Bram Stoker's great-grandnephew and blood descendant, Dacre Stoker, and award-winning Dracula documentarian and historian Ian Holt have sold North American-English publishing rights of the Stoker-family-authorized sequel to Bram's classic novel for well over mid - seven figures U.S. to an alliance of Dutton U.S. (Brian Tart), Harper U.K. (Jane Johnson), and Penguin-Canada (Laura Shin) brokered by Danny Baror of Baror International and Ken Atchity, of Atchity Entertainment International, the literary manager representing Stoker and Holt. The novel will appear in October 2009.
Laura Shin, senior editor of Penguin-Canada, who signed up for two additional sequels, said,
"I was thrilled by this page-turning story and loved spending time with those great characters-Stoker and Holt did a fantastic job melding the old with the new, and I found the work to be a virtually seamless continuation of the original. The story has all the hallmarks of a historical novel, but with a modern sensibility that gives it wide-spread appeal."
Dutton and Harper signed a single novel deal. Although other precedent-setting foreign deals are already closed from preempts, Baror is planning to sign the bulk of world territories at the upcoming Frankfurt Book Fair.
Using Stoker family connections, the writers were able to access Bram Stoker's hand-written notes for his novel - which, before an editor changed the title, was to have been called "The Un-Dead."
"Our story," Stoker said, "includes characters and plot threads that had been excised by the publisher from the original printing over a century ago."
Dracula is one of the most recognized fictitious characters in the world, having spawned dozens of books and movies; the original novel, according to historians’ best estimates, has sold millions of copies-second only to the Bible, available in over fifty languages--and generated hundreds of millions of dollars. “The Un-Dead” is the first Dracula story to enjoy the full support of the Stoker clan since the original 1931 movie starring Bela Lugosi. Lugosi's appearance in Hamilton Deane’s and John Balderston's stage production of the story on Broadway in New York, fifteen years after Bram Stoker's death in 1927, sparked the original novel's bestselling popularity. It has never been out of print since.
AEI's Ken Atchity, Chi-Li Wong, and Michael T. Kuciak (Life or Something Like It, Joe Somebody, Ripley's Believe It or Not) will produce the film with Blue Tulip's Jan de Bont (Twister, Speed, Minority Report), and are expecting to see it go before the cameras in June '09. The script has been completed by Ian Holt with the story co-written by Alexander Galant, who are both managed by AEI and agented by Ron Gwiazda and Amy Wagner at Abrams Artists.
Both Stoker and Galant are Canadian, though Stoker now lives in the U.S. He was the Canadian Modern Pentathlon Coach from 1983-1987 and then Canadian Olympic Modern Pentathlon Coach at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. Holt, who has visited Dracula's Castle in Transylvania and is a member of The Transylvanian Society of Dracula, lives in Long Island, New York.
Comments (28)
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eugene1001us
I hear that Javier Bardem is attached as Dracula and tht John Hurt will be cast as Van Helsing. Jan de Bont may/or may not be the director.
3 years agoby @eugene1001usFlag
JR
well im not trying to start a argument but i feel he has lost his touch that nobody realy cares, yes he is still big but not as he once was. at least to me..lol
3 years agoby @jokerrules33Flag
Saquin Turok 'X'
Sorry JR, but agree with Vamp on this one. The fact that he's incredibly been in over 200 movies shows the fame and pulling power of this (un)living legend.
3 years agoby @teesterxFlag
Vamp
Well Dracula shall always be a big hit, and with so many reincarnations of the character, there's no such THING as a reboot for him.
3 years agoby @vampire2000Flag
JR
well not every movie vamp! just the ones i feel are no longer a big hit.
3 years agoby @jokerrules33Flag
killerman200
i hope this movie brings up ideas of making a Fright Night 3. Classic vampire movie. and the best in my book.
3 years agoby @killerman200Flag
Vamp
Excuse me JR, but you say that every movie that comes out needs a reboot, and that kind of pisses me off. But for Dracula, a character that has been in over two hundred movies, there is no such thing as a reboot.
3 years agoby @vampire2000Flag
Tronticon
Hmmmm .. yea this could be good!
3 years agoby @tronticonFlag
Shadow Of The Day
Cool.....
3 years agoby @asifFlag
JR
ugh... i dont know what to say kinda happy but freaked out over the stupidity, no offense vamp, i hope its a reboot need a realy good dracula movie that every vampire fan will like 2000 was medicore it had some big flaws but was worth watching, i hope this is good and scary.
3 years agoby @jokerrules33Flag
The Doctor
I wonder who will star in this film.
3 years agoby @ghettokidFlag
The Doctor
Bloooooody Hell! This is going to be good.
3 years agoby @ghettokidFlag
Vamp
Also, Gruesome will be a good thing for this movie. Bring on the blood!
3 years agoby @vampire2000Flag
Vamp
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now I'm happy as hell! This is going to kick ASS! Also, "Dracula 2000" was an awesome movie.
3 years agoby @vampire2000Flag
glorious_dead
lets just hope they use old school film effects like they used in Bram Stoker's DRACULA.. reverse filming is rad.. gruesome is a must I agree with radimus-83. 30 days, set a new standard in vampire flicks..
3 years agoby @glorious-deadFlag
Structure (ONSTRA)
ok. nice.
3 years agoby @gaj1992Flag
Radimus-83
i love a good Dracula movie, but after seeing "30 days of night". this and every other Dracula/Vampire movie has to be of a certain standard, with f*cking
gruesome death scenes! :)
3 years agoby @radimus-83Flag
Saquin Turok 'X'
I was thinking exactly the same thing Vis, scarily word for word too. I don't know, if being staked once wasn't enough, the undead sucker's come back for more.
Anyway, this should be good news for all vampire fans, but it's Dracula, so there can be no room for error with this.
3 years agoby @teesterxFlag
T.Clark
I thought vamp would be all over this...guess not ha
3 years agoby @insertusernamehereFlag
AnnoyingFilmCritic
Stoker approved source material and good financial backing...sounds good so far. Let the directing and casting rumors fly.
3 years agoby @annoyingfilmcriticFlag
Rudy
I'm getting bored of these too!!
Not just the uninvited!!
3 years agoby @rudyFlag
Psycho
This could go either way.
3 years agoby @physco-123Flag
killerman200
kristanna loken should have kicked out of hollywood for being the worst terminator ever.
3 years agoby @killerman200Flag
ed_wood
This could be really cool, and BloodRayne is the worst vampire movie ever.
3 years agoby @ed-woodFlag
SWAK1774
Actually, I take that back. BloodRayne: Deliverence is the worst vampire movie ever.
3 years agoby @swak1774Flag
SWAK1774
Yes, it was. And there were 2 sequels to that one.
3 years agoby @swak1774Flag
killerman200
i hope it's good. i know it's not Stoker but Dracula 2000 was the worst vampire movie ever.
3 years agoby @killerman200Flag
The Dark Knight
hmmm maybe it will be awesome I KNOW VAMP IS GONNA COMMENT ON THIS LOL
3 years agoby @thedarkknight23Flag