Hotel Transylvania (2012 film)

Hotel Transylvania is a 2012 American animated romantic monster comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Rich Moore (in his feature directorial debut), co-directed by Genndy Tartakovsky (in his feature directorial debut), produced by Clark Spencer, from a screenplay by Phil Johnston, Jennifer Lee and Robert Smigel, and a story by Moore, Todd Durham, Jim Reardon, 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 an 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 El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on October 31, 2012, coinciding of Halloween Day and went into general release on November 2. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $543 million worldwide against a $165 million budget and winning the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature, as well as receiving nominations for the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. A sequel, Hotel Transylvania 2, was released on November 21, 2018.

Plot
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 the present-day (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 orders 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.

The party is a great success the next night, and Mavis looks forward to opening a gift from Martha. However, when Johnny and Mavis share their first kiss, Drac overreacts, and in his outburst, inadvertently confesses to deceiving Mavis with the town. A still-frozen Quasimodo bursts in and Mr. Fly reveals from his frozen speech that Johnny is a human disguised by Drac. The guests are shocked and outraged by the deceit at play, but Mavis is undeterred and wants to be with Johnny. Johnny rejects her out of respect for her father and leaves the hotel.

A heartbroken Mavis flies onto the roof with her mother's gift, and Drac follows in hopes of comforting her. He learns the present is a book about how he and Martha "Zinged" and fell in love, and realizes he no longer knows mankind’s true tolerance of monsters. After apologizing to the patrons, Drac persuades Frank, Wayne, Griffin, and Murray to head out into the human world to help him find Johnny, and with the scent-tracking ability of Wayne's daughter, Winnie, they learn that he is about to catch a flight back to the United States.

The four head to the airport, but are held up in a town celebrating a Monster Festival along the way. Frankenstein attempts to scare away the assembled crowd of humans with a loud roar but instead receives wild applause and adoration. He then gets the humans to agree to help, and a team of men dressed as vampires provides Drac shelter from the sunlight while he rushes to the airport. Drac arrives to see Johnny's plane taking off, and he gives chase in bat form, burning in the sunlight. After getting Johnny's attention, Drac makes his way to the windshield of the plane and uses his mind-controlling power on the pilot to help him apologize over the plane's PA system, stating that Mavis has grown up and can make her own decisions. Johnny accepts his apology, and Drac manipulates the pilot to return to the Transylvanian airport.

Drac returns Johnny to Mavis, announcing that he approves of Johnny. Johnny confesses to Mavis that their "Zing" was mutual and the two kiss. The monsters finish celebrating Mavis' party, impressing the hotel guests.

Cast

 * Adam Sandler as Count "Drac" Dracula, a vampire and the owner of the hotel and Mavis' overprotective father.
 * Andy Samberg as Jonathan "Johnny" Loughran, Mavis' love interest.
 * Selena Gomez as Mavis Dracula, daughter of Count Dracula and late Martha and Jonathan's love interest.
 * Sadie Sandler as young Mavis Dracula
 * Kevin James as Frankenstein, one of Count Dracula's best friends who acts as an uncle to Mavis and mostly hangs out with Murray.
 * John C. Reilly as Wayne, a male werewolf who is one of Count Dracula's best friends and Wanda's husband.
 * CeeLo Green as Murray, a short, fat mummy who is one of Count Dracula's best friends and mostly hangs out with Frankenstein. He is later voiced by Keegan-Michael Key in the next three films.
 * Fran Drescher as Eunice, Frankenstein's wife and Wanda's best friend. Drescher, born and raised in Flushing, NY, is known for the character Fran Fine in The Nanny.
 * Molly Shannon as Wanda, a female werewolf, Wayne's heavily pregnant wife and Eunice's best friend.
 * Jack McBrayer as Griffin the Invisible Man, one of Count Dracula's best friends.
 * Jon Lovitz as Quasimodo Wilson, a hunchbacked gourmet chef and the former bell-ringer of Notre-Dame who desires to make a dish with human as the main ingredient.
 * Sadie Sandler as Winnie, Wayne and Wanda's werewolf daughter.
 * Jim Wise and Luenell as the shrunken heads that serve as a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door of Mavis's room.
 * Chris Parnell as Mr. Fly, Hotel Transylvania's fitness coordinator who can also translate any speech.
 * Brian George as a suit of armor who acts as the head of Hotel Transylvania's security guards.
 * Brian Stack as a pilot who flies Jonathan's airplane back to America.
 * Jackie Sandler as Martha, Dracula's wife and Mavis' mother who was killed by an angry mob when Mavis was an infant.
 * Rob Riggle as Skeleton Husband
 * Paul Brittain as Mr. Ghouligan, a zombie plumber.
 * Brian McCann as a hairy monster that resembles a Yeti.

The heads of the Hydra named Mr. Hydraberg are voiced by Jim Wise, Paul Brittain, Jonny Solomon, Craig Kellman, and Brian McCann.

Development
Hotel Transylvania was originally created and developed by comedy writer Todd Durham, which he based on his book of the same name; after creating the bible for a franchise of several films, television series, holiday TV specials, video games, books, merchandising, hotel chain, and theme parks, he took the package unsolicited to Walt Disney Animation Studios where he became the first of several screenwriters on the project. In March 2011, the title was officially announced as Hotel Transylvania, with The Simpsons creator Rich Moore confirmed that to directed the film.

John Lasseter, the head of Walt Disney Animation Studios and executive producer of the film, describes "It took all the aesthetics I like from 2-D and applied them here". In September 2011, Genndy Tartakovsky, creator of Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, and Star Wars: Clone Wars, took over as co-director, and made his feature directorial debut with the film. He reimagined the film to follow the energy, organic nature, and exaggeration of 2D animation, particularly as seen in the work of director Tex Avery. "I don't want to do animation to mimic reality. I want to push reality." "I wanted to have an imprint so you'd go, 'Well, only Genndy can make this.' It's hard, especially with CG, but I feel there's a lot of moments that feel that they're very me, so hopefully it'll feel different enough that it has a signature to it."

Casting
Adam Sandler was announced as the voice of Count Dracula. In November 2011, Miley Cyrus was announced to voice Mavis, Dracula's teenaged daughter, but in February 2012, she was removed from the film. In August 2019, Cyrus admitted it was because of buying then-partner Liam Hemsworth a birthday cake in the shape of a penis and licking it. It was later announced that Selena Gomez would replace Cyrus. According to Tartakovsky his favorite Dracula was Bela Lugosi, especially in the context of Abbott and Costello. Moore stating that the rumor grew out of a joke John C. Reilly made at Comic-Con. As a kid he really did not like horror movies, so he never really watched them. So he got introduced to all those characters through comedy, and so it was Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and Meet the Mummy, etc. As Tartakovsky said [in relation to making Hotel Transylvania]: "I don't want to scare anybody. I just want to make them laugh with these iconic characters." Moore aimed to add licensed characters in a similar manner as cultural references in Looney Tunes shorts.

Animation
The film introduced Disney's new bidirectional reflectance distribution functions, with more realistic reflections on surfaces, and new virtual cinematography Camera Capture system, which makes it possible to go through scenes in real time.

Music
The film's score was composed by Henry Jackman.


 * "Where Did the Time Go Girl (Party Version)" Written by Robert Smigel, Adam Sandler, and Dennis White. Produced by Static Revenger.
 * "Daddy's Girl" Written by Adam Sandler and Robert Smigel. Performed by Adam Sandler.
 * "Call Me Mavy" Performed by Traci L.
 * "Problem (The Monster Remix)" Written by Henry Walter, Lukasz Gottwald, Becky G (as Becky Gomez) & will.i.am (as William Adams). Performed by Becky G featuring will.i.am.
 * "Sexy and I Know It", performed by LMFAO
 * "The Zing" Written by Adam Sandler, Robert Smigel, and Dennis White. Produced by Static Revenger. Performed by Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, CeeLo Green, Kevin James, and Selena Gomez.
 * "Helpless", written and performed by Peter Tvrznik
 * "Sweet 118", written by Andy Samberg, Stuart Hart and Trevor Simpson. Performed by Andy Samberg.
 * "Hush Little Baby", performed by Adam Sandler.
 * "Monster Mash", performed by Bobby Pickett.

Theatrical
The film was originally scheduled for a release on October 31, 2012, but it was later changed to November 2, 2012, due to it being ahead of schedule. The theatrical release was accompanied by Disney's animated short film, Paperman. On October 26, 2012, Regal Entertainment Group Cinemas began exclusively playing the traditionally animated short film Goodnight Mr. Foot before the film. Based on Hotel Transylvania, the short was directed and animated by Genndy Tartakovsky.

Home Media
Hotel Transylvania was released on Blu-ray Disc (2D and 3D) and DVD in North America on March 5, 2013, from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. It was accompanied by the short animated film, Goodnight Mr. Foot. The film was made available for digital download in selected regions on February 12, 2013. Hotel Transylvania debuted at No. 1 in Blu-ray and DVD sales in the United States. Hotel Transylvania was released on 4K UHD Blu-ray on November 6, 2018.

Sequels
The sequel, titled Hotel Transylvania 2, was released on November 21, 2018. Its story takes place seven years after the first film, with the hotel now open to human guests, and its owner, Count Dracula, being more preoccupied with the fact that his 5-year-old grandson is not a pure-blood vampire. The original crew and cast returned for the film, except CeeLo Green as the role of Murray, who was replaced by Keegan-Michael Key and Molly Shannon as the role of Wanda, who was replaced by Maya Rudolph. was New additions include Gary Oldman as Dracula's father, Vlad; Tony Hale and Jenny Slate as Jonathan's parents, Mike and Linda; and Asher Blinkoff as Mavis and Johnny's half-human/half-vampire son, Dennis.