Dracula is not the biggest sucker in the room

A buncha suckers.

Dracula is one of the most ubiquos characters in the public domain. He's done it all. He's had movies , videogames, TV shows. He's been in goldarned breakfast cereal. He's fought Batman and Wolverine. He's been a Duck, a hotel owner.

Now, when you think about Dracula, what image do you picture? Because for most people, they think of this guy.

That's Bela Lugosi, from 1947's Dracula. The role defined him, and he defined the role. But did you know that when Universal made that picture, Dracula was under copyright everywhere but America? Yes indeedy, as Wikipedia tells us:

"The novel has been in the public domain in the United States since its original publication because Stoker failed to follow proper copyright procedure."

The movie brought vampires to big-time notoriety in pop culture conscience more than the book ever could. However, while the book's since slipped into the public domain for everyone and their Abraham Lincoln to try and do a an attempt at it, the movie that brought the character to the forefront of public conciousness is still property of Universal pictures.

 While they may own an iconic, old-timey movie, Universal has been unable to use that as any kind of leverage  for a modern day franchise since Bela Lugosi died of an overdose.In just the time I've been alive they've made Bram Stoker's Dracula, starring Keanu Reeves and  Gary Oldman as Dracula, Van Helsing in which  Dracula is the over the top villain to a summer blockbuster monster mash-up and Dracula Untold, which takes audiences to Dracula's side of events in which he's kind of a hero. Neither did what Universal was hoping it would do for them.

Unironically, the idea of the vampire predates even the book, as  a part of the myth of dark ages Europeans who, it is believed, would fall victim to the scam of the "vampire hunters" men who pretended to wrestle invisible Nosferatu in exchange for money.

"I caught him, guys!"

 

If Universal was the only one able to work of Bram Stoker's Dracula, we'd probably still have those non-classics. But we WOULDN'T have Castlevania, Duckula, Hotel Transylvania, Blackula... In fact, if Bram Stoker's Dracula hadn't basically stumbled into the public domain, the odds are good it's still be under copyright in America.

What's your favorite take on Dracula? Would it have been made if Dracula had to be licensed?

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