New York Times Bestselling Series 'Vampire Academy' Staked by Preger Entertainment

LOS ANGELES, June 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Preger Entertainment has acquired the motion picture Rights to Richelle Mead's New York Times best selling book series "Vampire Academy" (Penguin/Razorbill Books). The deal was finalized by Jim McCarthy of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management representing the author and Larry Becsey of Intellectual Properties Group with legal representation through Wayne Alexander, of Alexander, Nau, Lawrence, Frumes & Labowitz representing Preger. In its first week of publication, "Spirit Bound", the fifth book in this series, achieved a New York Times and USA Today # 1 bestselling series ranking, while simultaneously debuting as the #1 best seller in Australia and New Zealand.

The "Vampire Academy" Book Series is a coming-of-age, action driven, "paranormal romance" fantasy. It is set in the present day against a hidden universe of vampires, half-humans, alchemy, and magic. Richelle Mead shifts the focus from the brooding male vampires of "Twilight", "True Blood" and "Vampire Diaries" to that of a strong, yet flawed, 17-year-old female who confronts her world with grit, determination, and lots of moxie. Rose Hathaway is a dhampir, half human/half vampire and guardian of the Moroi, a race of peaceful and magical mortal vampires who can walk in the daylight, survive by feeding off willing blood donors, grow old and die. Hidden deep in the forests of Montana is St. Vladimir's Academy, where Moroi and dhampirs learn to take their place in Moroi society. Rose must master her inherited abilities as a dhampir and earn the approval of the Royal Council, as guardian to Princess Lissa, her best friend and sole heir of one of the twelve Royal families of Moroi. Rose and Lissa share a mysterious psychic bond and sense of destiny, but first they must survive an intense social scene, politics and the physical challenges of Moroi life at the Academy. Outside the sanctuary of St. Vladimir's waits their greatest threat of all, the Strigoi, a race of bloodthirsty immortal vampires and predators of the Moroi.

Fans of the book series world-wide have flooded the online Social Networks with fan-created movie trailers, chat rooms, blogs, and even, online movie petitions -- sending a powerful message to Hollywood to bring Mead's characters to the big screen. "This spontaneous viral event has exploded all across the internet," comments Preger. "Finding an epic story like this for adaptation is one thing, but to then discover this mass market audience, that's growing exponentially, who are eagerly awaiting --- even demanding --- a film be produced, is something very compelling."

"Vampire Academy" debuted on the New York Times Bestsellers list in 2007 and continues to trend higher with readers and critics alike with each new book in the series.  The series has sold well over 3.5 million copies domestically and 1 million copies internationally. The "Vampire Academy" series has now been published in 34 countries including the United Kingdom and Australia. The sixth and final book of the series is scheduled for release in December 2010. Based upon the series worldwide acclaim and success, Penguin/Razorbill has ordered a spin-off series scheduled to begin in 2011, continuing the series into the coming decade. Preger's credits include the 2009 BBC1 hit mini-series "Day of the Triffids" and Universal Studio's "John Carpenter's Village of the Damned". Preger Entertainment is based out of Miami, Florida.

SOURCE Preger Entertainment