Pressman's determination to make Conan turned into a dangerous financial gamble. Oliver Stone's original screenplay was so expensive to realize that estimates reportedly reached $40 million, far beyond what Pressman, Summer, and Stone could raise from the major studios. Pressman's production company was already in financial trouble, and he borrowed money from a bank simply to keep the project alive. After years of failed financing attempts, he made a deal with Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis in 1979. De Laurentiis assumed financing and production, with his daughter Raffaella placed in charge of the production alongside Buzz Feitshans, while Universal Pictures contributed to the North American budget and handled domestic distribution. The price of survival was severe: Pressman surrendered all claims to the film's profits, retaining only approval rights over changes to the script, cast, and director. The arrangement rescued Conan from development limbo, but it also meant that the producer who had spent years securing the property would not share in its eventual commercial success.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · Late 1970s
Edward Pressman Lost the Profits but Saved Conan by Selling to Dino De Laurentiis
Edward R. Pressman and Conan the Barbarian / Late 1970s
Pressman's determination to make Conan turned into a dangerous financial gamble. Oliver Stone's original screenplay was so expensive to realize that estimates reportedly reached $40 million, far beyond what Pressman, Summer, and Stone could raise from the major studios. Pressman's production company was already in financial trouble, and he borrowed money from a bank simply to keep the project alive. After years of failed financing attempts, he made a deal with Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis in 1979. De Laurentiis assumed financing and production, with his daughter Raffaella placed in charge of the production alongside Buzz Feitshans, while Universal Pictures contributed to the North American budget and handled domestic distribution. The price of survival was severe: Pressman surrendered all claims to the film's profits, retaining only approval rights over changes to the script, cast, and director. The arrangement rescued Conan from development limbo, but it also meant that the producer who had spent years securing the property would not share in its eventual commercial success.
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