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Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (also known as Hotel Transylvania 4) is a 2022 American computer-animated monster comedy film, the sequel to Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2018), and the fourth and final film of the Hotel Transylvania franchise.
Originally slated for a theatrical release by Sony Pictures Releasing on October 1, 2021, the film's distribution rights were sold to Amazon Studios in August 2021 and the film was released on Amazon Prime Video on January 14, 2022.[1][2] It received mixed reviews from critics.
Plot[]
During the celebration of the 125th anniversary of Hotel Transylvania, Mavis overhears Dracula's plans to retire and leave the hotel to her and Johnny. She tells Johnny who excitedly tells Dracula his plans to renovate the hotel. Worried about Johnny ruining the hotel, Dracula lies to him saying that there is a "monster real-estate law" which only lets monsters own the hotel, disappointing Johnny.
Van Helsing decides to help Johnny using a ray that turns humans into monsters and vice-versa; after testing it on his guinea pig Gigi, he uses it on Johnny who turns into a dragon-like monster. Learning about monster Johnny, Dracula tries to turn him back to normal, but accidentally turns himself into a human and breaks the ray's crystal. Van Helsing tells Dracula and Johnny that they can still turn themselves back to normal by getting a new crystal which lies in a cave in South America, so Dracula and Johnny set off to do so.
Dracula's friends Frank, Wayne, Griffin and Murray end up becoming humans as well, as a result of drinking from a fountain that was contaminated by the ray. Mavis and Ericka confront Van Helsing after learning about Dracula and Johnny's whereabouts in the news, but he warns them about the effects of the ray, as humans who become monsters continue to mutate and become more hostile as time goes on. With this in mind, the rest of the gang head to South America to find Dracula and Johnny.
While traveling through the South American jungle, Dracula and Johnny begin to bond, and Dracula eventually begins to confess that he lied about the monster real-estate law, but the rest of the group find them. Things turn sour when Dracula admits his deception regarding passing over the hotel to Mavis and Johnny. This prompts an upset Johnny to believe Dracula does not consider him family and to mutate further before running away.
Mavis goes to find Johnny while Dracula and the rest of the gang go to find the crystal. Mavis finds Johnny, but the transformation has turned him very volatile. She leads him to the cave where they finally find the crystal. When Mavis tries to turn Johnny back to normal, nothing happens due to him being too frenzied. In desperation, Dracula lets himself get captured by Johnny and goes on a remorseful tangent about how wrong he was about Johnny and how he now sees the best in him, finally acknowledging him as family. This brings Johnny back to his senses, and he is returned to human form.
With Dracula and his friends turned back to normal, they return home only to find the hotel has been destroyed by Gigi. After turning Gigi back to normal, Dracula bemoans his loss. He soon decides to let Mavis and Johnny rebuild the hotel to their liking.
A year later, Mavis and Johnny show Dracula the re-built Hotel Transylvania, which he comes to enjoy.
Cast[]
- Brian Hull as Dracula
- Andy Samberg as Jonathan "Johnny" Loughran
- Selena Gomez as Mavis
- Kathryn Hahn as Ericka
- Brad Abrell as Frank
- Steve Buscemi as Wayne Werewolf
- David Spade as Griffin the Invisible Man
- Keegan-Michael Key as Murray
- Asher Blinkoff as Dennis
- Jim Gaffigan as Abraham Van Helsing
- Molly Shannon as Wanda
- Fran Drescher as Eunice
- Genndy Tartakovsky as Blobby
- Richard Tyler Blevins as Party Monster[3]
- Zoe Berri as Winnie Werewolf
- Asher Bishop as Wesley
- Jennifer Kluska as Wendy
- Victoria Gomez as Young Mavis, Wilma
- Derek Drymon as Human Zombie
- Aaron LaPlante as Gremlin Pilot, Gremlin Stewardess
- Melissa Sturm as Airbag Monster, Phone Voice
- Chole Malaise as Female Newscaster
- Scott Underwood as Male Newscaster
- Michelle Murdocca as Witch
- William Townsend as Zombie
Production[]
In February 2019, Sony Pictures Animation announced that a fourth film had been in development. In October 2019, Genndy Tartakovsky confirmed that he would not direct the film. In September 2020, Jennifer Kluska and Derek Drymon, a storyboard artist on the first two Hotel Transylvania sequels and a former crew member of SpongeBob SquarePants and Adventure Time, respectively, were confirmed to be the film's directors, while Tartakovsky would write the screenplay and serve as an executive producer alongside Selena Gomez, who voices Mavis in the series. Production took place remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In April 2021, the film's title was revealed to be Hotel Transylvania: Transformania and was confirmed that it would be the final film of the series. That same month, Sony confirmed that Adam Sandler would not reprise his role as Dracula. The role was given to Brian Hull after voicing the character in the short film Monster Pets, while Kathryn Hahn, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, and Keegan-Michael Key were confirmed to reprise their roles. The following month, it was announced that Brad Abrell had replaced Kevin James as the voice of Frankenstein. Mark Mothersbaugh returned to score the film, having previously scored the first three installments, while Lynn Hobson served as editor.
Release[]
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania was released by Amazon Studios on Prime Video, on January 14, 2022. In February 2019, Sony Pictures Releasing scheduled the film for release on December 22, 2021. In April 2020, the film was moved up to August 6, 2021. In April 2021, the film was moved up again to July 23, 2021. In June 2021, the film was rescheduled to October 1, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In August 2021, Sony Pictures Releasing cancelled the film's theatrical plans and was in discussions to sell the distribution rights to a streaming service, in response to the rising cases of the SARS-CoV-2 Delta variant in the United States. On August 16, 2021, it was reported that Amazon Studios was in negotiations to acquire the distribution rights to the film for $100 million from Sony Pictures Releasing and would release it exclusively on Amazon Prime Video worldwide, excluding China, where Sony would release it theatrically on an undetermined date. Sony would also retain home entertainment and linear television rights to the film. On October 6, 2021, Amazon set a release date of January 14, 2022.
On February 25, 2022, the film was given a limited theatrical release in the United States.[4]
Home media[]
- Main article: Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (video)
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania will be released on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD on August 15, 2023 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.[5]
Reception[]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 49%, with an average rating of 5.20/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 46 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Trivia[]
- This is the first animated fourth installment film to be produced in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio, unlike the previous fourth installments which were produced at 2.35:1.
- It is the only film in the Hotel Transylvania franchise for several things:
- The only film not to be directed by Genndy Tartakovsky who directed the prior three films and co-wrote the third film. Instead, Jennifer Kluska and Derek Drymon, a storyboard artist on the first two Hotel Transylvania sequels are the directors of this film.
- The only film to be released by a different distributor other than Sony Pictures Releasing, since the rights were sold to Amazon in August 2021.
- The only film not to feature Adam Sandler as Dracula, Kevin James as Frankenstein, and Sadie Sandler as Winnie.
- The only film in the series to have the title appear at the end instead of the beginning.
- The only film in the series to have a single-disc Blu-ray release rather than a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack.
- The only film where Dracula's Hearse doesn’t appear.
- This is the fifth Sony Pictures Animation follow-up film in which characters had been recast, in this case with Dracula, Frankenstein, Winnie, and Tinkles. The first was Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, Hotel Transylvania 2, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, and The Angry Birds Movie 2.
- This is the second film not to feature the Columbia Pictures print logo in the end credits, just the Sony Pictures logo like in Vivo.
- This is the third and last Sony Pictures Animation film to be released digitally due to the COVID-19 pandemic, after The Mitchells vs. the Machines and Vivo, as well as the only one to be released by Amazon Studios.
- Thus, it is also the ninth animated film to be released straight to digital instead of theatrically following the COVID-19 pandemic, the others being Warner Animation Group's Scoob! (which would eventually get a theatrical release one year later), Paramount Animation/Nickelodeon Movies' The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run (which had a theatrical release in Canada, though, and was already released on Netflix internationally as the second animated film to do so in international countries), Disney/Pixar's Soul, Sony Pictures Animation's own The Mitchells vs. the Machines and Vivo, Disney/Pixar's Luca, Boulder Media's My Little Pony: A New Generation, and Paramount Animation's Rumble.
- Vlad, Mike and Linda (Jonathan's parents) are the only characters from the two films that didn’t make an appearance.
- This is the second film in the series not to feature a direct antagonist after the original film; as Abraham Van Helsing (the previous film's main antagonist) appears as a reformed character in this film (following his redemption at the end of the previous film).
- Thus, it is also the second Sony Pictures Animation sequel film to have a previous main antagonist reformed after The Angry Birds Movie 2.
- This is the first Sony Pictures Animation film to have a single-disc Blu-ray release rather than a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack since The Emoji Movie.
Videos[]
Gallery[]
External links[]
References[]
- ↑ https://variety.com/2021/film/news/hotel-transylvania-4-amazon-streaming-rights-sony-1235042371/
- ↑ https://deadline.com/2021/10/amazon-studios-hotel-transylvania-transformania-sony-pictures-animation-streaming-1234850680/
- ↑ https://variety.com/2021/film/news/twitch-ninja-hotel-transylvania-4-transformania-1235130446/
- ↑ https://twitter.com/SonyAnimation/status/1497330564294086658
- ↑ https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Hotel-Transylvania-Transformania-Blu-ray/305484/