Sony’s ‘Hotel Transylvania 4’ Sets 2021 Holiday Release Date

The Drac Pack is officially coming back. Sony Pictures Animation has announced the fourth chapter in the Hotel Transylvania franchise is scheduled for release during the 2021 holiday season.

Braving a likely crowded pre-Christmas field, Hotel Transylvania 4 will open on December 22, 2021. That same day Universal is currently planning to release its fantasy film Wicked directed by Stephen Daldry, and just a week before that, on December 17, James Cameron’s Avatar 3 is expected to hit screens.

This will mark the first time Sony’s animated franchise takes on the holiday season. The first two films debuted in September with their sights set on Halloween, which ties in thematically. Last year’s Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation lived up to its title and was released in July.

It’s unclear whether Genndy Tartakovsky, who directed all previous installments, will be back for the fourth. However, last summer it was reported that the director was developing two tonally different features for Sony Pictures Animation. One of them was said to be an R-rated comedy titled Fixed, while the other, Black Night, is supposed to be an adventure film.

If Sony’s recent critical success with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is any indication of where it wants to take its animation pipeline, then hopefully Tartakovsky’s other, more interesting, projects will eventually see the light. However, the Hotel Transylvania series is a moneymaker for the studio, thus likely a priority. Tartakovsky has previously developed other projects for Sony that never made it to production — an original concept called Can You Imagine? and a new take on the classic comic character Popeye.

The Hotel Transylvania franchise has collectively grossed $1.36 billion worldwide, with the third chapter being the most successful one to date, generating $167.5 million domestically and $361.1 million overseas, for a global total of $528.6 million.