Film career
Golan started as an apprentice at Habima Theater in Tel Aviv. After completing his studies in theater direction, he staged plays in Israel. He gained experience as a filmmaker by working as an assistant to Roger Corman.
Golan is probably best known as a director for his film Operation Thunderbolt (Mivtsa Yonatan, 1977), about the Israeli raid on Entebbe airport in Uganda. He also produced Eskimo Limon (Lemon Popsicle, 1978), a film that spawned many sequels and an American remake, The Last American Virgin (1982).
An adaptation of the Isaac Bashevis Singer novel The Magician of Lublin (1979) was followed by the musical The Apple (1980). An unusual moral fable with a rock-disco soundtrack, The Apple routinely appears on lists of all-time-worst movies, earning it cult film status.
Golan's production company The Cannon Group produced a long line of films during the 1980s and early 1990s, including Delta Force, Runaway Train, and some of the Death Wish sequels. In 1986, Cannon was taken over by Pathe Communications. Golan produced several comic book-style movies in the last half of the 1980s, most notably Masters of the Universe, based on the Mattel toy line of the same name and inspired by the comics of Jack Kirby. In 1987, Cannon gained infamy after its UK-based production of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace performed poorly at the box office, received mixed to negative reviews from critics and provoked a negative backlash from fans. Golan resigned from Cannon in 1989, and by 1993 the company had folded. After Cannon's collapse, Golan became head of 21st Century Film Corporation and produced several low to medium-budget films.
Golan planned to shoot Spider-Man: The Movie in 1986 at both Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom and on location in Tel Aviv, Israel. Dolph Lundgren, who played He-Man in Masters of the Universe was envisioned for the role of the Green Goblin, and Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee was approached to make a cameo appearance in the film as J. Jonah Jameson. Golan struggled for years to produce the film and finally failed when 21st Century Film Corporation filed for bankruptcy and closed its doors in 1996 (along with Carolco Pictures, another company that had agreed to help finance the film). Sony Pictures eventually purchased the rights to the Marvel Comics character and released a Spider-Man film in 2002, directed by Sam Raimi. That year, Golan released his adaptation of Crime and Punishment.
