Hotel Transylvania: Transformania - What We Know So Far

The "Hotel Transylvania" franchise started simply enough. Dracula (Adam Sandler) owns a hotel that houses a bunch of classic monsters when they need a break from instilling fear into the hearts of many. He's not too pleased when his daughter, Mavis (Selena Gomez), gets into a relationship with a regular human boy, Johnny (Andy Samberg). The central trio's gone through plenty of ups and downs, including Mavis and Johnny having a half-monster child together, but the next installment of the series promises to be the wackiest yet. 

The trailer for "Hotel Transylvania: Transformania" lit the internet on fire when it first came out. The basic premise seems simple enough: What if a bunch of monsters turned into ordinary humans? That means Dracula and his monstrous cohorts will be without their powers for the first time in the series, which kids and adults alike will undoubtedly find amusing. Here's everything we know about the movie at this time, so you know precisely what to expect when it finally comes out. 

Updated July 1: We updated this article to reflect the new release date info presented in the second full-length trailer.

"Hotel Transylvania 4" has been in the works since 2019 when Sony revealed it would be the final installment in the franchise (via Collider). In the initial announcement, the plan was for the movie to drop in theaters in December of 2021; however, it's gone through some scheduling shifts over the years. It was originally bumped up to August of this year before landing at its current spot of July 23, 2021. It looks like the movie will stick to that date. 

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of studios have experimented with releasing their films in theaters and on various streaming services simultaneously. That doesn't appear to be the case with "Hotel Transylvania: Transformania," as the trailer states the movie will only be in theaters for the summer of 2021. By the time the second trailer dropped, that release date had been pushed back to the more seasonally appropriate October 1. Parents will still have to bring their kids to the theaters just one more time to see how the saga of Dracula and his son-in-law ends. 

The fourth and final installment of the "Hotel Transylvania" series sees a pretty major shake-up in terms of the cast. Adam Sandler provided the voice of Dracula for the first three movies. He even worked as an executive producer on those films, but for "Transformania," he hung up the cape and fangs. Sony announced Sandler's departure in April of 2021 (via The Sun), but the studio didn't provide an official explanation for why he wouldn't come back even in a producing role. Instead, Brian Hull will voice Dracula for his final outing, and based on what we've seen in the trailer so far, he does an incredible impression, so audiences, especially younger kids, probably won't realize anything changed.

Outside of that, "Hotel Transylvania: Transformania" will see the rest of the voice cast from previous films return. In addition to Gomez and Sandberg reprising their roles, the film will also see Kathryn Hahn as Ericka van Helsing, David Spade as the Invisible Man, Steve Buscemi as Wayne the Werewolf, Keegan Michael-Key as Murray the Mummy, and Jim Gaffigan as Professor Abraham van Helsing. Sandler may have moved on, but there's more than enough comedic talent in the cast to carry on without him.

Audiences can easily discern the film's plot from both trailers. By the looks of it, Dracula refuses to fully accept Johnny as part of the family due to his inherent humanness. That's when Professor Van Helsing promises Johnny the opportunity to become a monster like his father-in-law has always wanted. The experiment's a success with Johnny transforming into a dragon, but the process has unintended side effects. Johnny may be a monster, but Dracula and many of the monsters at the hotel turn into a bunch of average Joes.

The plot will likely revolve around all of the main characters trying to get everything back to the way they were with Dracula and his crew at a serious disadvantage now that they can't utilize all of their powers. Of course, there will be plenty of gags along the way, most notably with everyone realizing the Invisible Man has been naked this entire time. 

Considering this is the last film in the franchise, it would make sense for loose plot threads to receive closure. Now that Dracula has to walk a mile in Johnny's shoes, perhaps he'll finally come around and accept him as part of the monster family.