Oscar-winning Italian film producer Dino De Laurentiis, who brought to the big screen nearly 500 films including “Serpico,” “Three Days of the Condor” and “King Kong,” has died in Los Angeles aged 91, Italian media has reported.

De Laurentiis produced several Italian classics in collaboration, including Federico Fellini’s “La Strada,” for which he won an Oscar in 1957.

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2008 was something of a vintage year for popcorn-munchers. But is there a 2009 film that can equal the colossal success of The Dark Knight? Which hot franchises will step up to fill the spaces left by Batman, Bond and Indy?

We’ve taken a look through the studio schedules and picked out the most promising prospects for the coming year. History tells us that when times are tough, box office takings boom. Here’s our selection of the best films Hollywood has to offer us in 2009.

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