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]
Hotel Transylvania is a 2012 American animated monster comedy film produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It is the first installment in the Hotel Transylvania franchise, it was directed by Genndy Tartakovsky (in his theatrical feature directorial debut) from a screenplay by Peter Baynham and Robert Smigel, and a story by Todd Durham, Dan Hageman and Kevin Hageman, based on an original concept created by Durham. The film stars the voices of Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade and CeeLo Green.
The film tells the story of Count Dracula, the owner of the titular Hotel Transylvania where the world's monsters can take a rest from human civilization. Dracula invites some of the most famous monsters to celebrate the 118th birthday of his beloved daughter Mavis. But when the "human-free hotel" is unexpectedly visited by a human traveler named Jonathan, Drac must do everything in his power to prevent Mavis and the other guests from finding out that a human has found their safe place, which may jeopardize the hotel's future and his career.
Hotel Transylvania premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2012, and was theatrically released in the United States on September 28. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film was positively welcomed from audiences and it earned a total of $358.4 million worldwide at the box office against a budget of $85 million and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film. The financial success of Hotel Transylvania launched a multimedia franchise and a series of three sequels, starting with Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015).
In 1895, after his wife Martha was killed by an angry human mob, Count Dracula commissions and builds a massive monsters-only hotel in Transylvania, in which he raises his young daughter, Mavis. The hotel also serves as a safe haven and a getaway for the world's monsters from fear of human persecution. Famous monsters and friends of Dracula such as Frankenstein and his wife Eunice, Wayne and Wanda Werewolf and their massive immediate family, Griffin the Invisible Man, and Murray the Mummy often come to stay at the hotel.
In 2012, on Mavis' 118th birthday, she wants to finally see the human world. Dracula allows her to leave the castle, but he sets up an elaborate plan using his zombie bellhops disguised as humans to make them seem intimidating, and frighten her home. The plan works, but on their way back the zombies inadvertently lead a human, Jonathan "Johnny" Loughran, back to the hotel. Drac frantically disguises him as a Frankensteinesque monster and passes him off as Frank's cousin "Johnnystein". Jonathan soon encounters Mavis and the two "Zing". Unable to get Johnny out of the hotel without notice, Drac quickly improvises that Johnny is a party planner, brought in to bring a fresher approach to his own traditional and boring parties. Johnny quickly becomes a hit to the other monsters, but this worries Drac, who is both jealous of Johnny's popularity and afraid that his friends will never return to the hotel if they find out about the lie. Drac coerces Johnny to leave, but he is brought back by Mavis, who is unaware of Johnny's real species and feud with her father. After being shown the beauty of a sunrise by Johnny, Mavis is inspired to give humans another chance.
Meanwhile, the hotel chef Quasimodo, with the help of his pet rat Esmeralda, learns that Johnny is a human and kidnaps him to cook him. Drac intervenes and magically freezes Quasimodo to keep him from telling anyone that Johnny is human. Drac leads Johnny to his quarters and shows him a painting of Martha, allowing Johnny to realize why Drac built the hotel and became overprotective of Mavis. Johnny then agrees to leave for good, but Drac, noticing that Mavis and Johnny's feelings for each other are real, finds him and persuades him to stay for the time being to avoid ruining Mavis's birthday. Drac and Johnny begin to bond and have fun together.
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