10 Similarities Between Hotel Transylvania And Disney Movies

Sony’s animated Hotel Transylvania franchise has taken a page or two out of Disney’s playbook, resulting in several similarities to animated Disney films. The series began back in 2012 when Sony Pictures Animation released the monster-focused film in theaters. The story centered around Dracula who, aside from being a vampire, is a successful hotel owner in this universe.

The first Hotel Transylvania was not a critical hit, but the box office success of $358 million worldwide secured a future for it with Sony. Sony released Hotel Transylvania 2 three years later in 2015 and saw the profits rise to $473M around the globe, while Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation earned $528M. The animated trilogy has become wildly popular as a result, and even though there’s plenty of originality included, the series is no stranger to borrowing elements from other films.

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The entire franchise is based on classic Universal Monsters, but in the newest Screen Rant video, we take a look at the similarities between the Hotel Transylvania franchise and some of Disney’s animated tales. Thanks to similar release strategies, character names, story tropes, and even casting decisions, there’s a lot more in common between Hotel Transylvania and Disney animated movies than you may have noticed. Check out the video at the top of this post for even more connections.

Since some of these similarities and connections are rather loose or convenient, the truest connecting point between the franchise and Disney is on the small screen. Disney Channel was the home to the 2D animated television show Hotel Transylvania: The Series for most of its first season. But, the show did not finish its run there and instead moved to Netflix to air the final eight episodes, which is where the series will live on for season 2 and possibly beyond.

While we don’t know if many of these connections are intentional or not, it is clear that the Hotel Transylvania franchise is working. The three films have grossed over $1 billion and continued to improve critically as well. Sony has already announced that Hotel Transylvania 4 is in development and will hit theaters at the end of 2021. If the fourth film is just as successful as the prior entries – much less if another rise in interest and quality occur – then it will likely not be the last installment.

The longer the franchise continues, the more chances Sony will have to add more similarities to Disney films or even find ways to further separate them. After all, this is the studio that just delivered the visually dazzling Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, so maybe future films in the franchise can break away from the Disney mold with new animation styles of their own.

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About The Author

Cooper Hood
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Cooper Hood is a news and feature writer for Screen Rant. He joined Screen Rant in late 2016 following a year-long stint with MCU Exchange, which came after first developing an MCU blog of his own. He graduated college in 2016 with a Bachelor’s degree in Media & Public Communication, with a minor in Media Production. Cooper’s love for movies began by watching Toy Story and Lion King on repeat as a child, but it wasn’t until The Avengers that he took an invested interest in movies and the filmmaking process, leading him to discover the world of film journalism. Every year Cooper looks forward to seeing the latest blockbusters from the likes of Marvel, DC, and Star Wars, but also loves the rush to catch up on Oscar films near the end of the year. When he isn’t writing about or watching new releases, Cooper is a fantasy football obsessive and looking to expand his Blu-Ray collection – because physical media is still king! Follow Cooper on Twitter @MovieCooper.

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