Word: dino
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...Laurentiis' ability to dazzle and deal is scarcely diminished. In February the 70-year-old legend rose from the tar pits of defeat and litigation to form another company, Dino De Laurentiis Communications, with the financial backing of his friend Giancarlo Parretti, the controversial Italian moneyman who also plans to buy MGM/UA for $1.2 billion. Dino's planned renaissance will begin with five films and a $67 million budget...
...handful of successes that include the Fellini-directed La Strada (1954), Serpico (1974), King Kong (1976) and Conan the Barbarian (1982). But the hits have been overshadowed by hundreds of commercial duds, most notably the $50 million sci-fi film Dune, a 1984 mega-flop that helped send Dino down the chute...
...figure salaries or distribution deals. "So much money passed through that building, and I don't know where it all went," says Gary DeVore, DEG's former head of production. "I was one of the highest- placed executives and I didn't even know about the deals with Dino's family...
Even fewer people were aware of the myriad deals Dino had concocted for himself. Case in point: De Laurentiis sold the rights to the sequel King Kong Lives to DEG for $21 million shortly before it opened in 1986. When the picture died on impact (estimated receipts: $2 million), De Laurentiis tried to compensate by giving DEG the rights to even more dubious films, some of which hadn't been made...
...assets for $39 million, aims to pursue the charges. De Laurentiis has struck back with a dubious list of $79 million in claims against the company. The producer has blamed everyone but himself for DEG's woes, a version that doesn't play well with Hollywood insiders. "Dino was clearly, unequivocably, unquestionably responsible for what happened to this company," says Stephen Greenwald, DEG's former chairman. "His attempts to evade that responsibility are reprehensible and ludicrous." Greenwald says that De Laurentiis refused to resign unless he received a package of deals worth $110 million. He soon settled...