As the trailer for the upcoming Hotel Transylvania 2 promises us that the "Drac Pack" – or the friends and followers of Count Dracula (Adam Sandler) – is back in action. Gear up for the sequel with this first-look teaser trailer. It’s literally on fire.
Sequels can go in so many different directions. From the look of Hotel Transylvania 2, Adam Sandler’s Count Dracula is going to get a grandson, the offspring of his vampire daughter (Selena Gomez) and her back-packing human husband, Jonathan (Andy Samberg). Instead of freaking out, like he did in the first movie, Drac seems to be taking to this grandparenting thing… except for the "learning to fly" lesson. That almost backfired horribly.
Released back in 2012, Hotel Transylvania was an underrated family comedy that took place at a vacation spot for classic movie monsters. Dracula (Sandler) established the hideaway because he got sick and tired of townsfolk hunting his friends with torches and pitchforks. But the animated comedy was really just an excuse for the comedian to cast his Grown Ups friends in animated roles. Kevin James voiced Frankenstein. David Spade was the Invisible Man (really, just a pair of glasses). Steve Buscemi played an exhausted Wolf Man, and Cee-lo Green, randomly, was the Mummy.
Everyone seems to be back for this sequel, which also plans to introduce a new face in Mel Brooks’ Vlad, an "old-old-fashioned vampire" who checks in to the hotel for an impromptu family getaway… creating all sorts of generation-inspired tension and laughs.
The more important return for Hotel Transylvania 2, though, has to be director Genndy Tartakovsky, who brings a unique visual style to his animation. The filmmaker and animator’s previous work on projects like Star Wars: Clone Wars and Samurai Jack have earned him a massive following. I once attended a Hotel Transylvania panel at San Diego Comic-Con, and Tartakovsky received a rock-god welcome from a ballroom of adoring fans. It was something to see.
His immense popularity likely helps explain why the original Hotel Transylvania banked an impressive $358 million worldwide. Obviously, that’s sequel money, which explains why Sony Pictures Animation got the group back together to see if they can replicate some of the initial film’s success.
Hotel Transylvania 2 opens in theaters on September 25.
