Cannon Films was in deep trouble by 1987.
But in the mid-80s, Golan and Globus began to change their strategy.
With them, Cannon planned to break into the Hollywood A-list.
Cannons classic approach to making films was to effectively sell them before they were even made.
Theyd attach a star and put together a poster, and use that package to attract financial backing.
But the same financial headaches that plaguedSuperman IValso hamperedMasters Of The Universes production.
We built these sets in North Carolina, Pyuntoldio9of his brief experience on the production ofSpider-Man.
He didnt understand the whole teenage angst aspect that made him so popular, Pyun said.
ThenMasters Of The Universecame out, and the box-office returns werent encouraging.
Mattel saw the script, or perhaps the storyboards, Goddard said, and pulled the license.
Understandably, Cannon pushed for a more straight, crowd-pleasing action movie instead, as well soon see.
Filming took place over 23 days with a budget of just $500,000.
The production was far from plain-sailing.
Van Damme had to spend up to four hours in makeup as his fake scars were applied.
Four years later, Pinckney took Van Damme to court, and was awarded$485,000 in damages.
When filming was complete, Pyun assembled a black-and-white rough cut ofCyborgfor Cannons producers to have a look at.
As you might imagine the screening did not go well, they thought I was insane.
Pyun duly went back and made a less outlandish edit, with color and less deafening rock music.
This cut passed muster with Cannon, but not with test audiences.
My cut is more pessimistic and internal, Pyun said.
More gloomy sci-fi noir than the released action adventure… Pyun even has a prequel Cyborg Nemesis: Dark Riftproduced several years ago.
As was the case with those direct-to-video sequels, Jean-Claude Van Damme is nowhere to be seen.
Had Cannon made more films likeCyborgand fewer films likeSuperman IV, its future may have been very different.
