Menahem Golan (May 31, 1929 – August 8, 2014) was an Israeli film producer, screenwriter, and director. He was best known for co-owning The Cannon Group with his cousin Yoram Globus. Cannon specialized in producing low-to-mid-budget American films, primarily genre films, during the 1980s after Golan and Globus had achieved significant filmmaking success in their native Israel during the 60’s-70’s  with prestige productions such as Sallah Shabati (1964), Kazablan (1973), and Operation Thunderbolt (1976) starring Yehoram Gaon as Yoni Netanyahu.

Golan produced films featuring actors such as Sean Connery, Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Charles Bronson, and for a period, was known as a producer of comic book-style films like Masters of the Universe, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, Captain America, and his aborted attempt to bring Spider-Man to the silver screen. Golan also wrote and “polished” numerous film scripts under the pen name Joseph Goldman. At the time of his death, Golan had produced over 200 films, directed 44, and won 8 “Kinor David” awards as well as “Israel Prize” in Cinema. He was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign-Language Film for Franco Zeffirelli’s Otello.