Why Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation Was More Challenging Than The First Two, According To The Director

[Skylights]

If there's one genre of filmmaking that always finds a way to accrue amazing casts, its animated features. Because A-listers aren't required to actually be on set together, animated movies can hire stars who want to pick up some extra cash, without the long schedule that usually accompanied a live-action film appearance. The Hotel Transylvania franchise has always featured plenty of big names, including Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, Andy Samberg, Molly Shannon, and Steven Buscemi. An upcoming threequel is headed to the theaters, bringing the zany group of monsters onto a supernatural vacation. I recently spoke with franchise director Genndy Tartakovsky, who has also taken on writing duties for Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation. When asked about the most challenging aspect of the upcoming sequel, Tartakovsky said:

Because Adam is busy on all his projects, he was a little bit more hands off on this one, versus the first two. So there was definitely a lot more responsibility that I had. There's not a safety valve that I can take it through him. At the same time, because we wrote the script this time, you have to get his approval, too, before he says the words.

It looks like both directing and writing Hotel Transylvania 3 was challenging for Genndy Tartakovsky. Luckily for him, he's already directed the first two movies, and therefore knew both the characters and all star cast before jumping in.

Genndy Tartakovsky's comments highlighted how Adam Sandler was a bit more hands off on the third Hotel Transylvania movie. Sandler currently has a massive deal producing content for Netflix, keeping busy with the various originals that have hit the streaming service. As such, he had less time to write and work on Summer Vacation than the previous two installments. With another job and slightly less help, Tartakovsky's responsibilities were a bit more challenging this time around.

While Adam Sandler didn't create the characters from the Hotel Transylvaniafranchise, the comedian/actor/producer did have a strong influence over the first two movies. He ended up co-writing the first sequel, which shows how much say Sandler truly has had with the animated features. While he was a bit more hands off for the threequel, Genndy Tartakovsky also spoke to how writing Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation was still very much about making sure Drac had the right lines of dialogue. As he told me,

He's really funny, he's a great comedian and stuff-- I've never done stand up or anything like that. So it's a different thing. When you're writing with someone who is just funny you want to make sure you make them happy.

Ultimately Genndy Tartakovsky must have done something right, as Adam Sandler ended up once again voicing Dracula. The upcoming threequel will still be very much focused on Drac and his family-- even if the actor couldn't be quite as involved as the previous two installments.

Hotel Transylvania 3: Family Vacation will arrive in theaters on July 13, 2018. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.