Romania’s most popular fictional character brings millions to Hollywood producers

Hotel Transylvania 2, an animated movie featuring the most popular Romanian fictional character Dracula, has made USD 47.5 million revenues in US cinemas in the opening weekend (September 27-27), according to estimates by Exhibitor Relations. It surpassed the first movie of the series Hotel Transylvania, which made USD 42.5 million when released, at the end of September 2012. Hotel Transylvania is probably the most successful movie franchise that exploits the myth of Dracula, in terms of revenues. The first movie of the series, in which Adam Sandler is the voice of count Dracula, grossed USD 148 million in the US and about USD 350 million worldwide. The movie’s budget was USD 85 million, which means that Dracula brought the movie’s producers, Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation, an estimated profit of USD 265 million. Another movie that made good money with the Dracula myth is Dracula Untold, featuring Luke Evans, which was released in October 2014. The movie, which was produced by Universal Pictures, made USD 215 million in box-office revenues worldwide, three times more the estimated production costs, according to imdb.com. The animation comedy Hotel Transylvania 2 tells the story of a contemporary Dracula (voice by Adam Sandler), who has become a grandfather and tries to teach his half-human grandson the ways of the vampires. The movie features famous voices such as Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, Kevin Spade, and Fran Drescher. Hotel Transylvania 2 will be released in Romanian cinemas on October 23.

Time to stock up on garlic: Romania’s Dracula Film Festival returns with new edition this October Dracula beats bad infrastructure: Higher revenues for Bran Castle despite bad roads How others build on Romania’s most famous fictional character: New Dracula vampire movie hits the screens in fall editor@romania-insider.com (Photo source: Hotel Transylvania on Facebook)