Film production De Laurentiis produced his first film, ''
L'ultimo Combattimento, in 1941. His company, the Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica, moved into film production in 1946. In the early years, De Laurentiis produced Italian neorealist films such as Bitter Rice (1949) and the early Fellini works La Strada (1954) and Nights of Cabiria'' (1956), often in collaboration with producer
Carlo Ponti. In the 1960s, De Laurentiis built his own studio facilities. He produced such films as
Barabbas (1961), a Christian religious epic;
The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966);
Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (1966), a spoof of the
James Bond films;
Navajo Joe (1966), a
spaghetti Western;
Anzio (1968), a World War II film;
Barbarella (1968) and
Danger: Diabolik (1968), both successful comic book adaptations; and
The Valachi Papers (1972), released before its originally scheduled date in order to capitalize on the popularity of
The Godfather. In 1973, De Laurentiis relocated his headquarters to New York and he was reportedly considering to produce an American television series. His studio financially collapsed during the 1970s. In the 1980s, he had his own studio:
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG) based in
Wilmington, North Carolina. The studio made Wilmington an unexpected center of film and television production. In 1990, he obtained backing from an Italian friend and formed another company: Dino De Laurentiis Communications in
Beverly Hills. De Laurentiis produced a number of successful films, including
The Scientific Cardplayer (1972),
Serpico (1973),
Death Wish (1974),
Mandingo (1975),
Three Days of the Condor (1975),
The Shootist (1976),
Drum (1976),
Ingmar Bergman's ''
The Serpent's Egg (1977), Ragtime (1981), Conan the Barbarian (1982), Blue Velvet (1986) and Breakdown'' (1997). De Laurentiis' name became well known through the 1976
King Kong remake, which was a commercial hit;
Lipstick (1976), a rape and revenge drama;
Orca (1977), a killer whale film;
The White Buffalo (1977), a western; the disaster movie
Hurricane (1979); the remake of
Flash Gordon (1980);
David Lynch's
Dune (1984);
The Bounty (1984); and
King Kong Lives (1986). De Laurentiis produced several adaptations of
Stephen King works, including
The Dead Zone (1983), ''
Cat's Eye (1985), Silver Bullet (1985), and Maximum Overdrive'' (1986). De Laurentiis' company was involved with the horror sequels
Halloween II (1981),
Evil Dead II (1987), and
Army of Darkness (1992). De Laurentiis also produced the first
Hannibal Lecter film,
Manhunter (1986), an adaptation of the
Thomas Harris novel
Red Dragon. He passed on adapting the novels' sequel,
The Silence of the Lambs (1991), but produced the two follow-ups,
Hannibal (2001) and
Red Dragon (2002), a re-adaptation of the novel. He also produced the prequel
Hannibal Rising (2007), which tells the story of how Hannibal becomes a
serial killer.
DDL Foodshow DDL Foodshow was an Italian specialty foods store with three locations: two in
New York City and one in
Beverly Hills. They were opened in the mid-1980s, and were owned and operated by De Laurentiis. The first store was opened in the restored palm court in the ornate lobby of the historic
Endicott Hotel, now a co-op on Manhattan's
Upper West Side, near the existing
Zabar's food emporium on Broadway. The first NYC store opened in November 1982, and it was reported that the store "opened to crowds of 30,000 over the Thanksgiving weekend, when de Laurentiis himself greeted customers at the door". The store's assistant manager said that "it was like the premiere of a movie". The food critic
Gael Greene wrote a scathing review on the opening in
New York. A review in
The San Francisco Examiner said that it was "worth a peek and a purchase". The stores closed less than two years after opening, due in part to the poor reviews and lower sales than expected. When the stores first opened, de Laurentiis had estimated that the Upper West Side location would need to take in $75,000 to $80,000 a week to break even; after the closing, he stated that the store had never turned a profit. Restauranteur Hans W. Pauli, who took over the space, renamed it and cut the staff from 100 to 30; he stated that it would have actually taken "closer to $200,000 a week" to break even. ==Personal life==