Dutton Wins New 'Dracula'
by Matthew Thornton -- Publishers Weekly, 10/3/2008 7:36:00 AM
Dutton publisher Brian Tart bested bids from several other publishers for U.S. rights to Dracula: The Un-Dead, by Bram Stoker’s great-grandnephew Dacre Stoker and Dracula documentarian and historian Ian Holt. The deal was made by Danny Baror of Baror International and Ken Atchity of Atchity Entertainment International. Baror and Atchity also sold U.K. and Canadian rights to the work for a combined total of well over mid-seven figures. The book is the first Stoker family-authorized Dracula project since the original 1931 movie starring Bela Lugosi. It opens in London in 1912, where someone is stalking the band of heroes who defeated the vampire a quarter of a century ago.
The new book will also zero in on several characters and plot threads previously eliminated during the heavy editing that accompanied Dracula's original publication. Through Stoker family connections, the writers had access to Bram Stoker’s handwritten notes for Dracula, which was originally to have been called The Un-Dead.
Dutton plans to publish the book in October 2009, as do Harper UK, which preempted U.K rights., and Penguin Canada, which bought rights to the book plus two additional sequels. Sales are currently pending in France, Germany, Holland and Italy, but Baror is planning to sign the bulk of remaining territories in Frankfurt. Atchity is expecting it to go before the cameras next June; he is producer on the project along with CHi-Li Wong and Blue Tulip’s Jan de Bont. The script, based on the new novel, has been completed by Holt and Alexander Galant.
Dutton parent company Penguin USA has published Dracula here in paperback for many years. The company will issue a previously unpublished version of the novel in its unedited form next May, which will include an excerpt of the first chapter of The UnDead.
