Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation (released internationally as Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation; also known as Hotel Transylvania 3 and marketed as such on home release) is a 2018 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Sony Pictures Animation and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. The third installment in the Hotel Transylvania franchise and sequel to Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015), it was directed by Genndy Tartakovsky and written by Tartakovsky and Michael McCullers, and features Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, David Spade, Steve Buscemi, Keegan-Michael Key, Molly Shannon, Fran Drescher, and Mel Brooks reprising their roles, as well as new additions to the cast including Kathryn Hahn and Jim Gaffigan. In the film, Dracula finds love with a ship captain named Ericka Van Helsing while on a vacation on a cruise with his family and friends, but Mavis discovers that Ericka is actually the great-granddaughter of Abraham Van Helsing, Dracula's arch-enemy.

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation premiered at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival on June 13, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 13, 2018. The film received mixed reviews from critics and it was a box office success, grossing over $528 million worldwide, against a budget of $80 million. To date, it is the highest-grossing film in the Hotel Transylvania series and Sony Pictures Animation's highest-grossing film worldwide to be completely animated. A sequel is currently in development and is scheduled to be released on December 21, 2021.

Plot
In 1897, Dracula and his friends travel in disguise on a train to Budapest. Professor Abraham Van Helsing, Dracula's arch-enemy, boards the train and unveils the monsters; the monsters escape by climbing through the roof, and Dracula pushes his friends from the train for their safety. Van Helsing is obsessed with destroying Dracula but is constantly outsmarted by him.

In the present day, Dracula is running his hotel business smoothly, with his daughter Mavis and son-in-law Johnny. Drac is depressed that he has remained single since his wife Martha's death despite his attempts to meet someone. Misinterpreting this as stress from overwork, Mavis books a cruise so they can all take a break and spend more time together as a family. Dracula, Mavis, Johnny, Dennis, Vlad, and the hotel guests board a cruise ship called the Legacy. Dracula sees the ship's human captain, Ericka, and immediately falls for her, something that he thought was impossible as he had already "zinged" before.

Ericka goes to a secret room on the lower decks where she meets Abraham Van Helsing, who is revealed to be her great-grandfather and is almost completely mechanised, to avoid death. Van Helsing has a plan to eliminate all the monsters, in the cruise upon its arrival at the lost city of Atlantis using an Instrument of Destruction, which could be found in Atlantis' ruins. Van Helsing makes Ericka promise to not assassinate Dracula beforehand, but she makes repeated unsuccessful attempts. Dracula's friends hear Ericka complain about her inability to get him and misinterpret this as a sign of affection. Dracula nervously asks Ericka out on a date, and she accepts since she sees this as another chance to kill him. As they dine on a deserted island, Ericka unexpectedly begins to fall in love with Drac, after they learn about each other's pasts.

Mavis discovers Dracula is interested in Ericka and becomes suspicious of Ericka's motives. The cruise ship reaches Atlantis, which has been converted into a casino; Dracula decides to tell Mavis the truth about Ericka but gets distracted seeing Ericka enter an underground crypt. Drac follows her, with Mavis not far behind, and learns that Ericka is after a "family heirloom". With Dracula's help, she evades the booby traps around the object and escapes. Mavis arrives and confronts them, and Dracula confesses that he "zinged" with Ericka, to Mavis' surprise and confusion. After Ericka is told what a "zing" is, she rejects Dracula's romantic feelings, leaving Dracula distraught.

A regretful Ericka gives Van Helsing the object – revealed to be the Instrument of Destruction – and he sets a trap for the monsters at a dance party. Noticing that Dracula is still sad about Ericka, Mavis, after some advice from Johnny, tells her father to talk to Ericka, admitting that she was afraid of him leaving her, which allays Drac's fears. Van Helsing shows up and pushes away the DJ, and a saddened Ericka is forced to reveal that she is his great-granddaughter. Van Helsing unveils the Instrument of Destruction, a case for a music note sheet, and plays a song that drives a friendly Kraken living near the island to attack the monsters. Dracula tries to stop the Kraken, but gets injured. Ericka saves Dracula from the Kraken and pleads with her great-grandfather to stop the destruction, confessing her love for Drac. This infuriates Van Helsing, and he attacks them both.

To pacify the Kraken, Johnny opens up a portable DJ kit and plays positive songs (Good Vibrations, and Don't Worry, Be Happy) to beat Van Helsing's song. Upon playing the Macarena, the Kraken is relaxed and happy for good; Van Helsing is unable to counter the song as everyone begins to dance, including the music sheet. When Van Helsing also dances, he accidentally slips and falls, but Dracula saves him. Touched by this act of kindness, Van Helsing apologizes to the monsters and gives everyone a full refund for the cruise, before sending them back. Back at Hotel Transylvania, Dracula proposes to Ericka, who stammers at the question before agreeing.

Voice cast

 * Adam Sandler as Dracula: The 540-year-old lord of the vampires, and founder of Hotel Transylvania.
 * Andy Samberg as Johnny: A 29-year-old man, who is Mavis' husband.
 * Selena Gomez as Mavis, the 126-year-old daughter of Dracula
 * Kevin James as Frankenstein: The monster famously created from reanimated dead tissue, by Dr. Frankenstein. His friends call him "Frank".
 * David Spade as Griffin
 * Steve Buscemi as Wayne: A werewolf who is overwhelmed by his large number of children.
 * Keegan-Michael Key as Murray: An ancient mummy.
 * Molly Shannon as Wanda: Wayne's werewolf wife.
 * Fran Drescher as Eunice: Frankenstein's wife.
 * Kathryn Hahn as Ericka: The captain and cruise director of the cruise ship Legacy. She is secretly continuing her great-grandfather's wishes in eliminating monsters and is Dracula's love interest.
 * Jim Gaffigan as Van Helsing: Ericka's great-grandfather who is a legendary monster hunter and Dracula's archenemy.
 * Mel Brooks as Vlad: An ancient, more experienced and traditional vampire, who is Dracula's father.
 * Asher Blinkoff as Dennis: Mavis and Johnny's 6-year-old son who is a human/vampire hybrid, inheriting a combination of traits from his parents. He has a secret mutual crush on his best friend Winnie.
 * Sadie Sandler as Winnie: The eldest werewolf daughter of Wayne and Wanda. Winnie is Dennis' best friend, and she has a mutual crush on him.
 * Genndy Tartakovsky as Blobby: A green blob monster. He was previously voiced by Jonny Solomon in Hotel Transylvania 2.
 * Tartakovsky also voices Blobby Baby, a spawn of Blobby, and Puppy Blobby: Blobby Baby's pet puppy.
 * Chrissy Teigen as Crystal: An invisible woman who is Griffin's new girlfriend.
 * Joe Jonas as Kraken: A giant music-loving sea monster that lives near Atlantis.
 * Tara Strong as Frankenlady (voiced by Alison Hammond and credited as Frankenginger in the UK release ): A female whose right arm is related to Frankenstein from his right hand's side of the family.
 * Chris Parnell as Stan: A fish-man.
 * Joe Whyte as Tinkles: Dennis' giant pet puppy.
 * Whyte also voices Bob: One of the Gremlins who works as a co-pilot on Gremlin's airlines.
 * Aaron LaPlante as Gremlins, Gremlin Pilot, Gremlin Stewardess
 * Michelle Murdocca as Phone Voice, Kelsey, Witch #1, Witch #2
 * Joyce Arrastia as Zingr Witch, Witch #3
 * Sunny Sandler as Sunny, the newborn daughter of Wayne and Wanda.
 * Libby Thomas Dickey as Libby
 * Patrick Harpin as Austrian Boy
 * Craig Kellman as Mr. Hydraberg
 * Jaime Camil as El Chupacabra

Development
In September 2015, Michelle Murdocca, the film's producer, said before the second film's release that the studio was "talking about number 3 and moving forward and taking the franchise to the next level," but thought that she and director Genndy Tartakovsky would not return, since they were working on Tartakovsky's Can You Imagine? before that project was later shelved. That same month, Tartakovsky stated that he will not return for the sequel, specifying to TheWrap that "two is enough. I have a lot of other ideas, and I kind of have to express them and have them come out." In November 2015, Sony Pictures Animation announced that the third film, under the tentative title of Hotel Transylvania 3, had been set for release on September 21, 2018.

Despite leaving the series, Tartakovsky later announced that he would return as the director for the third installment. Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, and Andy Samberg also reprised their previous roles, as Dracula, Mavis, and Johnny, respectively, and the film was written by Tartakovsky and Austin Powers writer Michael McCullers. In June 2016, Sony also confirmed Tartakovsky's return, after his taking a leave of absence to work on the final season of his show Samurai Jack. According to Tartakovsky, he returned after he received inspiration from a "miserable" family vacation, and from the Chevy Chase National Lampoon's Vacation movies, as the film takes place aboard a cruise ship. By early November 2017, the film had been entitled Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation.

One of the biggest challenges for the animation team was creating the massive Kraken character and simulating the water effects and destruction caused by the massive creature.

Music
Mark Mothersbaugh returned to score the third film, having previously scored the first two installments, while Sony Classical Records has released an official soundtrack of the trilogy. Dutch DJ Tiësto also provided music for the film's final battle. DNCE's song "Cake by the Ocean" and Pitbull's song Shake Senora were used in promotional material. I See Love performed by Jonas Blue ft. Joe Jonas was featured in the film's end-credits. Eric Nam recorded the song Float for the film. Joe Jonas also recorded It's Party Time for the film while he was voicing Kraken the sea monster.

Release
Summer Vacation was originally scheduled for release on September 21, 2018, a date that was later moved up two months, to July 13, 2018. A video game adaptation, titled Hotel Transylvania 3: Monsters Overboard, was released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows on July 10, 2018. On June 21, 2018, Amazon announced it was offering its Amazon Prime members an early showing of the film on June 30, at about 1,000 theaters, similar to fellow Sony release Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle the previous December.

International release
While most territories released the film on July release dates, the film was released in China on August 17, 2018. Similarly, Italy and the Philippines didn't see the film until late August as well while Japan and Poland have October release dates.

Marketing
The first teaser trailer was released online on November 16, 2017, and the official trailer for the film was released on March 21, 2018. A 95-second sneak peek of the film was released online via Sony Pictures Entertainment's YouTube channel on May 7, 2018.

Home media
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation was released on DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray on October 9, 2018 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Box office
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation has grossed $167.5 million in the United States and Canada, and $361.1 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $528.6 million against a production budget of $80 million. On September 1, 2018, the film passed its predecessor, Hotel Transylvania 2, to become Sony Pictures Animation's highest-grossing film worldwide to be completely animated (and second-highest overall behind 2011's The Smurfs).

In the United States and Canada, Summer Vacation was released alongside the opening of Skyscraper, as well as the wide expansion of Sorry to Bother You, and was projected to gross $38–45 million from 4,267 theaters in its first weekend. The film made $1.3 million from its early 3PM screenings held by Amazon on June 30, and $2.6 million from screenings beginning at 5PM the Thursday before its official release. It went on open to $44.1 million, finishing first at the box office and landing in-between the debuts of the first two Hotel Transylvania films. The film made $23.2 million in its second weekend, finishing second behind newcomers The Equalizer 2 and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. It made another $12.3 million in its third weekend, finishing fourth.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 61% based on 112 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation delivers exactly what fans will expect – which means another 97 agreeably lightweight minutes of fast-paced gags and colorful animation." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale, the same score earned by both its predecessors.

IGN gave the film score of 7.6 out of 10, saying, "Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation is mostly funny, BLAH-blah-BLAH!" Conversely, Scott Tobias of Variety gave the film a negative review, stating, "That leaves Hotel Transylvania 3 to look too much like another lackadaisical gathering of Sandler and his frequent on-screen chums, like a PG-rated Grown Ups at sea. They seem like the ones taking the vacation, and it's audiences who are left to pick up the tab." Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com wrote, "Trust me, I know that "storytelling" is not the main reason that kids go to third films in a franchise—I have two of my own that love this particular series—but I'm speaking more to the adults who have to pay for the ticket and waste their time here. Kids go for the familiar faces, repeated jokes, and comfortable world they feel they know. Hotel Transylvania 3 gets enough of that right to allow it to stand above the truly abysmal summer animated offerings of recent years (I'm looking at you, The Nut Job 2 and The Emoji Movie). It's not that bad. It's more forgettable than painful. When it was over, I asked my 9-year-old what he would give it. He replied, "I would give it 4 stars but I'm a kid. I'd probably give it 3 if I were an adult." Not quite."

Brian Lowry of CNN wrote, "Creatively, though, unlike the best animated franchises, whatever sense of discovery, surprise or ingenuity that Hotel Transylvania originally offered appears pretty well behind it. That might not mean it's checkout time just yet, but all that seems left is to dig up the pieces, stitch them together, and flip the "on" switch." Scott Mendelson of Forbes gave the film a positive review, saying "Hotel Transylvania 3 feels less like a narrative sequel and more like a casual "episode of the week" animated adventure. When you can watch the TV show at home, the movies must be relative events. This one feels less like an inspired PG-rated, kid-friendly distillation of Sandler's comedy than an animated version of his (comparatively) lazy studio comedies where he and his regular castmates go on a vacation on the studio's dime. The movie looks great, there are a few chuckles, and the kids may enjoy it. But compared to its predecessors, Hotel Transylvania 3 is mostly blah (blah blah)." Jamie Righetti of IndieWire wrote, "With plenty of laughs, truly dazzling animation, and some more of the franchise's signature dance sequences, Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation is a summer treat worth savoring, and a reminder that if we can see past our differences, we'll find we're not that different after all."

Chris Nashawaty from Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B-, saying "The harmless high jinks all go down easily enough without being particularly memorable or pushing the art form past the expected. Three movies in, the Hotel Transylvania series is undeniably getting a bit long in the fang. It's maybe one more sequel away from having a stake mercifully driven through its heart. Still, it's hard to argue with the sight of an airplane piloted by mischievous gremlins or the film's benign messages of the importance of family and love conquering all. I may have spent large stretches of the film rolling my eyes, but my 5-year-old twins' attention never flagged. Even if, in their eyes, Summer Vacation was no Lego Movie. Then again, for them, nothing could be." Rafer Guzmán of Newsday stated, "In the end, the noisy humor and classic rock songs drown out whatever worthy messages Hotel Transylvania 3 might offer." Geoffrey Macnab of The Independent gave it 2 out of 5 stars, saying "In its scattergun way, parts of the film are funny and very inventive. The hitch is that the storytelling feels so utterly random. All sorts of unrelated ideas are thrown together into the big, sloppy, monster mash of a plot as the cruise continues. The end message, namely that monsters and humans aren't that different and really ought to learn to get along, is sanctimonious in the extreme. Maybe it is time to put a stake through the heart of this particular franchise."

Accolades
The People's Choice Awards nominated the film in the category "Favorite Family Movie".

Sequel
On February 26, 2019, Sony Pictures Animation announced that a fourth film is in development and will be released on December 21, 2021.