Yet another Hollywood movie is set to point eyes to Romania. This time, the movie is not shot in Romania, nor features Romanian actors in it. But its very name is the name of a Romanian region. Hotel Transylvania, released this year, is an animation which plays and mocks the theme of Dracula, the Romanian-born vampire. The voice of Dracula belongs to comedy actor Adam Sandler.

In the animation, Dracula is the owner of the five-star resort Hotel Transylvania, where the world's monsters can take a rest from human civilization. The film was released on September 28 and already had high box office gains – USD 43 million in the US in the first week. In Romania, the film will premiere on October 19.

The connection between Dracula and Romania was made by writer Bram Stocker, who placed his character the vampire Dracula in Transylvania. The myth is based on some history as well: 15th century Romanian ruler Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler) was said to be a cruel ruler, as he impaled all thieves. His father, Vlad Dracul, got his nickname Dracul – the devil - after receiving the Order of Dragon.

The trailer to the Hotel Transylvania animation below.

Despite being famous abroad for the Dracula legend, Romania does not use it much when promoting itself. However, a recent Tourism Ministry initiative mentioned attracting tourists from China, India and the Middle East on the back of the Dracula Legend.

Previous Governments tried to use Dracula to promote the country. In 2002 the Romanian government decided to build in Sighisoara, then in Snagov a Disneyland-style theme park, "Dracula Park", but in 2006 the government canceled the project. As many as 14,000 Romanians had bought shares in the project via public subscription, but not all of them were redeemed.

editor@romania-insider.com