Hotel Transylvania 4 Skipping Theaters To Release On Streaming

[Animous]

Sony Pictures Animation is forgoing a theatrical release for Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, instead opting for it to be a streaming-only release. The animated monster movie franchise has been a major success for the studio ever since the release of the first Hotel Transylvania in 2012. The fourth and final movie in the family film series, Transformania, will involve Dracula (Brian Hull, replacing Adam Sandler), his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) and the rest of their monster friends transformed into humans. Meanwhile, Johnny (Andy Samberg), Drac’s human son-in-law, is turned into a dragon due to a malfunctioning "Monsterfication Ray."

Transformania was originally scheduled to get a theatrical release on July 23, 2021, but Sony delayed it to October 1 after Peter Rabbit 2 underperformed at the box office. With the Delta variant of COVID-19 causing concern and no vaccines available for children under 12, studio confidence in family films getting a theatrical release has clearly been shaken. As a result, it was recently reported that Sony Pictures were considering bypassing the box office entirely and sending Transformania straight to streaming.

RELATED: Why Hotel Transylvania's Monsters Must Look Different Than Universal's Monsters

Now, it has been confirmed that the final Hotel Transylvania film will not be released in theaters. According to Variety, Sony Pictures and Amazon are currently nearing a $100 million deal for Transformania to stream worldwide on Amazon Prime Video. This move from Sony suggests fears that some theaters requiring vaccine cards for entry will significantly impact the box office performance of family films. Hotel Transylvania: Transformania going directly to streaming will also reduce competition with the similarly spooky sequel, The Addams Family 2, as it releases on the same day.

Assuming Transformania still releases in October, its time of release will still cement the monster movie as a family-friendly alternative to the major 2021 horror releases, including Last Night In Soho and Halloween Kills. With the theater versus streaming debate currently raging and COVID-19 cases rising, a streaming release seems like Sony’s safest bet for the last film in the franchise. Despite Sandler’s absence from Transformania, fans of the series are likely to be drawn to the “final chapter” of the Hotel Transylvania series, so making it as accessible to families as possible is arguably the right move.

As the only major movie studio without a dedicated streaming service, Sony has scattered most of its films between several services over 2020 and 2021. The last three Sony Pictures Animation films – The Mitchells Vs The Machines, Wish Dragon, and Vivo –were all released by Netflix, making that the most obvious choice for Transformania too. However, as the franchise film has an established following, it’s possible that Sony is confident that it will be a success no matter what streaming platform it lands on. A direct-to-streaming release for Hotel Transylvania: Transformania may seem unconventional due to the $1.3 billion the first three movies brought in at the box office, but Sony’s safe bet will likely be better for families and fans of the series in the long run.

[Silent Watcher]

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