Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation

Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation is the sequel to Hotel Transylvania 2. It was released on July 13, 2018 in the US and July 27, 2018 in the UK.

Plot

In 1897, Dracula (Adam Sandler) and his friends disguised as humans are traveling on a train to Budapest. However, Professor Abraham Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan), 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, some time after the events of the previous film, Dracula is running his hotel business smoothly, with his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) and son-in-law Johnny (Andy Samberg). However, Drac is depressed by the fact that he has remained single since his wife Martha's death, in spite of 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. The next day, Dracula, Mavis, Johnny, Dennis (Asher Blinkoff), Vlad (Mel Brooks), and the hotel guests board a cruise ship called the Legacy. Dracula sees the ship's human captain, Ericka (Kathryn Hahn), 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's ruins. Van Helsing makes Ericka promise to not assassinate Dracula beforehand, but she repeatedly attempts to do so anyway, albeit unsuccessfully, much to her frustration.

After failing to kill Dracula at an underwater volcano, Ericka moans about being unable to get him. Dracula's friends hear this, and thinking that Ericka likes him, inform Dracula about what they heard. Dracula nervously asks Ericka out on a date, and she accepts since she sees this as another chance to kill the vampire. However, 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 finds out 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 going into a crypt below the city. Drac follows her, with Mavis not far behind, and learns that Ericka is after a "family heirloom." With Dracula's help, she gets past the numerous booby traps around the object, and escapes. Mavis arrives and confronts them, and Dracula confesses that he "zinged" with Ericka, to Mavis's surprise and confusion. After Ericka is told what a "zing" is, she harshly rejects Dracula's romantic feelings, leaving Dracula heartbroken.

A regretful Ericka gives Van Helsing the object--revealed to be the Instrument of Destruction--and he proceeds to set a trap for the monsters, at a dance party. Noticing that Dracula is still upset, Mavis, after some advice from Johnny, tells her father to talk to Ericka, admitting that she was afraid of him leaving her, which Drac allays. Suddenly, 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 (Joe Jonas) living near the island to attack the monsters. Ericka saves Dracula from the Kraken and pleads with her great-grandfather to stop the destruction, confessing to Drac that she fell in love with Dracula as well, which infuriates Van Helsing and causes him to attack them both.

In order to pacify the Kraken, Johnny opens up a portable DJ kit and starts playing positive songs 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 (which shreds itself to tiny pieces, in the process). Van Helsing also ends up dancing and accidentally slips and falls but is saved by Dracula. 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 and Ericka have ended up in a romantic relationship. Drac proposes to Ericka, who stammers at the question, and she agrees to the proposal.

Cast

Adam Sandler as Dracula
Selena Gomez as Mavis
Andy Samberg as Jonathan
Kathryn Hahn as Ericka
Jim Gaffigan as Professor Abraham Van Helsing
Asher Blinkoff as Dennis
Mel Brooks as Vlad
Kevin James as Frankenstein
Steve Buscemi as Wayne
Keegan-Michael Key as Murray
David Spade as Griffin
Fran Drescher as Eunice
Molly Shannon as Wanda
Genndy Tartakovsky as Blobby^[1], Blobby Baby, Blobby Puppy
Sadie Sandler as Winnie
Tara Strong as Frankenlady
Chrissy Teigen as Crystal
Joe Jonas as The Kraken
Jamie Camil as El Chupacabra
Aaron LaPlante as Gremlin Airline
Chris Parnell as Stan
Joe Whyte as Tinkles, Bob
Michelle Murdocca as Phone Voice, Kelsey, Witch #1, Witch #2
Joyce Arrastia as Zingr Witch, Witch 3
Sunny Sandler as Sunny
Libby Thomas Dickey as Libby
Patrick Harpin as Austrian Boy
Craig Kellman as Mr. Hydraberg
Lex Lang, Brian T. Delaney, Robin Atkin Downes, Mona Marshall, Todd Haberkorn, Jessica Gee-George, Grant George, Rif Hutton, Caitlin McKenna, Andrew Morgado, Michelle Ruff, Joseph Sanfelippo, Keith Silverstein, Fred Tatasciore, Kirk Thornton, Amanda Troop, Kari Wahlgren, Audrey Wasilewski, Debra Wilson, Michael-Leon Wooley as Additional Voices

Production

Before the release of Hotel Transylvania 2 there was already talk going around about the possibility of a third film. On November 2, 2015 it was officially announced that Hotel Transylvania 3 would be released in 2018.

It was originally stated that the previous films director, Genndy Tartakovsky, would not be returning to direct the third film. However, on June 20 2016, Genndy confirmed that after a change of mind he would indeed return to direct Hotel Transylvania 3.^[2]

On February 6th, 2017 it was announced that the movie would be released on July 13, 2018 in the US instead of September 21st like they had originally planned.^[3]