While it’s arriving a little later than originally expected, Hotel Transylvania 4, a.k.a. Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, is now a little over a month away from premiering on its new home, Amazon Prime Video. Dracula, Mavis and the rest of the gang are back for another round of spook-tastic entertainment, but as shown off in the latest trailer, the final entry in the animated film series will see its monstrous characters turning into something especially scary in their eyes: humans.
The technology finally exists for humans to be turned into monsters thanks to the Monsterfication Ray invented by Professor Abraham Van Helsing (Jim Gaffigan), with the invention first being tested on Johnny Loughton (Andy Samberg), Mavis’ human husband. Sure enough, Johnny is turned into a dragon-like creature, but it doesn’t take long for the transforming ray’s other function, turning monsters into humans, to be tested. Case in point, Dracula (voiced by Brian Hull this time around rather than Adam Sander) loses his vampiric qualities and now boasts a dad bod.
Unfortunately, things go awry with the Monsterfication Ray, resulting in most of Hotel Transylvania: Transformaina’s other starring monsters accidentally becoming human (well, except for Blobby, who simply becomes non-sentient gelatin). Making matters worse, Van Helsing’s device can’t reverse the process, requiring the protagonists to travel to the Amazon to find a cure before they’re permanently stuck in these new forms. The new trailer wraps up Drac amusingly being bombarded by mosquitoes during their trek, so now he knows how irritating it is to have a creature thirsting after one’s blood.
Until this past August, the plan was for Hotel Transylvania: Transformania to be released in theaters at the start of October, making it a fitting offering for the Halloween season. However, Sony Pictures ultimately decided to scrap the movie’s theatrical release and sell it to Amazon for over $100 million, reportedly in response to rising delta variant cases. That said, Sony is still handling Transformania’s home media release, so you’ll be able to own a copy of the movie in addition to easily streaming it.
The Hotel Transylvania film series launched in 2012, with the immediate two sequels following in 2015 and 2018. Along with a handful of short films, there was also a prequel series that followed Mavis and her friends adventuring around the title hotel. While it’s possible the franchise could be kept afloat in the future through a separate TV show or special, Hotel Transylvania: Transformania will bring the cinematic saga to a close, so hopefully things wrap up for these characters nicely.
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania will drop on Amazon Prime Video January 14, but if you want to catch the movie a little bit earlier, it’ll be released on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD on December 21. For those wondering what other movies are slated for release next year, our 2022 release schedule is available for perusal.
