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, American film and television production and distribution company
**United Artists, American film and television studio, now a subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
* MGM/UA Home Video, the home video arm of Met ...
label, and was to be part of the MGM/UA's distribution network, but the deal was reupped in 1983, in order that MGM/UA would distribute its films theatrically in the North American region, as well as in the home video market. In 1984, The Cannon Group has signed a deal with distributor
UGC for an exclusive five-year pact, with UGC handling French theatrical distribution and video rights of Cannon's upcoming feature films. Also that year, on May 22, 1984, Cannon Group had acquired and absorbed Kenneth Rive's Gala Films, which was absorbed into Cannon Group's U.K. distribution arm. On June 25, 1985, Cannon Films bought out the rights to produce future films based on the comic book character ''
Superman
Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book '' Action Comics'' #1 ( cover-dated June 1938 and pu ...
'' from the
Salkinds, and had a distribution assignment with
Warner Bros. for a 1987 release. Also that year, Cannon had to set up a French office by November, through the subsidiary Cannon France, and has plans to be the largest French distribution chain by next year.
1986–1989: Later years
By 1986, output reached an apex with 43 films in one year. Golan remained chairman of the board, while Globus served as president. In 1986, Cannon attempted to produce film adaptations of the stage plays ''
Zorba'' and ''
American Buffalo'', but these films were never materialized. On April 23, 1986, Cannon Television, the television division of the Cannon Group, had eyeing the network television, syndication and cable markets, with action series being offered to dominate Cannon's television slate, and offered television versions of the Cannon hit features ''
The Delta Force'' and ''
American Ninja
''American Ninja'' is a 1985 American martial arts action film produced by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus's Cannon Films. Directed by Sam Firstenberg, who specialized in this genre in the 1980s, the film stars Michael Dudikoff in the title role ...
''. On April 30, 1986, Cannon had won the bid to distribute
Roman Polanski
Raymond Roman Thierry Polański , group=lower-alpha, name=note_a ( né Liebling; 18 August 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, tw ...
's newest film ''
Pirates'', which was set for debut on July 11, 1986, to 2,000 screens, which had beaten
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
and
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG) was an entertainment production company and distribution studio founded by Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis. The company is notable for producing '' Manhunter'', '' Blue Velvet'', the horror films '' ...
. That year, the company attempted plans to do a series of fairy tales to follow ''
Rumpelstiltskin'' with a total of 12 fairy tale films planned by the studio as part of the ''
Cannon Movie Tales'' series, but Cannon would wound up releasing a few of the fairy tales.
Film critic
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
said of Golan-Globus in 1987, "no other production organization in the world today—certainly not any of the seven Hollywood 'majors'—has taken more chances with serious, marginal films than Cannon."
That year, Cannon gained its greatest artistic success: its 1986 Dutch production ''
The Assault'' won the 1987
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...
and a
Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is a Golden Globe Award presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film coul ...
. Meanwhile, ''
Otello'', based on the
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
of the same name, also received a Golden Globe nomination that year.
Golan and Cannon Films were famous for making huge announcements and over-promoting films that did not live up to expectations—or even exist. For instance, ''
Lifeforce'' (1985) was to be "the cinematic sci-fi event of the
'80s" and ''
Masters of the Universe
''Masters of the Universe'' (sometimes referred to as the ''He-Man'' or '' She-Ra'' series) is a sword and planet-themed media franchise created by Mattel. The main premise revolves around the conflict between He-Man (the alter ego of Prince A ...
'' (1987) was dubbed "the ''
Star Wars'' of the '80s." Diversifying from film production, Cannon had begun purchasing
film distributors
A film distributor is responsible for the marketing of a film. The distribution company may be the same with, or different from, the production company. Distribution deals are an important part of financing a film.
The distributor may set the r ...
and
movie theater
A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...
s. The purchases ranged from European companies (
Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment, Tuschinski Theatres, a 49-screen theater chain in the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, and the 53-screen Cannon Cinema
Italia) to the sixth-largest chain in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
, 425-screen "marginally profitable"
Commonwealth Theaters.
''Spider-Man''
Additionally, Cannon owned the film rights to ''
Spider-Man'', and planned to make a
''Spider-Man'' film in the mid-1980s.
Golan and Globus agreed to pay
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in ...
$225,000 over the five-year option period, plus a percentage of the film's revenues.
The rights would revert to Marvel if a film was not made by April 1990.
Marvel and
Sony
, commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...
would eventually complete
a film in 2002 directed by
Sam Raimi after the rights had been resecured.
Popularity in the UK
On August 20, 1986, both Cannon Screen Entertainment, and archrival
The Rank Organization had jointly inked a $10 million agreement with the
BBC to gain access to the 10 British title library. In May 1987, The Cannon Group sold its 2,000-title British film library, the Thorn-EMI Screen Entertainment Library, for $85-million to
Weintraub Entertainment Group. Shortly afterwards, Cannon had dropped out of the HBO/Cannon Video joint venture with HBO. Cannon's films proved to be much more popular in the United Kingdom than in its native United States, which is why Cannon acquired several British cinema chains during the 1980s, and founded the mail-order video distribution service Videolog as a joint venture with
Columbia House Europe, Ltd. in the mid-1980s. Cannon Cinemas were a familiar sight in the United Kingdom until the late 1990s, when MGM Cannon cinemas were sold to Virgin who retained the multi screen sites and sold the traditional sites to a new
ABC Cinemas
ABC Cinemas (Associated British Cinemas) was a cinema chain in the United Kingdom. Originally a wholly owned subsidiary of Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), it operated between the 1930s and the 1980s. The brand name was reused in ...
.
Pathé ownership of Cannon
By 1988, a cooling in the film market and a series of box office disappointments—including the multimillion-dollar production of ''
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace'' (1987), whose original $36-million budget was slashed to $17 million—had once again put Cannon in financial woes. The company signed an agreement with
Warner Bros. to handle part of their assets; however, the financial loss was staggering. Having purchased
Thorn EMI's
Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment division in 1986,
Cannon Films was severely stretched, and faced
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debto ...
. The
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission began an investigation into Cannon's financial reports, suspecting that Cannon had fraudulently misstated them. On the verge of failure, Cannon Films was taken over by
Pathé Communications, a holding company controlled by Italian financier
Giancarlo Parretti
Giancarlo Parretti (born 23 October 1941) is an Italian financier.
In 1989, he took over Cannon Film Group Inc. from Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. Almost immediately, he made plans to take over the storied French studio Pathé, and changed Ca ...
. Financed by the French bank
Crédit Lyonnais
The Crédit Lyonnais (, "Lyon Credit ompany) was a major French bank, created in 1863 and absorbed by former rival Crédit Agricole in 2003. Its head office was initially in Lyon but moved to Paris in 1882. In the early years of the 20th cent ...
, Pathé Communications' takeover of Cannon immediately began a corporate restructuring and refinancing of $250 million to pay off Cannon's debt. By 1989, Golan, citing differences with both Parretti and Globus, resigned from his position and left Cannon to start
21st Century Film Corporation
21st Century Film Corporation Inc. was a theatrical distribution company formed sometime in the 1970s as a production company and distributor. Menahem Golan served as CEO of the company from 1989 to the company's bankruptcy.
History
The company ...
, while Globus remained with Pathé.
One of the final films produced by Golan and Globus that received a wide release under the Cannon Films banner was the
Jean-Claude Van Damme post-apocalyptic action film ''
Cyborg''. This film was conceived to use both the costumes and sets built for an intended sequel to ''Masters of the Universe'' and the ill-fated live-action version of ''Spider-Man''. Both projects were planned to shoot simultaneously under the direction of
Albert Pyun
Albert Pyun (May 19, 1953 – November 26, 2022) was an American film director who made low-budget B-movies and direct-to-video action films.
The Independent Film Channel said that Pyun "has carved out a unique niche as a director of low-budge ...
. After Cannon Films had to cancel deals with both
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in mor ...
and
Marvel Entertainment Group because of their financial troubles, they needed to recoup the money spent on both projects. As part of his severance package from Pathé, Golan took the rights to
Marvel’s characters
Spider-Man and
Captain America
Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''#Golden Age, Captain America Comics'' #1 (cover ...
(Golan was able to put ''
Captain America
Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''#Golden Age, Captain America Comics'' #1 (cover ...
'' into production, and released it directly to video through his 21st Century Film Corporation, while, as aforementioned, Columbia would eventually take ''Spider-Man'' to production for 2002 release). Not to let that pre-production work go to waste, Pyun wrote ''
Cyborg'', with
Chuck Norris
Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist and actor. He is a black belt in Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo. After serving in the United States Air Force, Norris won many martial arts championshi ...
in mind, suggesting it to Cannon Films.
Jean-Claude Van Damme was cast in the lead role. Some television stations still give the film's title as ''Masters of the Universe 2: Cyborg''.
1990–1994: Relaunch and demise
Following Golan's departure from Cannon Films, he became the head of
21st Century Film Corporation
21st Century Film Corporation Inc. was a theatrical distribution company formed sometime in the 1970s as a production company and distributor. Menahem Golan served as CEO of the company from 1989 to the company's bankruptcy.
History
The company ...
. Globus continued working with Parretti at Pathé. When Pathé took over control of
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
in 1990 as part of the
MGM-Pathe merger, a majority of the Cannon Films library became part of the MGM library (certain rights for other media and select films during the Thorn EMI merger now lie with other entities). During Parretti's tenure at
MGM, he appointed Globus as president of the studio for a brief period of time.
In 1990, Parretti reorganized Cannon Pictures, Inc. as the low-budget distribution arm of Pathé. Veteran Italian film producer
Ovidio G. Assonitis served as chairman and CEO of the new Cannon Pictures from 1990 to 1991. After the MGM-Pathé merger, Cannon Pictures spun off from Pathé, and was later run by former Cannon Group production head Christopher Pearce, who served as chairman and CEO from 1991 to 1994. Cannon Pictures continued to release films, including ''
A Man Called Sarge
''A Man Called Sarge'' is a 1990 American parody film, written and directed by Stuart Gillard, starring Gary Kroeger, Marc Singer, Gretchen German and introducing a young Natasha Lyonne.
The humour is built on slapstick and verbal puns, in the f ...
'', ''
American Ninja 4: The Annihilation'' and ''
No Place to Hide''. Parretti was pushed out of management control of
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
in 1991 by
Crédit Lyonnais
The Crédit Lyonnais (, "Lyon Credit ompany) was a major French bank, created in 1863 and absorbed by former rival Crédit Agricole in 2003. Its head office was initially in Lyon but moved to Paris in 1882. In the early years of the 20th cent ...
, after he defaulted on loan payments. Parretti was later convicted of perjury and evidence tampering in a
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent ...
court for statements he made in a 1991 civil case, brought by Credit Lyonnais to validate their removal of Parretti, to the effect that a document he claimed allowed him to retain control of MGM was authentic;
he fled the country for Italy before he could be sentenced or extradited to France, where he was wanted on criminal charges related to his use of MGM's French assets.
In 1994, Cannon Pictures released its last film, ''
Hellbound''.
Yoram Globus and Christopher Pearce later worked for
21st Century Film Corporation
21st Century Film Corporation Inc. was a theatrical distribution company formed sometime in the 1970s as a production company and distributor. Menahem Golan served as CEO of the company from 1989 to the company's bankruptcy.
History
The company ...
until that company's closure in 1996.
In 1997, the California Superior Court in Los Angeles entered a final judgement in a separate civil suit against Parretti, ordering him to pay $1.48 billion to Credit Lyonnais.
After Federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment against Parretti and Florio Fiorini accusing them of fraud in 1999, Italian authorities arrested both men and held them for extradition to the United States. Parretti was released by the court of appeal in
Perugia
Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia.
The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part ...
shortly thereafter, ordered to remain in his home town of
Orvieto and report to the police three times a week, even though authorities in Rome had requested he be held pending a decision on the extradition.
1998–2008: Television era
Throughout the late 1990s to the late 2000s, Golan's interest focused on multiple
television films after he founded his new film production company, New Cannon, Inc. with
Evgeny Afineevsky. Some of his films included ''
Lima: Breaking the Silence'' (1998), ''Death Game'' (2001), ''
Crime and Punishment''. The company changed its name to New Generation Films in 2002.
Afineevsky remains co-chairman of the Board.
2014–present: Resurgence
In 2014, there were two documentary films released about Cannon Films.
RatPac Entertainment released ''
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films'', a documentary about Cannon Films, written and directed by
Mark Hartley, and produced by
Brett Ratner
Brett Ratner (born March 28, 1969) is an American film director and producer. He directed the ''Rush Hour'' film series, '' The Family Man'', '' Red Dragon'', '' X-Men: The Last Stand'', and ''Tower Heist''. He is also a producer of several film ...
. That same year, the Israeli documentary ''
The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films'' was launched at the
2014 Cannes Film Festival
The 67th Cannes Film Festival was held from 14 to 25 May 2014. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the main competition section. The Palme d'Or was awarded to the Turkish film ''Winter Sleep'' directed by Nuri Bil ...
.
Filmography
See also
*
MGM Home Entertainment, the company that now owns most of Cannon films' library.
*
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros.
It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video ...
, whose parent company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. currently owns Cannon's post-1991 films, as well as titles that Cannon produced but were distributed by Warner. Additionally, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment is also a new distributor under license from MGM Home Entertainment since July 1, 2020, as a result of MGM/
Fox home media deal expiring on June 30, in which WB now managed to distributed the entire Cannon films' library (with MGM) in physical home media worldwide.
*
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
, the company that owns the television rights to most of the Cannon library.
References
External links
Cannon Films Appreciation Society*
*
"Loose Cannons Podcast" ''Hosts Mathew Kumar and Justin Decloux discuss the Cannon Films Library in (mostly) Chronological Order'
Cannon Films Night on ''The Radio Dan Show''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cannon Group
American companies established in 1967
American companies disestablished in 1994
Mass media companies established in 1967
Mass media companies disestablished in 1994
Defunct American film studios
Former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer subsidiaries
Film production companies of the United States
Former cinema chains in the United Kingdom