Van Helsing (film)

Van Helsing
Theatrical release poster
Directed byStephen Sommers
Written byStephen Sommers
Based onDracula
by Bram Stoker

Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley

The Wolf Man
by George Waggner
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyAllen Daviau
Edited by
  • Bob Ducsay
  • Kelly Matsumoto
Music byAlan Silvestri
Production
companies
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • May 7, 2004 (2004-05-07)
Running time
131 minutes
CountriesUnited States[2]
Czech Republic[1]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$160–170 million[3][4]
Box office$300.2 million[3]

Van Helsing is a 2004 action horror film written and directed by Stephen Sommers. It stars Hugh Jackman as monster hunter Van Helsing and Kate Beckinsale as Anna Valerious. Van Helsing is both an homage and tribute to the Universal Horror Monster films from the 1930s and 1940s (also produced by Universal Pictures which were in turn partially based on novels by Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley), of which Sommers is a fan.

The eponymous character was inspired by the Dutch vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing from Irish author Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. Distributed by Universal Pictures, the film includes a number of monsters such as Count Dracula (and other vampires), Frankenstein's monster, Duergar, Mr. Hyde and werewolves in a way similar to the multi-monster movies that Universal produced in the 1940s, such as Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula. The film received generally negative reviews but grossed $300.2 million worldwide against a budget of $160–170 million.

  1. ^ a b "Van Helsing". www.filmcommission.cz (in Czech). Archived from the original on 22 July 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  2. ^ "Van Helsing (2004)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 2016-09-16. Retrieved 2016-08-07.
  3. ^ a b "Van Helsing". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  4. ^ "Van Helsing". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved January 1, 2022.