Update: Sony is moving their fourthquel to Oct. 1. The pic was slated to go this summer on July 23. Some of this could very well have to do with the fact that the domestic marketplace isn’t fully back yet: Portions of Canada are still closed and capacity restrictions average around 66%, this despite the fact that LA and NYC are at 100% this weekend. The studio just tried to open Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway which they kept safe for a pure theatrical release during the pandemic, however, families didn’t rush out to see it with the sequel opening to $10.1M.
Previous April 9: Sony’s Hotel Transylvania: Transformania aka Hotel Transylvania 4 will now open on July 23 instead of Aug. 6.
More and more studios are taking advantage of the gaps in the summer theatrical release calendar. Hotel Transylvania: Transformania moves off a weekend where it was against Warner Bros./HBO Max’s R-rated The Suicide Squad on Aug. 6 to a new weekend where it’s up against Universal’s M. Night Shyamalan’s Old. In its new slot, the Sony Animated pic is in a position to open the weekend before Disney’s Dwyane Johnson movie Jungle Cruise. Hotel Transylvania: Transformania is also set to open the weekend after Warner Bros./HBO Max’s July 16 family release Space Jam: A New Legacy, and Sony’s own Cinderella.
The movie is the final chapter in Sony Pictures Animation’s $1.3 billion film franchise which has spawned three movies beginning in 2012. The fourthquel is being directed by Jennifer Kluska and Derek Drymon, written by Genndy Tartakovsky, produced by Alice Dewey Goldstone and executive produced by Selena Gomez, Genndy Tartakovsky and Michelle Murdocca.
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Sony Pictures recently announced it is opening its first theme and water park with Amazon Falls, Aquaverse, in the seaside town of Bangsaray, Thailand. The theme park will feature a Hotel Transylvania Kid-Friendly Zone, set to be one of the park’s biggest attractions with over 100 water features, splash buckets, water rockets and more.