areaseven Posted March 30, 2016 Posted March 30, 2016 (edited) Long before The Asylum existed, there was Cannon Films. After being sold to Israeli cousins Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, Cannon Films churned out some of the shittiest movies ever produced on a monthly (sometimes even weekly) basis in the 1980s. They were the kings of the B-movie genre, releasing guilty pleasures such as Sho Kosugi's Ninja Trilogy, Chuck Norris' Missing in Action trilogy, Charles Bronson's Death Wish saga, Sylvester Stallone's Cobra and Over the Top, and the American Ninja pentalogy. But that's not all - Cannon was responsible for Masters of the Universe and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, as well as Robotech: The Untold Story. And who could ever forget their dance classics Breakin' and Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo? To celebrate this fabled production studio, a documentary was released in 2014. Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films features interviews with stars who either made their big break or went broke with Cannon such as Michael "American Ninja" Dudikoff, Dolph "He-Man" Lundgren, Bo Derek (still a "10" for her age), Cassandra "Elvira" Peterson, Marina "Counselor Troi" Sirtis, Alex "Bill S. Preston, ESQ" Winter, and more. Much like Tim Burton's biopic on Ed Wood, this documentary has received critical acclaim worldwide. So what were your favorite Cannon films? Official Facebook Page Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 93% - "Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films pays tribute to the titular studio with an affectionate look back that's arguably more entertaining than much of Cannon's own B-movie product." Edited April 1, 2016 by areaseven Quote
Duke Togo Posted March 30, 2016 Posted March 30, 2016 It's streaming on Netflix. Very entertaining and quite good. Quote
areaseven Posted March 30, 2016 Author Posted March 30, 2016 The Revenant would've taken home the Oscar for Best Picture if only it had this scene. Quote
areaseven Posted March 30, 2016 Author Posted March 30, 2016 (edited) A couple of interview clips from the documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2oTXpLsBSU Also, Red Letter Media celebrated Christmas with a Cannon Marathon. Edited March 30, 2016 by areaseven Quote
areaseven Posted March 30, 2016 Author Posted March 30, 2016 (edited) Did you know that Cannon Films had the film rights to Spider-Man in the '80s? Be glad they didn't make one. Oh yeah, this is still the worst Marvel movie ever made. Edited April 1, 2016 by areaseven Quote
areaseven Posted March 30, 2016 Author Posted March 30, 2016 Here's one of the films featured in the documentary. Ninja III: The Domination is part ninja film, part Flashdance, and part The Exorcist. Total cinematic genius. Quote
Jefuemon Posted March 30, 2016 Posted March 30, 2016 That is quite possibly the most horrible work out and studio set-up I've ever seen. Have to send that to my aerobics instructor and see what she says. Did they really think carpet was a good flooring material for a gym? Quote
areaseven Posted March 30, 2016 Author Posted March 30, 2016 That is quite possibly the most horrible work out and studio set-up I've ever seen. Have to send that to my aerobics instructor and see what she says. Did they really think carpet was a good flooring material for a gym? This is Cannon we're talking about. They didn't care about plot, accuracy, or anything to make a proper film. They only cared about keeping the costs as low as possible. Quote
Hikuro Posted March 30, 2016 Posted March 30, 2016 They even mention the owners going as far as editing the film entirely themselves so whatever was originally done got scrapped. They were also responsible for superman to go to hell in 3 & 4 if I remember right. But man they were also into making a lot of porn. Quote
areaseven Posted March 30, 2016 Author Posted March 30, 2016 They even mention the owners going as far as editing the film entirely themselves so whatever was originally done got scrapped. They were also responsible for superman to go to hell in 3 & 4 if I remember right. But man they were also into making a lot of porn. They picked up the rights to Superman after the third one. Warner Bros. gave them a US$14 million budget for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, but guess what? Golan & Globus took that 14 million and split it between 10 other movies. Now you know why Supes is able to rebuild the Great Wall of China with just his eyes. Quote
areaseven Posted March 30, 2016 Author Posted March 30, 2016 I'm already at 40 minutes in this film, and my head's spinning. Here are my thoughts so far: - Golan & Globus were real cheapskates, right to the point where the staff were on minimum wage and Chinese take-out was their only luxury. Makes you wonder what The Asylum has for dinner on their budget. - The Apple is career suicide for anyone involved in it, but I'm surprised Catherine Mary Stewart was able to rebound from that abyss with a prominent role in The Last Starfighter years later. - That Michael Winner was a real a-hole of a director. I wouldn't be surprised if anyone legitimately got raped on the set of Death Wish II or The Wicked Lady. Marina Sirtis (Counselor Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation) sure has a lot of guts to open up on the extremely unsafe working conditions that she went through. But that girl who played Charles Bronson's daughter in Death Wish II... she looks so hot for her age now. - Sahara and Brooke Shields being Oscar material? Delusional is not a fitting word to describe Golan when he thought of that. - I really feel sorry for Lucinda Dickey. Breakin' and Ninja III: The Domination are obviously Bad Movie Night material, but she was really, really cute in those films. It's just too bad she allowed Cannon to ruin her film career, and she hasn't really aged well. Quote
renegadeleader1 Posted March 30, 2016 Posted March 30, 2016 Well Cannon did give us all those wonderful Chuck Norris movies. Quote
Mr March Posted March 30, 2016 Posted March 30, 2016 (edited) This is one time that being obsessed with the 1980s lead to an entertaining movie in all the right ways. This was a highly amusing, outrageous and eye-opening documentary about how some of these movies got made and tells a lot about the absurd business side of film production at that time, especially the personality of the fellas that made these schlocky films. Despite the end result, it says a lot about what takes to make product and get it out there. The movie is legitimately inspiring in a weird way. Edited March 30, 2016 by Mr March Quote
Dynaman Posted March 30, 2016 Posted March 30, 2016 I have to watch this soon. I liked most of the Ninja films (despite how bad they were) and Electric Boogaloo is my catchphrase for bad sequels. Quote
areaseven Posted March 31, 2016 Author Posted March 31, 2016 (edited) After finishing this film, I have more respect for Michael Dudikoff than during his whole stint as the American Ninja, even though Golan really held him back (probably in fear that he would upstage Norris and Bronson in their lineup). It's just too bad his career never went beyond that (and that Cobra TV series back in the '90s). It's also a shame how companies with no money push pennies, but when they get a downpour of money, they go berserk with it. The best example is when Cannon plastered the Cannes Film Festival with billboards of hopes and dreams. And I don't mean individual billboards, but an entire block of Cannes. Another one is Over the Top. It had a budget of US$25 million and Golan allocated half of that to Stallone, thinking the star power would rake in the cash. Instead, it made US$16 million at the box office. Edited April 10, 2016 by areaseven Quote
Sandman Posted March 31, 2016 Posted March 31, 2016 Can't wait to check this out. hopefully it's on Canadian Netflix. Wasn't Terminator 1 and 2 both cannon films? Quote
areaseven Posted March 31, 2016 Author Posted March 31, 2016 Can't wait to check this out. hopefully it's on Canadian Netflix. Wasn't Terminator 1 and 2 both cannon films? Nope. T1 was Orion while T2 was Carolco. Quote
Hikuro Posted March 31, 2016 Posted March 31, 2016 When I think about it, over the top was probably my favorite of the cannon projects. It had a good sound track, 80s montage that comes with Stallone at those times, story is more coherent than other cannon properties AND didn't have a lot of T&A their films are known for. Quote
Duke Togo Posted March 31, 2016 Posted March 31, 2016 American Ninja has always been a guilty pleasure movie of mine. Quote
areaseven Posted March 31, 2016 Author Posted March 31, 2016 What happens when you cast Django as a ninja? You get Enter the Ninja. The final match in a cockfighting ring. Genius. Quote
TangledThorns Posted March 31, 2016 Posted March 31, 2016 I grew up watching this crap. Yes, it was crap but it was all we had to keep us entertained back then Quote
Valkyrie Hunter D Posted April 1, 2016 Posted April 1, 2016 I remember having fun watching The Barbarians. I probably still would Quote
renegadeleader1 Posted April 1, 2016 Posted April 1, 2016 Yeah guys that's the thing about Cannon films, as bad as a lot of their films are more than a handful at least had some entertainment value. Sure its schlock, but its entertaining schlock with some effort put into it. Unlike Asylum who produces garbage with no effort put into it and tries to bite on the trend of whatever movie is popular at the time with half baked knock offs. Quote
Roy Focker Posted April 1, 2016 Posted April 1, 2016 Plenty of crap mixed with some good old fashion 1980's cheese. As kid in a family with a VCR I requested to rent a lot these movies. A Ninja on the cover was must see movie. Quote
areaseven Posted April 1, 2016 Author Posted April 1, 2016 You know what we need? A documentary on the rise and fall of Carolco Pictures. After all, for every Rambo II, T2, and Total Recall, there was a Cutthroat Island. Quote
areaseven Posted April 1, 2016 Author Posted April 1, 2016 I didn't realize this was out on Blu-ray. Quote
taksraven Posted April 2, 2016 Posted April 2, 2016 You know what we need? A documentary on the rise and fall of Carolco Pictures. After all, for every Rambo II, T2, and Total Recall, there was a Cutthroat Island. Going through the thread and *just* about to make the same comment. Absolutely right. Thanks for pointing out the doco. I think it has it's own thread here but it's also well worth checking out the doco about Tim Burton's failed Superman project. If you want an accurate portrayal of how stupid the hollywood system is, this is the place to go. Quote
miles316 Posted April 4, 2016 Posted April 4, 2016 I watched a lot of those movies on TNT and from the video store when I was a kid. Quote
areaseven Posted April 6, 2016 Author Posted April 6, 2016 (edited) Even though Cannon Films is dead, its spirit lives on in Nu Image Films. You can clearly see it on their martial arts films like the Undisputed and Ninja series starring Scott Adkins. No shaky-cam, no CGI. Just straightforward martial arts. Edited April 6, 2016 by areaseven Quote
Dynaman Posted April 7, 2016 Posted April 7, 2016 I don't know if I should post here or in the worst scifi movies of all time thread. I never knew just how much schlock Cannon films produced! For the MST3K reboot they should just raid the Cannon films catalog - though getting some of that on TV would leave them with 2 minutes of movie to riff. The truly sad part is I want to watch all of the stinkers in order now. Quote
areaseven Posted April 7, 2016 Author Posted April 7, 2016 Of all the films produced by Cannon, what are your favorites? List of The Cannon Group films Quote
Dynaman Posted April 8, 2016 Posted April 8, 2016 Top two are Revenge of the Ninja and Last American Virgin. Quote
areaseven Posted April 8, 2016 Author Posted April 8, 2016 My top favorites from Cannon: 1. Highlander (Yes, it was a Cannon production) 2. Bloodsport 3. Kickboxer 4. American Ninja 5. Invasion U.S.A. Quote
Dynaman Posted April 8, 2016 Posted April 8, 2016 My top favorites from Cannon: 1. Highlander (Yes, it was a Cannon production) 2. Bloodsport 3. Kickboxer 4. American Ninja 5. Invasion U.S.A. Highlander was Cannon? Put that at the top of my list... Quote
areaseven Posted April 10, 2016 Author Posted April 10, 2016 Because nothing says badass like arm wrestling. Quote
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