BR Films, the production team behind such streaming hits as Dope Boy Magic, Monogamish, Crossover and The Last Call, has purchased the film production rights to Cult of Dracula from Sure Pictures. BR Films executive producer Marquand Ragland says the company will put the project into immediate development.
An underground hit originally released by Second Sight Publishing, Cult of Dracula lit the indie comics world on fire when it was picked up by Source Point Press. Driven by massive support from a dedicated fanbase and local comic shops, Cult of Dracula would go on to become a Top 100 best selling comic of 2021!
Cult of Dracula was optioned by Sure Pictures. Producer Jerry Carita said he’s happy that the deal with BR Films was struck! “From the moment I read the first issue, I knew Rich had something special. Bringing BR Films on board takes us one step closer to proving me right!” Carita and Ragland have expressed mutual interest in Carita remaining involved with the project in some capacity.
As successful as it has been, Cult of Dracula is not without controversy. Writer/Creator Rich Davis caused a stir when he decided to ditch the widow’s peak, cape and tuxedo in favor of a svelte femme fatale with goat horns, bat-like wings and a serpent’s tail.
“From the beginning, I knew one thing. It may have been the only thing I “knew”, but I knew it in my bones. I would not tell another story about an Eastern European dude buying up all the real estate in Victorian London.” said Davis. “There’s just no need for that story to be told again. It’s been told so many times and so very, very well that I didn’t believe I could add anything to it.”
Davis chose instead to give Dracula a more universal origin story. “Vampires don’t solely belong to the west. They exist in virtually every human culture that has ever walked the face of the earth.” Davis says he drew inspiration from mythologies from all over the world to create his Dracula. “The Deer Woman from Cherokee legend. Jorogumo from Japan. Medusa from ancient Greece. Kali from Hinduism. I took Dracula all the way back to Lilith and the Garden of Eden.”
