Hotel Transylvania
Brand Profile
Monsters aren’t just for Halloween… Licensing World spoke to Jamie Stevens, executive vice president of Worldwide Consumer Products and Licensing, Sony, about the company’s Hotel Transylvania property. Can you give us some background to the franchise? Hotel Transylvania has been a massive success for Sony Pictures Animation since it launched in 2012. Hotel Transylvania broke the record for the biggest September opening at the box office of all time, only to be beaten by Hotel Transylvania 2 three years later.
What is the target audience? Monsters are ingrained in our pop culture, and we’ve found that the combination of witty humour and monster gags that the franchise is known for appeals to a broad audience – the silly monster in all of us.
What are the core strengths of the property?
When will the new movie be released?
There are several core strengths for licensing partners to consider. First, the characters have global appeal and the property is gender-neutral, which we know is important to millennial parents. This complements the gender-free labels we’re seeing on the toy shelves at major retailers. Additionally, we have a full franchise marketing plan to support our monster property as a 365-day business. Kids can’t get enough of monsters, especially with quirky and lovable characters they can relate to.
Hotel Transylvania 3 will be released in the UK on 27th July 2018.
What can you tell us about the latest film? In Hotel Transylvania 3, Mavis surprises Dracula with a family voyage on a luxury Monster Cruise Ship so he can take a vacation from providing everyone else’s vacation at the hotel. The rest of Drac’s Pack cannot resist going along and once they leave port, romance hits Drac when he meets the mysterious ship captain Ericka. Now it’s Mavis’ turn to play the overprotective parent, keeping her dad and Ericka apart. Little do they know that his love interest is actually a descendent of Van Helsing, arch nemesis to Dracula and all monsters. The voice ensemble of favorites returns, including Adam Sandler (Dracula), Selena Gomez (Mavis) and Andy Samberg (Johnny).
What promotional activity do you have planned? We have a full 360-degree marketing programme slated, with bigger retail activations than ever before given our summer release date, and a new emphasis on consumer products, including interactive gaming. In addition, the company will release a Hotel Transylvania short film called Puppy, which is set to debut with The Emoji Movie this summer worldwide. In this short, the residents of Hotel Transylvania find their world turned upside-down when youngster Dennis gets a surprise monster-sized pet. To continue the momentum leading up to the release of the third film, the company is launching an animated television series for
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Hotel Transylvania, produced in partnership with Corus Entertainment’s Nelvana. The TV series will launch this winter in the UK and Europe on the Disney Channel, and focus on the teenage years of Mavis and her friends at Hotel Transylvania. This content will keep the franchise fresh and the characters will become a part of families’ everyday lives.
What do you see as the main opportunities for licensees and retailers? The Hotel Transylvania franchise transports fans to a fantasy world full of adventure and silly monster stunts. We see this as the perfect content to drive innovation in toys and entertainment. For example, we envision products that integrate the property into VR experiences. Sony can leverage the most advanced technology from its leadership in the gaming category to support the most innovative licensees and retailers.
Do you see Halloween as a particular focal point for the licensing programme? Monsters aren’t just for Halloween anymore. We see the Hotel Transylvania franchise as a 365-daysa-year business. We have big plans to grow the franchise throughout the year, and we’re not only looking at films as a content source, but also television, digital, interactive VR, and short form content to tell our stories. Of course, monsters are relevant at Halloween, so it gives us another opportunity to bring these great characters to life.