Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (2024 film)

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (released internationally as Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation) is a 2024 American animated buddy monster comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, The Jim Henson Company, Happy Madison Productions and release by Walt Disney Pictures. It's the third installment of Hotel Transylvania franchise, and the sequel to Hotel Transylvania: Escape 2 Internet (2018), it was directed by Joel Crawford, co-directed by Thurop Van Orman, written by Robert Smigel, Adam Sandler and the writing team of Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger, and features Sandler, Jayma Mays, Ryan Reynolds, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Fran Drescher, John C. Reilly, Maya Rudolph, Benjamin Bratt, Sadie Sandler, Jack McBrayer, Seth Rogen, Keegan-Michael Key, Asher Blinkoff, Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Rachel Bloom, Sarah Silverman, Taraji P. Henson and Danny DeVito reprising their roles, with new additions to the cast including LeBron James, J. K. Simmons, Alfred Molina, Pharrell Williams, Josh Gad, Will Ferrell, Leslie Jones, Tiffany Haddish, Awkwafina, Joe Whyte, Zooey Deschanel, Chrissy Teigen, Keanu Reeves, Christina Ricci, Toni Collette, Gary Oldman, Lil Rel Howery, F. Murray Abraham, Snoop Dogg, Danny Trejo, Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, Benjamin Bottani, and Crawford, while Chris Parnell, who voiced The Fly in the first two films, voices Stan.
Discussions for a third Hotel Transylvania film began following its the success of second film release and was announced in January 2021 to be released on November 27, 2024 before being pushed forward for a June 2024 release date which was pushed back by Moana 2 (2024). Despite Rich Moore and Phil Johnston initially leaving the franchise, with Crawford confirmed in Febraury 2022 after receiving inspiration from a "miserable" family vacation, Zootopia (2021), and the Chevy Chase National Lampoon's Vacation movies. Smigel and Sandler returns to write the film, Aibel and Berger were brought on board to write the film, while the rest of the voice cast, including Sandler, Mays, Reynolds, and Gomez, reprised their roles. The film's style is inspired by Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. With new technology, the team was able to give the film a painterly style to resemble a fairy-tale story, diverging from the visual style of installments in the Shrek franchise. The official title was revealed in September 2023. 
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation premiered at Regal LA Live in Los Angeles on June 8, 2024, and was scheduled for release in theaters in the United States on June 21, 2024 in RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, IMAX and 4DX formats. Like its predecessors, Hotel Transylvania 3 received critical acclaim from critics, the film grossed $1.36 billion worldwide and broke multiple box-office records, including the biggest worldwide opening weekend for an animated film, the third-highest-grossing film of 2024, and the second-highest-grossing animated film of all time. A sequel was announced to be released in 2027, while and a live-action was in development. 
== Plot ==
Back in 1897, Dracula and his friends travel in disguise on a train to Budapest, the capital of the Hungarian part of Austria-Hungary. However, Dracula's arch-nemesis Professor Abraham Van Helsing boards the train and unveils the monsters; the monsters escape by climbing through the roof, and Dracula pushes his friends off the train for their safety. Van Helsing becomes obsessed with destroying Dracula, but is constantly outsmarted by him.
Two years after the events of television series, Drac is running his hotel business smoothly with Sam, Mavis, Johnny and the Bettermans, including Drac and Sam' son named Dracula, Jr. Dracula is planning to retire and leave the hotel to Mavis and Johnny because he has already lost eight of his nine lives. Mavis overhears this and tells Johnny who excitedly tells Dracula his plans to renovate the hotel. However, all Sugar Rush's citizens are homeless, instead the adopted the racers, Drac announces the expansion of the hotel with an extra room. When he is wounded and disarmed while dueling a wolf, who he assumes is a bounty hunter, at the local pub. Traumatized by the event, Sam books a cruise so they can all take a break and spend more time together as a family that King Poseidon announced. Drac, Sam, Johnny, Mavis, Dennis, Vlad, Yess, Phil, Hope, Dawn, and the hotel guests board a cruise ship called Legacy. Meanwhile, Goldilocks and the Three Bears Crime Family tries to find Drac and the monsters. In the Legacy, Dawn Betterman sees the ship's human captain, Percy, and falls in love with her at first sight, while Drac meets an optimistic Chihuahua disguised as a cat, whom he calls Perrito.
Percy afterwards goes to a private and secret room on the lower decks where she meets up with Abraham Van Helsing, secretly her great-grandfather. Van Helsing has almost entirely mechanized his body to avoid death, and has a plan to eliminate all the monsters: on the cruise's arrival at the lost city of Atlantis, he will use an Instrument of Destruction in Atlantis' ruins. Van Helsing makes Percy promise to not assassinate Dracula beforehand, but she makes repeated unsuccessful attempts to do so anyway. When they’re arrive at London, Drac, and Sam is terrorized by Goldi, the Bears, and Horner discover and chase the trio, during which Drac spots the wolf just in time they're in the cruise was moving. 
Drac's friends hear Percy complain about her inability to get him and misinterpret this as a sign of affection. Dawn nervously asks Percy out on a date, and he accepts since she sees this as another opportunity to kill Drac. As they dine on a deserted island, where they meet a tumbleweed spirit named Sage. Percy unexpectedly begins to fall in love with Dawn, after they learn about each other's pasts where they lost their loved ones - for Dawn, it was his friend Johnny and for Percy, it was his parents.
Mavis discovers that her father was right that Dawn is interested in Percy and becomes suspicious of Percy's motives. During the subsequent clash, Drac suffers a panic attack and flees after the wolf reappears, allowing Goldi to take the card from Dastardly. After Sam finds Drac and calms him down, Drac confesses his fears and remorse for losing his wife Martha, however, he meets a clown named Chuckles, and learns that Death will comes. Back in the hotel and hearing on the news that Drac is in danger, Vanellope and the racers decide to save them at Atlantis. The cruise ship reaches Atlantis, which has been converted into a casino. Dawn decides to tell Mavis the truth about Percy but gets distracted seeing Percy enter an underground crypt. Dawn follows her, with Drac, Sam and Mavis not far behind, and learns that Percy is after a "family heirloom". With Dracula's help, Sam evades the booby traps around the object and escapes. Mavis arrives and confronts them, and Dawn confesses that he "zinged" with Percy, to Drac, Sam and Mavis' surprise and confusion. After Percy is told what a "zing" is, his inner guilt about lying to Dawn forces her to reject her feelings for her, leaving Dawn heartbroken and Mavis feeling guilty.
Dracula begins to confess that he cares about his stupid hotel and confused and abandoned her and Sam also feeling guilty. During an argument with the Bears, Goldi reveals she intends to wish for a "proper", human family. Meanwhile, Drac becomes trapped in the crystalline "Cave of Souls", where he sees reflections of his arrogant past lives, who ridicule him for changing his outlook. The wolf arrives and reveals himself as Death. Outraged by Drac' failure to value any of his lives, Death intends to take Puss' final life personally. Horrified, Puss runs out of the cave, leaving Sam behind.
When he reaches Atlantis ruins until Sam arrives, berates him for his selfishness, and reveals her wish to have a good family not a horrible family just in time Goldi and the Bears comes. Along with Frank, each recounts an experience they had with Drac at a summer camp, earning the audience's gratitude. A regretful Percy gives Van Helsing the Instrument of Destruction and he sets a trap for the monsters at a dance party. Noticing that Dawn is still depressed about Percy, Phil takes advice from Johnny and tells her father to talk to Perch, admitting that he was afraid of her leaving her, which allays Dawn's fears. Van Helsing shows up and pushes away the DJ and a saddened Percy is forced to reveal that she is his great-grandson. Van Helsing unveils the Instrument of Destruction—a case for a music note sheet—but Goldi and the bears destroy the Instrument of Destruction, however, Dawn gets injured before Percy saves and pleads with his great-grandfather to stop the destruction, confessing her love for Dawn. This infuriates Van Helsing, and he falls before Drac saves him. 
Death arrives and challenges Drac to a duel. Having learned the value of life from his time with his companions, Drac forgoes wishing for more lives and accepts, temporarily disarming Death. Drac that he knows he can never truly defeat Death, but he will never stop fighting for his last life. Realizing Drac is no longer arrogant, Death begrudgingly spares him and leaves, though he and Drac acknowledge that they will eventually meet again. Poseidon offers to drop charges against the group on the condition that Van Helsing needs to arrest. Drac refuses, arguing that his friends decided to release him even if they risked death. When Poseidon finds out that he has no friends and reveals that he needs the slime for his appearance, Drac offers to be a part of the family. Poseidon removes all his arrangements and return to his true appearance. Everyone accepts his appearance, and Poseidon allows Van Helsing to release him. Touched by the act of kindness, Van Helsing apologizes to the monsters and gives everybody a full refund for the cruise, before sending them back, they return home only to find the hotel has been destroyed by her guinea pig Gigi. After turning Gigi back to normal, Dracula decides to let Mavis and Johnny rebuild the hotel to their liking. One year later, Mavis and Johnny re-built and modernized the hotel. The following spring, the family is about to head to vacation when Drac shows them a group of lost penguins that need to get to the South Pole, agreeing to help them get there. 
== Cast ==
* Adam Sandler as Count "Drac" Dracula, the founder of Hotel Transylvania and Mavis' father, Johnny's father-in-law, Dennis' maternal grandfather and Ericka's husband.
* Jayma Mays as Sam Sparks, Dracula's wife, Mavis' stepmother, Johnny's stepmother-in-law, and Dennis' step-grandmother.
* J. K. Simmons as the Wolf / Death, a black hooded wolf who is initially presumed to be a bounty hunter before revealing his true identity to Dracula, who he wants to personally kill as punishment for Dracula as his job is to deal with the dead. He wields twin sickles that combine into a double-bladed glaive.
* Ryan Reynolds as Jonathan "Johnny" Loughran, Mavis' husband, Dracula's son-in-law, and Dennis' human father.
* Selena Gomez as Mavis Dracula, Drac's daughter, Johnny's wife, and Dennis' vampire mother, from whom he inherited his vampire abilities which he first developed on his fifth birthday, as do all pureblood vampires.
* Alfred Molina as King Poseidon
* F. Murray Abraham as Chuckles, a clown.
* Steve Carell as Phil Betterman, the patriarch of the Bettermans who had a history with Johnny's parents.
* Anne Hathaway as Hope Betterman, the matriarch of the Bettermans and Phil's wife.
* Will Ferrell as Professor Abraham Van Helsing, Jimmy's great grandfather and Dracula's former rival.
* LeBron James as Jimmy Van Helsing, the captain of the Legacy cruise, Dawn's love interest, and the great grandson of Abraham Van Helsing.
* Zooey Deschanel as Viva Sparks, Sam's long-lost older sister and the leader of the Putt-Putt 
* Josh Gad as Perrito, a friendly and naïve dog who is initially disguised as one of cats and wants to become a therapy dog. 
* Kevin James as Frankenstein, Drac's friend who hangs with Murray.
* Jack McBrayer as Griffin, Drac, Frank, Wayne and Murray's invisible friend.
* John C. Reilly as Wayne, a werewolf who is friends with Drac, Frank, Murray and Griffin.
* Seth Rogen as B.O.B. (Benzoate Ostylezene Bicarbonate), an indestructible gelatinous mass created when a tomato was injected with a genetically modified ranch-flavored dessert topping. He can devour and digest almost any substance. Despite having consciousness, he literally and figuratively lacks a brain and is thus the comic relief.
* Keegan-Michael Key as Murray, a mummy who hangs with Frank. 
* Benjamin Bratt as Manny: Sam's Guatemalan cameraman and a former doctor, pilot, and comedian.
* Maya Rudolph as Wanda, Wayne's werewolf wife who is friends with Eunice.
* Fran Drescher as Eunice, Frank's wife who is friends with Wanda.
* Asher Blinkoff as Dennis "Dennisovitch" Dracula-Loughran, Mavis and Johnny's dhampir son, Dracula's grandson, and Winnie's love interest. He has his mother's blue eyes and extraordinarily strong vampire abilities, and his father's orange hair and freckles.
* Sarah Silverman as Vanellope Loughran, who befriends Mavis and is Johnny's sister.
* Rachel Bloom as Dawn Betterman, Phil and Hope's daughter and only child who befriends Mavis and Vanellope and is Johnny's old friend.
* Taraji P. Henson as Yesss, an algorithm that determines the trending videos on BuzzzTube, and Vlad's love interest.
* Leslie Jones as Zeta
* Tiffany Haddish as Debbie
* Christina Ricci as Goldilocks – known as Goldi, the leader of the Three Bears Crime Family.
** Kailey Crawford as Young Goldilocks
* Awkwafina as Chump, the one-footed leader of pigeon gang
* Toni Collette as Mama Bear – Papa Bear's wife, Baby Bear's mother and Goldilocks' adoptive mother.
* Gary Oldman as Papa Bear – Mama Bear's husband, Baby Bear's father and Goldilocks' adoptive father. 
* Lil Rel Howery as Baby Bear – Papa Bear and Mama Bear's son, and Goldilocks' adoptive brother.
* Sadie Sandler as Winnie, the werewolf daughter of Wayne and Wanda. She is Dennis' best friend and mutual love interest.
* Danny DeVito as Count Vlad, an ancient, more experienced and traditional vampire who is Dracula's father, the late Martha's father-in-law, Mavis' paternal grandfather, Jonathan's grandfather-in-law, Dennis's maternal great-grandfather, and Sam's father-in-law.
* Chris Parnell as Stan, a fish-man that works on the Legacy. Parnell previously voiced The Fly in the first two films.
* Joe Whyte as:
** Tinkles, Dennis' giant pet puppy.
** Bob, one of the Gremlins who works as a co-pilot on Gremlins' airlines.
* Pharrell Williams as Kraken, a giant music-loving sea monster that lives near Atlantis.
* Chrissy Teigen as Crystal, an invisible woman who is Griffin's new girlfriend.
* Tyler "Ninja" Blevins as Party Monster
* Keanu Reeves as Sage
* Snoop Dogg as The Gambler
* Tiffany Haddish as Dee Dee Skyes, the pilot for the Falcon Force 
* Reggie Watts as Chancellor
* Joel Crawford as:
** Blobby, a green blob monster. He was previously voiced by Jonny Solomon in Hotel Transylvania: Escape 2 Internet.
** Blobby Baby, a spawn of Blobby.
** Puppy Blobby, Blobby Baby's pet and another spawn of Blobby.
* Benjamin Bottani as Dracula Jr., Dracula and Sam's son
* Jaime Camil as El Chupacabra, a passenger on the Legacy.
Additionally, Crawford, Whyte, Strong, and Teigen also reprised their roles in the French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Polish, and Romanian language dubs of the movie.
== Production ==
=== Development and casting ===
After the critical and commercial success of Hotel Transylvania: Escape 2 Internet (2018), Clark Spencer was "talking about number 3 and moving forward and taking the franchise to the next level," but thought that directors Rich Moore and Phil Johnston stated that they will not return for the sequel. In February 2019, it was reported that Tim Hill was set to direct the film. However, in March 2019, Mike Mitchell was announced as the film's director, replacing Hill. In January 2021, Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that the third film, under the tentative title of Hotel Transylvania 3, had been set for release on November 27, 2024, with Joel Crawford was attached as director, replacing Mitchell as director in February 2022, a head of story on the second Hotel Transylvania franchises, having previously helmed DreamWorks Animation's The Croods: A New Age (2020) and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022). Adam Sandler, Jayma Mays, Selena Gomez, and Ryan Reynolds also reprised their previous roles, as Dracula, Sam, Mavis, and Johnny, respectively, and Robert Smigel and Sandler returned to write the screenplay, and Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger had been hired to write the film along with The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack and Home: Adventures with Tip & Oh creator Thurop Van Orman serving as the film's co-director. Spencer, Brian Henson, John Cohen, and Janet Healy serves as producers. With the new cast members were announced in March 2023, including LeBron James, J. K. Simmons, Alfred Molina, Will Ferrell, Christina Ricci, Toni Collette, Gary Oldman, Lil Rel Howery, Josh Gad, F. Murray Abraham, Snoop Dogg, Pharrell Williams, Joe Whyte, Leslie Jones, Tiffany Haddish, Awkwafina, Benjamin Bottani and Zooey Deschanel. By September 2023, during D23 Expo presentation, the film had been entitled Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation. Sandler, Lisa Henson and Toby Ascher were added as producer. 
=== Writing ===
According to Crawford, he joined after he received inspiration from a "miserable" family vacation, and from the Chevy Chase National Lampoon's Vacation movies, Toy Story 3 (2010) and Zootopia (2021), as the film takes place aboard a cruise ship. While wanting the film to retain the adult humor from previous entries, Crawford also wanted the film to have a darker tone, with Drac' mortality and fear of death being the film's main focus, wanting to use the concept of Puss being in his last life to tell a story about how to enjoy life. He drew inspiration from fairytales by the Brothers Grimm and how they were "cautionary tales that took you somewhere dark to make you appreciate the light". This also influenced the decision to depict Death as a wolf, as wolves in Brothers Grimm's stories were depicted as "the personification of fear". Other influences for the film include Spaghetti Westerns films, due to how those films managed to balance between different tones.The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly was cited as a particular influence on the film's plot. For a while, "the filmmakers were very committed" to that version of the story, but then in November 2022, the filmmakers realized the film's plot would be more engaging if this film focus on Dracula and Sam. 
=== Cinematography ===
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation is the fourth Disney Animation film since Tangled (2010), Hotel Transylvania (2012) and The Smurfs 2 (2022) to employ a tall frame, a decision made to "get closer to the characters". This layout was supplemented by romanticism lighting. According to Crawford, romantic (meaning heightened in spirit) is the film's key word in terms of the approach towards cinematography and lighting. The latter was also inspired by magical realism, due to the genre's heavy influence on the writing and characters.
The directors aimed to use the film's optics to portray strong emotions. Alessandro Jacomini—directors of cinematography, lighting—stated this use "would amplify, exaggerate, and distort perception, which is very in line with Dracula's point of view as a narrator". Her feelings of being left out were also shown using emotive lighting. The directors frequently reminded the crew of the emotional subtext of every scene as well as the intricacies of the individual parts. 
=== Animation and design ===
As a cost-cutting measure, the producers had an in-house animation team at Disney work on both Hotel Transylvania 3 and the Mavis series. Animation was done by Walt Disney Animation Studios in Vancouver, additional animation were provided by Mikros Image in Montreal. As with Disney' previous film The Grinch (2022), the film's design was inspired by Sony Pictures Animation's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) and The Mitchells vs. The Machines (2021), to make the film look more like storybook illustrations, from an idea suggested by production designer Ian Gooding. One of the biggest challenges for the animation team was simulating the water effects and destruction. The frame rate varied between 24 images (animating on ones) and 12 images (animating on twos) per second, the latter case using the same image twice.
== Music ==
Henry Jackman returned to score the third film, having previously scored the first two installments, with an 80-piece orchestra conducted by Tim Simonec. Mötley Crüe's song "Kickstart My Heart " and Pitbull's song "Shake Senora" were used in promotional material. The songs was produced by Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo. Additionally, Cody Simpson provided a single, from his album Surfers Paradise "La Da Dee", which was played at the film's end credits. Simpson also performed in a music video that incorporated footage from the film and released on June 14, 2024. Artists who are part of the original soundtrack include Becky G, Swae Lee, J Balvin, Tyga, Lil Mosey, Tainy, Weezer, Snoop Dogg, The Flaming Lips, and Kenny G. Previous material that are part of the film but not on the soundtrack album are "Slow Ride" by Foghat, "Dream Weaver" by Gary Wright, Karol G performs "La Vida es Una", co-written by herself and Daniel Oviedo, "Good Life", this time from Jon Batiste, and Kenny G's cover of "My Heart Will Go On" from the film Titanic. iamOther Entertainment and Columbia Records released the film's soundtrack on June 18, 2024, and Walt Disney Records released the film's score album released on June 22, 2024. 
== Release ==
=== Theatrical ===
Summer Vacation was originally scheduled for release on November 27, 2024, a date that was later moved up five months earlier to June 21, with engagements in RealD 3D, IMAX and Dolby Cinema.
=== Home media ===
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment announced that Hotel Transylvania 2 will be released on digital platforms on August 13, 2024. It is scheduled to be released on Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on September 3, 2024.