While Adam Sandler’s ability to remain a movie star is a source of constant amazement to me, he’s still pretty popular, and now he’s going down the animated movie route, signing up for Sony Pictures Animation’s, Hotel Transylvania. And Variety says he’ll be joined by the likes of Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, Fran Drescher and Andy Samberg.
Hotel Transylvania has a little more fanboy interest that most animated flicks as it’ll be the first movie directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, a star in the animation community, well-known for his work on Samurai Jack, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Dexter’s Laboratory. He also conceptualised and storyboarded the final action sequence for Iron Man 2 and provided the stylish and memorable prologue for the film Priest.
Hotel Transylvania sees Dracula as the over-protective father of a teenage daughter called Mavis, who fabricates tales of elaborate dangers to dissuade her adventurous spirit. As a haven for Mavis, he opens the Hotel Transylvania, where his daughter and some of the world’s most famous monsters – Frankenstein and his bride, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, a family of werewolves, and more – can kick back in safety and peace. For Dracula, catering to all of these legendary monsters is no problem – but his world could come crashing down when one ordinary guy stumbles on the hotel and takes a shine to Mavis.
Kevin James will play Frank – also known as Frankenstein – with Fran Drescher voicing Eunice, his in-your-face, over-the-top, and larger-than-life Bride. David Spade plays Quasimodo, once the hunchback of Notre Dame and now a crazy, passionate gourmet chef. Steve Buscemi and Molly Shannon will play Wayne and Wanda, a pair of married, harried werewolves, parents to an ever-increasing litter of pups, who are looking forward to their family vacation at the hotel. Cee-Lo Green is also joining the cast as Murray, a boisterous Mummy, once entertainer to the great Pharaohs, now the life of the party, and always feeling the urge to let loose and sing. Finally, Andy Samberg will voice the role of Jonathan, a 21-year-old regular guy, carefree and full of life, whose world travels land him at the Hotel.
The press release announcing all this says this will be Sandler’s 23rd film for Sony! It’s difficult to believe he’s been in that many films, let alone that he’s still popular enough they want to make more.