Presenting recent and scarce additions to my collection from the vast archive of SuperFan William S. Wilson –
The above double-page vintage promos from 1985 culled from the pages of weekly Variety are a Cannon Films showcase published during what could be arguably described as their prime. The announcement of Superman IV was quite the coup for new producers Menachem Golan and Yoram Globus who look rather pleased (along with the board, bottom pic) with their acquisition of the Superman Motion Picture Property from the Salkinds, shortly before slashing its intended budget and ultimately delivering the picture that would kill the franchise…
My thanks to Chris King for re-assembling the artwork & Mr. Wilson for his continued generosity…
one may smile and smile and be a villain
My first thoughts on reading that Superman IV was going to be made was "No Lester and no Salkinds. It has to be good." How wrong I was…Unfortunately, I knew it was not going to be good when Starlog magazine wrote that it would have the nuclear disarmament theme. Those types of "message" movies never work. When the film was released in my area, it only played at outdoor Drive-in theaters. No indoor cinemas would touch it. Another bad sign.
congratulations Cannon. you went down in history as the film company that killed superman! (quite literally as it happens, as if IV had been a success there would undoubtedly have been more superman films and Reeve's career wouldve been jumpstarted and he probably wouldve been filming Superman VI with Donner or some other high profile film instead of riding that f***ing horse on that fateful day inbetween filming STV movies)
Cannon wasn’t exactly a new entity at this time. They had become the prime purveyor of schlock cinema and made stockholders happy as their products usually had generated funds before a frame of film was shot as they would pre-sell films to many territories before production even commenced.
But 1985 was basically a beginning of the end for Cannon as some of their high profile offerings didn’t do well at the box office. Roger Moore starring in their production of The Naked Face–and Golan and Globus touted Moore as being one of the world’s best actors at Cannes (OK compared to Chuck Norris and Jean Claude Van Damme he is)–fell flat on its face at the box office. It ain’t a bad film, though. But they really annoyed Moore and Connery by touting their costarring in a film which they never agreed to do. And the bigger budgets spelled disaster for the go-go boys as they were dubbed by the media. I had hopes for SupermanIV when I heard it was coming but hearing that Cannon was handling it, I gathered it was going to be a misfire. But back then I had no idea how they basically sabotaged that film and ultimately Reeve’s career.