<Tr> <Th> Budget </Th> <Td> $160 million </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Box office </Th> <Td> $300.3 million </Td> </Tr> <P> Van Helsing is a 2004 American - Czech horror film written and directed by Stephen Sommers . It stars Hugh Jackman as vigilante monster hunter Van Helsing, and Kate Beckinsale as Anna Valerious . The film is an homage and tribute to the Universal Horror Monster films from the 1930s and' 40s (also produced by Universal Studios which were in turn based on novels by Bram Stoker and Mary Shelley), of which Sommers is a fan . </P> <P> 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, Frankenstein's monster, 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 . </P>

Who played the role of van helsing in the movie