Ovidio G. Assonitis’s biography, fact, career, awards, net worth and life story

Intro Egyptian film director
A.K.A. Assonitis, Oliver Hellman, Ovidio Gabriele Assonitis, Ovidio Assonitis
Is Film director
Film producer
Screenwriter
Businessperson
From Italy
Egypt
Type Business
Film, TV, Stage & Radio
Gender male
Birth

18 January 1943, Alexandria

Age 78 years

Ovidio Gabriel Assonitis (born January 18, 1943) is an Egyptian-born Greco-Italian entertainment executive, film producer, screenwriter, and director best known for his numerous B-horror films including Beyond the Door, Tentacles, The Visitor, and Piranha II: The Spawning.

Biography

Catering to the South East Asia market, Assonitis began an extensive distribution network company in the mid-1960s and in the 10-year period distributed more than 900 films from offices in Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Philippines, and Indonesia. His former partners and associates include HRH Prince Anusom Yukol (brother of the King of Thailand), John Litton (President of Mever Films, theater owner and former President of the Philippines Film Festival), the Shaw Brothers, Alexander Tedja, and Kong Cho Yee (of Edko Films).

From the 1970s to 2000s Assonitis has financed and produced some 53 films. Many of these were joint ventures with American International Pictures (USA), Kadokawa Pictures and Toho Co., Ltd. (Japan), with worldwide releases through Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. and United Artists. The 1974 horror film Beyond the Door, produced as a cash-in on the success of “Satanic panic” films like Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist, distributed by Film Ventures International grossed worldwide in excess of USD $40 million.

In 1980, Assonitis produced and co-directed Piranha II: The Spawning, which was released through Warner Bros. and Columbia Pictures. This was the movie that launched the career of director James Cameron, who went on to direct the blockbuster hit Titanic. In 1989, he became the second major stockholder chairman and CEO of Cannon Pictures Inc. (USA).

In 1990 Assonitis assigned to Universal Pictures the remake of the European classic Scent of a Woman, which was released worldwide in 1993, starring Al Pacino and directed by Martin Brest. Since his resignation as CEO of Cannon Inc., Assonitis has produced six films, become President of Titan Inc (USA), Titan Serendib Inc (Malaysia and Sri Lanka), Ka Film Investment (KFI) (Rome) and stockholder of Buskin film (Rome). Aside from the Entertainment Industry, Assonitis has commercial projects in South East Asia, including Malaysia.

Filmography

  • 1969 Nel labirinto del sesso (Psichidion) (producer)
  • 1972 Who Saw Her Die? (producer)
  • 1972 Man from the Deep River (producer)
  • 1973 Un amore cosi fragile, cosi violento (producer)
  • 1973 The Last Snows of Spring (producer)
  • 1974 Super Stooges vs the Wonder Women (executive producer)
  • 1974 Beyond the Door (co-director with Robert Barrett, writer, producer)
  • 1975 Abicinema (producer)
  • 1976 Take All of Me (producer)
  • 1976 Laure (uncredited writer, producer)
  • 1977 Tentacles (director, executive producer)
  • 1978 The Day Santa Claus Cried (co-producer)
  • 1979 The Visitor (producer, story by)
  • 1981 Desperate Moves (director, producer)
  • 1981 Piranha II: The Spawning (co-director with James Cameron, co-writer, executive producer)
  • 1981 Madhouse (director, co-writer, producer)
  • 1986 Choke Canyon (writer, producer)
  • 1986 The Lone Runner (producer)
  • 1987 Iron Warrior (co-producer)
  • 1987 The Curse (co-producer)
  • 1988 Curse II: the Bite (co-producer)
  • 1989 Sonny Boy (co-producer)
  • 1989 Beyond the Door III (co-producer)
  • 1990 Midnight Ride (co-producer)
  • 1991 American Ninja 4: The Annihilation (producer)
  • 1991 Lambada (producer)
  • 1992 Over the Line (co-director with Robert Barrett, producer)
  • 1992 No Place to Hide (producer)
  • 1993 American Ninja V (producer)
  • 2003 Red Riding Hood (writer, executive producer)
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