Drafthouse Films will release Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story Of Cannon Films in the U.S. From acclaimed cult film documentarian Mark Hartley (Not Quite Hollywood, Machete Maidens Unleashed), the film centers on the story of two Israeli-born, movie-obsessed cousins, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, who in pursuit of the “American dream” launched an indie studio that would produce over 120 exploitation films from 1979-1989 turning a renegade outfit into the proclaimed “seventh Hollywood major.” The film is currently in pre-production in Australia. A theatrical release is being planned for late 2012 to coincide with a traveling roadshow retrospective of Cannon’s seminal films.

While best known for their explosive ’80s action fare (Missing In Action, Death Wish sequels, Academy Award® Nominated Runaway Train), Cannon Films’ diverse and ambitious production output also included body-count slashers (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), musicals and comedies (The Apple, Breakin’), science fiction and fantasy epics (Masters of The Universe, LifeForce), martial arts classics (American Ninja series, Kickboxer), neo-noir crime thrillers (52 Pick-Up, 10 To Midnight), art-house dramas (Barfly, John Cassavetes’ Love Streams, Jean-Luc Godard’s King Lear), in addition to launching the careers of many future genre superstars like Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme. “No other production organization in the world today,” proclaimed Roger Ebert in 1987, “has taken more chances with serious, marginal films than Cannon.”