Yoram Globus


Yoram Globus is an Israeli–American film producer, cinema owner, and distributor. He has been involved in over 300 full-length motion pictures and he is most known for his association with The Cannon Group, Inc., an American film production company, which he co-owned with his cousin Menahem Golan.
Globus played a significant role in developing the Israeli film industry and later became a prominent figure in Hollywood, where he and Golan were nicknamed the "Go-Go Boys" for their fast-paced, low-budget filmmaking style. He is also known for pioneering the "pre-sale strategy" in film financing and for his work in film distribution, including representing major American studios in Israel.

Early life

Yoram Globus was born in Tiberias, on the lake of Galilee, Mandatory Palestine, in 1943 to Jewish parents who immigrated from Poland. When he was three years old, his family moved to the northern city of Kiryat Motzkin. His father, Shmuel, built a cinema, which was unique at that time. When the cinema opened, Globus was 5 years old and very interested in all aspects of the cinema. He would help with whatever his father needed: from hanging posters, serving as a cashier, to promoting movies. At the age of 10 Yoram became the projectionist. During high school he moved to Tel Aviv, where his parents opened another cinema.
Globus graduated business school. He enlisted in the Israel Defense Forces, served as a combat soldier and officer, and retired as a lieutenant.
His cousin is Israeli filmmaker Menahem Golan.

Career

In 1963, Globus partnered with his cousin Menahem Golan, who was already a well-known stage and film director in Israel. Together, they were instrumental in creating the film industry in the country. Over the years they were very successful, building a company that produced movies in Israel, in addition to co-productions in Europe. It became the number 1 production company in Israel. They distributed both European and Israeli movies. For more than 25 years they represented such American studios as Warner Bros., Universal, Paramount and DreamWorks in Israel.
Their most successful projects include Operation Thunderbolt, Kazablan, Lemon Popsicle, I Love You Rosa, and The House on Chelouche Street. They had additional films that represented Israel in many film festivals, such as: Cannes, Berlin, AFM, Milano Film Market, and more.
In the early 1970s, Globus and Golan started to make movies in Europe and in Hollywood.

Move to the United States

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, The Death Wish films, Bloodsport, and American Ninja.
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, 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, 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. Globus is responsible for a significant part of the Israeli film distribution industry 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

2000s

1990s

1980s

1970s

1960s

  • Margo Sheli ''My Love in Jerusalem
  • Sam's Song Line of Fire
  • Nes B'Ayara A Miracle in Our Town
  • Fortuna Seduced in Sodom The Girl from the Dead Sea
  • Complica''