Errrr, can anyone shed light on how Maestro Mancini came to be involved with this film? Not that I think he did a lousy job (he didn't) or that it's a crap film (I love it!), but you'd think this would be the kind of film he'd usually pass on...
shareHenry Mancini means they must have had a good budget to hire a top draw talent of his rank. besides he had done thrilliers and horrors and SFs mainly in 50s and 60s . If the 116 cut had been out in the states in 1985 I suspect he would have got a Oscar Nom
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Because Canon was banking on this being a blockbuster for them. Canon / Golan-Globus at the time, it was unheard of for them to have any budget that went over $3 million. In fact they had a philosophy that you couldn't not make money on a film you could make for less than $3 million.
That's why they have the type of films they're known for. Cheesy, low budget yet fun fare with no name actors and questionable sets. It's like eating a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese...the 3 for a dollar kind. It's fun and tasty when you're in the mood but it's not a real meal!
Anyway - They were trying to break out in a big way. They thought they had something with this one so they probably decided to pull out all the stops. That's why there's not only top shelf music but top shelf British actors as well.
In the end they tried to shoot for the next level with both this and Superman IV, assuming anything in the Superman franchise was a guaranteed money maker and poured money into that one as well hoping for the best.
Unfortunately the typical "Revenge of the Ninja" and "Firewalker" audience of Canon films didn't go for it and they lost a bundle on both Lifeforce and Superman IV and it started the downward spiral that ultimately led to the end of Canon films.
These guys were wheelers and dealers of the highest order - they didn't have a huge cash reserve. They used to churn out an insane number of movies a year, so most of their assets were liquid. As the returns would come in for a current film, they were already pouring that into the budget of the next movie, probably already filming, and into the promotional materials of the next, next movie! (As they were well known for selling movies they didn't even start filming yet!) So these guys were always sliding whatever income into other projects so I'm sure they didn't have a huge reserve in their accounts. Any kind of loss on a film would have definitely stressed the company's financial resources.
So this isn't Henry Mancini scoring the equivalent of Kickboxer with VanDamme in the lead. This was a top shelf production for them in the hopes it would have a good return and they went for top shelf talent all around.
...For every man who has ever lived, in this universe, there shines a star.
-Arthur C. Clarke
Mancini had a long history with scifi and horror:
Abbott and Costello Go to Mars
It Came From Outer Space
Creature from the Black Lagoon
This Island Earth
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy
The Creature Walks Among Us
The Land Unknown
The Monolith Monsters
The Thing That Couldn't Die
Wait Until Dark
The Night Visitor
Frenzy (score rejected for being too dark)
The Invisible Man
Nightwing
Fear
At one point, until a scheduling clash, he was even in the running to score Star Wars.
"Security - release the badgers."