Hotel Transylvania is an American media franchise created by Todd Durham and owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment. It consists of four feature films, three short films, an animated television series, and several video games.
Comedy writer Todd Durham came up with the concept of Hotel Transylvania.[2] Durham, after creating the bible for a franchise of several films, television series, video games, books, merchandising, hotel chain, and theme park, took the package unsolicited to Columbia Pictures and set it up at Sony Pictures Animation.[3]
Hotel Transylvania is the first movie of the franchise and it was released in theatres on September 28, 2012. It is about a human named Johnny (Andy Samberg), who accidentally stumbles upon the hotel and instantly falls in love with Dracula's teenage daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez), and eventually dates her, despite Dracula (Adam Sandler) attempting to keep Johnny away from his daughter.
Hotel Transylvania 2 is the second movie of the franchise and it was released in theatres on September 25, 2015. It is about Mavis and Johnny, who have a half-human/half-vampire son named Dennis. Mavis thinks Hotel Transylvania isn't the right place to raise Dennis and wants to raise him in California. When Dracula is disappointed that Dennis does not have any vampire abilities, he helps his friends make his grandson a vampire. Things get complicated when Dracula's father Vlad (Mel Brooks) shows up.
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation is the third movie of the franchise and it was released in theatres on July 13, 2018. It is about Dracula falling for Ericka (Kathryn Hahn), a great-granddaughter of monster hunter Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan), while on a cruise ship with his family.[4]
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania is the fourth and final movie of the franchise. It was released on streaming through Amazon Prime Video on January 14, 2022. It is about Dracula, now voiced by Brian Hull, and Johnny teaming up to find a cure to turn themselves back into their old selves before their transformations become permanent.
A television series based on the film premiered on June 25, 2017, and ended on October 29, 2020.[5] Developed and produced by Nelvana Limited, in partnership with Sony Pictures Animation, the prequel series focused on the 114/115 years of Mavis and her friends at the Hotel Transylvania.[5] Sony Pictures Television handled distribution in the United States, while Nelvana distributed the series outside the United States.[5] It aired on the Disney Channel worldwide.[6]
Goodnight Mr. Foot is a traditionally animated short film based on Hotel Transylvania, featuring Bigfoot from the film. Premiering in time for Halloween, on October 26, 2012, the short was shown exclusively in Regal Entertainment Group Cinemas, before the theatrical shows of Hotel Transylvania. As Sony Pictures Animation's first traditionally animated film, it was written and directed by Genndy Tartakovsky himself, who also animated the short with the help of Rough Draft Studios. Animated in the style of Bob Clampett, Tex Avery, and Chuck Jones,[7] Tartakovsky created the short in four weeks during the final production stages of the main film.[8] Bigfoot (who had a non-speaking role in Hotel Transylvania) was voiced by Corey Burton while the Witch Maid was voiced by Rose Abdoo. Both voice actors provided additional voices in Hotel Transylvania.[9]
Puppy! is a CG-animated fantasy comedy short film based on Hotel Transylvania, featuring Dennis (voiced by Asher Blinkoff) from Hotel Transylvania 2, with the additional voices of Selena Gomez, reprising her role as Mavis, Andy Samberg as Johnny, and Adam Sandler as Dracula. The film was written and directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, and was shown in theaters alongside The Emoji Movie, which was released in the United States on July 28, 2017.[10] The film is set in the hotel, as Dennis convinces Dracula to give him a monster-sized puppy named Tinkles, and the hotel learns to cope with it.[11] The short is a sneak preview of the third film, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, which was released on July 13, 2018.
Monster Pets is a Hotel Transylvania short film featuring Dracula trying to find a pet companion for his lively puppy, Tinkles.[12] The short was played exclusively at Cinemark Theatres on the weekend following April 1, 2021, before select PG-rated films, and was released online on April 9, 2021.[12] It was directed by Jennifer Kluska and Derek Drymon, written by Kluska, and produced by Christian Roedel. The short marked the first time that Adam Sandler did not return to voice Dracula and was replaced by voice actor Brian Hull.[12] Hull would reprise the role in the film Hotel Transylvania: Transformania.
A social game based on the film, titled Hotel Transylvania Social Game and made by Sony Pictures Interactive, was released on August 15, 2012. The game allows players to create their own Hotel Transylvania, where they must take care of the hotel's guests.[35]
Another video game, titled Hotel Transylvania, developed by WayForward Technologies and published by GameMill Entertainment, was released on September 18, 2012, for Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS at retail.[36][37] The Nintendo 3DS version of the game was also released digitally in the Nintendo eShop in North America on November 15, 2012.[38]
A mobile game, titled Hotel Transylvania Dash, developed by Sony Pictures Consumer Products Inc. and PlayFirst, was released to iTunes App Store on September 20, 2012. The game is a variation of Hotel Dash and features the film's art and characters.[39]
A mobile storybook game, titled Hotel Transylvania BooClips Deluxe, developed by Castle Builders and Sony Pictures Animation, was released on the iTunes App Store, Nook Store, Google Play for Android, iBookstore, Microsoft's Metro, and for PC and Mac via BooClips, both in English and in Spanish, on September 20, 2012.[40]
In December 2016, a dark ride based on the franchise opened at Motiongate Dubai, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.[42] In April 2021, another ride based on the film series opened at Dream Island in Moscow, Russia.[43] In October 2021, a new themed-land, based on the film franchise, opened at Columbia Pictures Aquaverse in Sattahip, Chonburi, Thailand.[44]
Genndy Tartakovsky's Emmy-winning version of "Clone Wars" never happened. At least, that's what LucasFilm would want you to believe, focusing instead on the newer version that is about to start its fifth season.
In 2003, George Lucas' company commissioned Tartakovsky to produce an animated "Star Wars" spinoff depicting the battles between the Galactic Republic -- led by Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi -- and the Trade Federation. The series was designed to fill in a narrative gap between two "Star Wars" feature films, 2002's "Attack of the Clones" and 2005's "Revenge of the Sith."
In 2008, the "Clone Wars" series was rebooted with a different animation style. It's not lost on Tartakovsky that LucasFilm has effectively disowned his much-beloved version -- going as far as to remove the biographies of characters that Tartakovsky created from official Star Wars encyclopedias (but not before borrowing a few character designs for the new series).
Tartakovsky admits that this bothers him, but he has other things on his plate. The director was in Toronto to promote his new animated feature, "Hotel Transylvania" (which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and will open wide on Sept. 28). In "Hotel Transylvania," Adam Sandler voices Dracula, who has just opened up a new hotel for monsters only. That is until an unsuspecting human named Jonathan (Andy Samberg) wanders in by accident, catching the eye of Dracula's daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez). Ahead, Tartakovsky describes what it's like to rein in the large personalities on set -- including a run in with Fran Drescher -- and provides an update on a rumored "Samurai Jack" film.
Is there a slippery slope between the adult jokes and the jokes meant for kids?
It's super tough, because the truth of it is is that I don't know what a kid likes and I don't know what an adult likes.
How do you not know what an adult likes? You are an adult.
I know what I like. But that might not be what you like. So, all of the stuff I've ever done, I've always made it for me and the crew working. But i can't sit here and say, "I know what a 6-year-old likes." For sure. I mean, I can definitely do a fart joke or a burp -- something physical -- but you can't sustain that through the whole movie.
I'm sure Kevin James is a perfectly nice man and I'm just using him as an example, but can he come on set and say, "I know how my voice should sound," when you want something else? Are there any conflicts?
It's funny, the only one that kind of happened with was Fran Drescher. Because you hire Fran for who she is -- for that amazing voice. And I think, for some reason, when she came in she kind of didn't want to do it.
How do you approach that?
You're petrified. It's like, "How am I going to tell her?" And I love her -- I love the stuff that she's done and I'm a fan of her. I mean, that's why she got the job. And you try to push it -- you can't say, "Can you just be more annoying?" You have to word it gently, so you find a way. And she's very smart.
Did you care how "That's My Boy," also starring Sandler and Samberg, did at the box office?
No. I mean, we all thought about it -- it was in our minds. But, our movie is for such a different audience. I mean, I hope nobody who is 6 or 8 or 9 went to see that movie. But, we weren't really worried about it. Our audience is totally different.
I thought about it both ways. If it did well, Sandler and Samberg might have gotten the reputation as an R-rated duo.
I think for me, both movies were released from the same studio. So, it was above my pay scale. So, for me, I have to make the best movie that I possibly can. And those things are beyond my control.