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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?

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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 by areaseven
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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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. :wub:

- 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.

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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 by Mr March
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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 by areaseven
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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 by areaseven
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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.

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