80 Fun Facts About Hotel Transylvania

Which actor voices Count Dracula in the first three films?

Sandler co-wrote the second film as well, and much of his real family turns up in the cast: his wife voices Martha and his daughters voice Winnie and baby Dennis.

Who voices Mavis, Dracula's daughter, in the films?

She joined the franchise in 2012 and by the fourth film was also one of its executive producers.

Which singer was originally announced to voice Mavis in 2011, before leaving the project?

She was announced in November 2011 and dropped from the film in February 2012, and the role went to the actress who has voiced Mavis ever since.

Who voices Johnny, the human backpacker who stumbles into the hotel?

Samberg also co-wrote and performed the song 'Sweet 118' for the first film's birthday-party scene.

Who voices Frankenstein in the first three films?

James and Sandler had already made Grown Ups and Paul Blart-era comedies together, which is part of why the cast feels like a reunion.

Steve Buscemi voices which of Drac's friends?

In the video game Monsters Overboard the part went to his brother, Michael Buscemi.

David Spade's character Griffin can only be seen by what?

Griffin is naked the whole time, and when the fourth film's ray finally makes him visible he is revealed to be middle-aged and pot-bellied.

Fran Drescher voices which character?

Like her husband, she can be taken apart and reassembled without harm, which is why the couple simply mail themselves to the hotel.

Mel Brooks joined the cast of the second film as which relative of Dracula?

Vlad turns up for Dennis's fifth birthday and, in a twist, is the one who insists the boy is simply a 'late fanger' like Drac was.

Who directed the first three Hotel Transylvania films?

The first film was his feature directing debut, and he was the sixth director attached to the project after five others came and went.

Before Hotel Transylvania, the franchise's director created which Cartoon Network series?

He also created Dexter's Laboratory and directed the 2003 Star Wars: Clone Wars shorts, and he stepped away from Sony between the second and third films to finish Samurai Jack's final season.

In the first film, which birthday is Mavis celebrating?

She was born in 1894, so the 2012 party lines up with the film's release year, and 'Sweet 118' is the song Johnny performs for her.

What word do the monsters use for love at first sight?

Drac believes it only happens once in a lifetime, which is why falling for a ship captain in the third film throws him so badly.

When Drac disguises Johnny as a monster, what name does he give him?

He is passed off as Frank's cousin, and to keep him around Drac then improvises that he is a party planner hired to liven up Mavis's birthday.

Which hotel employee first works out that Johnny is a human and tries to cook him?

Drac magically freezes him to keep him quiet, and he is still frozen at the end of the film, being licked by werewolf pups.

What is the name of the chef's pet rat, who can sniff out humans?

The name is a nod to The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, in which Esmeralda is the woman Quasimodo loves.

In what year did Drac build the hotel, after Martha was killed by a human mob?

That makes the hotel well over a century old by the anniversary party that opens Transformania.

How do Drac and his friends learn that Johnny is heading for the airport?

Winnie has a very sensitive nose, and she is the only one of Wayne's several hundred pups who actually listens to him.

How does Drac deliver his apology to Johnny once the plane has taken off?

Drac chases the plane as a bat while burning in the sunlight, then makes the pilot turn the plane back to Transylvania.

At which film festival did the first film premiere in September 2012?

The third film went the other way and premiered at Annecy, the world's biggest animation festival, in June 2018.

The first film's $42.5 million opening broke which movie's record for the biggest September debut?

The record lasted three years until the sequel opened to $48.5 million on the same weekend of the calendar.

The first film was nominated for Best Animated Film at which awards?

It lost to Pixar's Brave, and critics were far cooler than audiences: a 45% Rotten Tomatoes score against an A-minus CinemaScore.

Which comedy writer created the concept, based on his own book of the same name?

He walked an unsolicited package into Columbia Pictures that already sketched out films, TV, games, merchandise and even a hotel chain and theme parks.

The hand-drawn short Goodnight Mr. Foot stars which hotel guest?

It was the studio's first traditionally animated film and was drawn in about four weeks in the style of Tex Avery and Chuck Jones.

Which studio produces the Hotel Transylvania films?

The same studio later made the Spider-Verse films and KPop Demon Hunters, but for years the third film was its highest-grossing fully animated release.

What nickname does Drac insist on calling his grandson Dennis?

Dennis looks like his dad but has his mother's blue eyes, and he shows no vampire traits at all until the end of the second film.

In the second film, Mavis and Johnny visit his parents in which California town?

Johnny's mom tries to make Mavis feel at home by covering the guest room in Halloween decorations, which does not go well.

Dennis's favorite TV monster, a cake-loving parody of Cookie Monster, is called what?

Vlad possesses the man in the costume to scare Dennis's fangs out, and the actor's first worry afterwards is bad Yelp reviews.

Vlad's bat-like servant, who attacks Dennis and Winnie, is named after which classic actor?

Bela is voiced by Rob Riggle and ends the film shrunk down to a harmless size to be a plaything for the werewolf pups.

Drac takes Dennis to his old childhood summer camp in the second film. What is it called?

The camp has gone soft and safety-conscious since Drac's day, and the director, voiced by Dana Carvey, points out that vampires cannot hypnotize other vampires.

Which comedian took over the voice of Murray the Mummy from the second film onward?

CeeLo Green voiced Murray in the original, and Key was the only film cast member to reprise his role in the Monsters Overboard video game.

Which real-life married comedy couple voice Johnny's parents, Mike and Linda?

Johnny is one of seven Loughran boys, and his sister Melly makes it eight kids in that California house.

Which girl group recorded 'I'm in Love with a Monster' for the second film?

The song ran in the official trailer, while the film's score came from the same composer who wrote all four.

The second film won Favorite Animated Movie at which ceremony?

It out-earned the original with $474 million worldwide on an $80 million budget.

What is the name of the monster cruise ship in the third film?

Mavis books the cruise because she thinks her father is stressed, when he is actually just lonely.

Who voices Ericka, the cruise ship captain Drac falls for?

Ericka is secretly the great-granddaughter of Van Helsing and spends much of the voyage trying, and failing, to kill Drac.

Which stand-up comedian voices Professor Abraham Van Helsing?

This Van Helsing has replaced almost his whole body with machinery to cheat death, leaving only his head and hands.

The cruise in the third film sails to which lost city, now converted into a casino?

Van Helsing plans to wipe out the monsters there with an 'Instrument of Destruction' hidden in the ruins.

Which song does Johnny finally play to calm the raging Kraken?

Johnny is the hotel's event DJ by this point, and his portable DJ kit turns the climax into a dance-off against Van Helsing's cursed song.

Who voices the Kraken?

He also recorded 'It's Party Time' for the film and features on the end-credits track 'I See Love' with Jonas Blue.

In the third film's 1897 prologue, Van Helsing corners Drac on a train bound for which city?

The monsters travel in disguise, and Drac shoves his friends off the train for their own safety before outwitting the professor.

Van Helsing's 'Instrument of Destruction' turns out to be what?

Playing the song drives the friendly Kraken into a rage, and the sheet ends up ripping itself to pieces once the dance party gets going.

Which is the highest-grossing entry in the series, at about $528 million worldwide?

In September 2018 it became the studio's biggest fully animated release ever, a title it held until Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse in 2023.

The director said the third film was inspired by his own 'miserable' holiday and which Chevy Chase film series?

He had publicly quit the franchise after the second film, saying 'two is enough', before the bad holiday changed his mind.

Outside the United States, the third film was released under which subtitle?

Monsters Overboard was instead the name of the tie-in video game, released three days before the film.

Who provides the voice of Blobby, the green blob monster, in the third and fourth films?

Blobby speaks only 'blob language', and on the cruise he gets seasick and coughs up a slime that forms into a blob child.

Who took over as the voice of Dracula in Transformania?

Hull, a YouTube impressionist, had already voiced Drac in the 2021 short Monster Pets, the first time the original actor did not play him.

Why did the original voice of Dracula not return for the fourth film?

Sony confirmed the change in April 2021, the same month it announced the film's title and that it would be the last entry, which it turned out not to be.

Transformania skipped cinemas and premiered on which streaming service in January 2022?

Sony sold the rights for a nine-figure sum after cancelling the theatrical release, and the streaming date fell exactly ten years after the original film opened.

In Transformania, what does Van Helsing call the invention that turns Johnny into a monster?

When Drac tries to reverse it, he zaps himself human and breaks the crystal, sending the pair to South America for a replacement.

What kind of pet is Gigi, whose transformed form destroys the hotel at the end of Transformania?

Gigi was the test subject for the ray, and once shrunk back to normal she has left Mavis and Johnny a hotel to rebuild however they like.

Which anniversary of the hotel is being celebrated at the start of Transformania?

Drac plans to use the party to announce his retirement and hand the hotel to Mavis, until Johnny's renovation ideas scare him off.

Which video-game streamer voices the 'Party Monster' in Transformania?

The Fortnite star's character is simply seen dancing with the other guests at the anniversary party.

Who directed Transformania?

The pair had already directed the Monster Pets short, and Kluska is returning to co-direct the fifth film.

In which year is the fifth film, The Haunting of Hotel Transylvania, scheduled for release?

It is dated for October 8, with Sony handling North America and Amazon MGM releasing it in most of the rest of the world.

The prequel TV series aired on which network in the United States?

None of the film cast returned; the show was voiced in Canada and ran for two seasons from 2017 to 2020.

In the TV series, who runs the hotel while Drac is away at the Vampire Council?

Aunt Lydia is all order and tradition, and her pet chicken Diane, who used to be a human woman, acts as her eyes and ears around the hotel.

The prequel TV series was co-produced with which Canadian animation studio?

The show is set four years before the first film, with Mavis at 114 and 115 years old, and Frank's teenage son Hank N. Stein among her best friends.

In the short Puppy!, what is the giant puppy Drac gets for Dennis called?

Dennis and Winnie later smuggle him onto the cruise, and Drac's last line in the short, 'I need a vacation...', teed up the third film.

The 2017 short Puppy! played in cinemas ahead of which Sony film?

It served as a sneak preview of the third film, which arrived almost a year later in July 2018.

What is Frankenstein deathly afraid of?

In the second film he ends up ablaze anyway, sprinting through Drac's old summer camp and burning the whole place down.

How do Frank and his wife travel to the hotel in the first film?

Both can be disassembled and reassembled at will, so shipping themselves in pieces is no problem at all.

The hotel's chauffeur, the Headless Horseman, has what in place of a head?

Johnny knocks it clean off in the panic of the first film, and in the TV series the job is handed to an invisible driver instead.

What do the talking shrunken heads hanging on the hotel's doorknobs serve as?

They also chip in with commentary on whatever is happening in the corridor whenever they think it appropriate.

Who voices Martha, Drac's late wife, in the films?

Jackie is married to the actor who voices Drac, and the couple's daughters Sadie and Sunny voice Winnie and baby Dennis.

Griffin's invisible girlfriend Crystal is voiced by which model and TV personality?

In the second film nobody believes Crystal exists, assuming Griffin is just holding a pair of floating pink glasses.

The spin-off series Motel Transylvania was developed for which streamer?

It follows Drac and Mavis opening a motel for humans and monsters in the California desert, and its debut slipped two years from the original 2025 target.

The first theme-park dark ride based on the franchise opened in 2016 in which city?

Rides followed at Dream Island in Moscow in 2021 and a whole themed land at Columbia Pictures Aquaverse in Thailand later that year.

Which composer has scored all four Hotel Transylvania films?

Mothersbaugh co-founded the band Devo before becoming one of Hollywood's busiest composers, from Rugrats to The Lego Movie.

Roughly how much have the four films grossed worldwide combined?

That total came from a combined production budget of about $245 million, and the fourth film's streaming sale added another $100 million on top.

How much did Amazon reportedly pay Sony for the rights to Transformania?

Sony kept the home-video and TV rights, and the film still got a limited cinema run in February 2022 and a Chinese theatrical release that April.

On what date was Dennis born, according to the character guide?

Dennis was voiced by Asher Blinkoff in the films, and by the third movie he is old enough to be dodging Winnie's very obvious crush on him.

In Transformania, Drac and Johnny travel to which continent to find a replacement crystal?

The crystal sits in the Cave of the Reflexión, and the group gets there aboard Ericka's airship.

After Van Helsing's ray hits him in Transformania, what does Johnny turn into?

Drac then accidentally turns himself human and breaks the ray's crystal while trying to reverse it.

In Summer Vacation, how has Van Helsing managed to stay alive since 1897?

He hides in a secret room on the cruise ship's lower decks, where his great-granddaughter Ericka reports to him.

What is Johnny's surname in the Hotel Transylvania films?

He is led to the hotel by Drac's own zombie bellhops, who were dressed as humans to scare Mavis back home.

Which classic animator's physical comedy inspired the exaggerated 2D-style animation of the first film?

Tartakovsky drew over the CG character models to push poses, and animators said about a fifth of the effort went into bending the rigs.

Who voices Frankenstein in Transformania, taking over from Kevin James?

The film also recast Winnie the werewolf pup, with Zoe Berri replacing Sadie Sandler.

Which two writers share the screenplay credit on the first Hotel Transylvania?

Smigel returned to write the sequel with Adam Sandler, while Vernon and Randazzo later scripted Transformania.

Hotel Transylvania 2's $48.5 million debut topped which film as Adam Sandler's biggest opening?

The 2015 sequel also set a September opening record that stood until It arrived in 2017.