Newly minted Oscar winners Sony Pictures Animation have announced a fourth installment in Genndy Tartakovsky’s “Hotel Transylvania” series.
Not a surprising move, considering the Adam Sandler-led family spin on classic movie monsters has grossed over $1.3 billion at the worldwide box office.
While it’s unclear what tone the film will take, Sony will release it Dec. 21, 2021, in the Christmas release block.
Last year’s “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” netted a series best and a new benchmark for Sony with a $528.6 million global haul. That starred Sandler, Selena Gomez, Kathryn Hahn, Andy Samberg, Kevin James, and Fran Drescher. It was written by Tartakovsky and Michael McCullers, with Michelle Murdocca serving as producer.
“Hotel” sees Sandler as a hapless version of Dracula, running an elite hotel for monsters which includes his pals Frankenstein (James) and his bride (Drescher), a werewolf (Steve Buscemi), the invisible man (David Spade), and a hunchback (Jon Lovitz).
On Sunday, Sony Pictures Animation became a rare Hollywood studio to beat Disney-Pixar in the best animated film category for its hit “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” Produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller and led by directors including Peter Ramsey, Variety recently spoke at length with SPA president Kristine Belson about the success of the film and their plans for the future.