In 1978, Globus and Golan moved to Hollywood, where they acquired
The Cannon Group, Inc. for $500,000; it was traded on NASDQ for 25 cents a share. They went to the Cannes Film Festival that year and licensed Cannon's movies for approximately $2.5M. After acquiring 51% of the company's shares, they used the money to start making low-budget action movies. At the beginning of the 1980s, Globus and Golan recognized that home video was the next big thing; they signed actor
Chuck Norris for a 7-year exclusive deal, and
Charles Bronson for a multiple-picture deal. They also discovered
Jean-Claude Van Damme and
Michael Dudikoff, signing them for many pictures, and capitalized on the
ninja craze, Resulting films from these actions included the
Missing in Action films (Chuck Norris), The
Death Wish films (Charles Bronson),
Bloodsport (Jean-Claude Van Damme), and
American Ninja (Michael Dudikoff). The company elevated the production slate. Aside from the action movies, in 1982, they broadened their approach, producing such movies such as
Sahara, starring
Brooke Shields,
That Championship Season, starring
Bruce Dern and
Martin Sheen,
The Wicked Lady, starring
Faye Dunaway, and ''
King Solomon's Mines'', starring
Richard Chamberlain and
Sharon Stone. During this time, the Cannon Group stock was moved to the NY stock exchange and rose in value p from 25 cents in the late 1970s to $48 in 1984. Cannon became the largest independent producer and distributor in the world. By the mid-1980s, Cannon was producing an average of 40 films per year and had a net worth of over US$1 billion. Because of their fast, low-budget style of filmmaking, Globus and Golan earned the nickname "the Go-Go Boys." Among the films produced by Cannon are
Bloodsport with
Jean-Claude Van Damme,
Superman IV: The Quest for Peace with
Christopher Reeve,
King Lear directed by
Jean-Luc Godard,
Runaway Train (1985),
Over The Top with
Sylvester Stallone, and
Street Smart with
Morgan Freeman. During this time, Globus and Golan also acquired the film rights to
Marvel Comics superhero characters
Spider-Man and
Captain America. With Cannon's success, Globus expanded the group's operations into additional territories. Cannon acquired approximately 1,600 cinemas across Europe and the United States (some of which were later purchased by Italian media mogul and future Prime Minister of Italy
Silvio Berlusconi), in addition to studios, an extensive film library and additional acquisitions. This widened the activities of Cannon and established the company as a leading conglomerate in the global film industry. During these years, Cannon financed their movies using a new approach, a strategy created and originated by Globus. This is now known as "the pre-sale strategy". Substantial pre-sales of unproduced films were made based on the strong salesmanship skills of Globus and the promotional advertising created by Design Projects. The financial deposits collected from these pre-sales were used to finance the production of the first film in a Cannon line-up, which when completed and delivered to worldwide theater owners, would generate enough capital to make the next film. For these purposes, Cannon would often commission mock movie posters before they had a script and would display large billboards at sales events such as the
Cannes Film Festival. During 1984, Cannon purchased
Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment and their movie library for £175 million. Cannon sold the EMI British Film Library to
Weintraub Entertainment Group for approximately $85 million. In 1989, Pathé Communications, a holding company controlled by Italian businessman
Giancarlo Parretti, purchased 39.4% of Cannon for 250 million dollars. During that same year, Golan, citing differences with both Parretti and Globus, resigned from his position. He left Cannon and Globus to launch
21st Century Film Corporation, an independent company. In 1990, Globus and Parretti merged Pathé with the Hollywood film studio
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, resulting in the creation of
MGM-Pathé Communications. By then, Globus had become president of MGM. In 1993, having produced over 300 films, Globus returned to Israel to focus on his home company,
Globus Group. This includes a private "Globus" arm with a large film and television studio in
Neve Ilan (where various Israeli stations broadcast, such as the Israeli News Company). Globus is responsible for a significant part of the Israeli film distribution industry ("Noah CPP") and owns the public arm "Globus Max," which owns and operates numerous theaters in Israel. In 1999, Globus was given the
Ophir Award for "Lifetime Achievement" by the Israeli Academy of Film and Television. In 2014, two documentary films were made about Golan/Globus and their "Cannon Films" story.
Warner Bros released
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films, which was produced by
RatPac-Dune Entertainment. That same year, the Israeli documentary
The Go-Go Boys: The Inside Story of Cannon Films premiered at the
Cannes Film Festival. In 2015, Globus sold
Globus Max and returned to Hollywood to launch a new film production company,
Rebel Way Entertainment. The company seeks to reconnect young and web-savvy audiences with the traditional theatrical experience. ==Filmography==