• Monsters rule box office in 'Hotel Transylvania'

    By Lisa Richwine, Reuters

    LOS ANGELES -- Family film "Hotel Transylvania" brought new life to movie box offices with a chart-topping $43 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales during the weekend, a record for a September opening.

    The animated 3-D movie featuring the voices of Adam Sandler and Selena Gomez finished ahead of new science fiction film "Looper," which took in $21.2 million from Friday through Sunday.

    The police drama "End of Watch," which was in a tie with "House at the End of the Street" for the top spot last week, landed in third place with $8 million, according to studio estimates.

    The big turnout for the top films helped revive a box office that has struggled through several weeks of sluggish attendance.

    In "Hotel Transylvania," Frankenstein, the Invisible Man and other monsters gather for a party at a high-end resort operated by Dracula. Their celebration is disrupted when a boy discovers the hotel and falls in love with Dracula's daughter but must deal with her overprotective father.

    The film's domestic sales far exceeded distributor Sony Corp's prediction for $25 million-plus from the North American (U.S. and Canadian) market. The movie added $8.1 million from international markets, for a global debut of $51.1 million.

    "It's absolutely an incredible result," said Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution for Sony Corp's Sony Pictures studio, adding that the studio had hopes for something in the $30 million range, which he noted "in this market would have been extraordinary."

    The hefty take easily beat the September opening record of $35.65 million for "Sweet Home Alabama," which had stood for 10 years.

    "Hotel Transylvania" cost $85 million to produce.

    Sony also distributed second-place film "Looper," a time travel story about a man charged with killing an older version of himself. The movie starring Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt earned rave reviews from critics with a 93 percent positive rating on the Rotten Tomatoes website.

    Sony had predicted ticket sales of up to $20 million domestically for "Looper." Endgame Entertainment paid for the film's production.

    "To see it open as it did bodes well for how well this movie will play in the future," said Bruer.

    The weekend's other new movie, "Won't Back Down," stars Viola Davis and Maggie Gyllenhaal as two determined mothers who try to transform their children's failing inner city school. The film started off with $2.7 million over the weekend, in 10th place.

    Rounding out the top five, Clint Eastwood baseball film "Trouble with the Curve" scored $7.5 million to take the No. 4 slot, while horror flick "House at the End of the Street" earned $7.2 million during its second weekend in theaters.

    New comedy "Pitch Perfect," about a girls' singing group, pulled in an impressive $5.2 million in a limited debut on 335 screens for the sixth spot. Distributor Universal Studios chose a smaller opening in hopes of generating buzz ahead of a wider release on Oct. 5.

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  • Bloodless 'Hotel Transylvania' no monster smash

    Sony Pictures Animation

    Dracula (Adam Sandler) and Johnnystein (Andy Samberg) in "Hotel Transylvania."

    By Michael Rechtshaffen , The Hollywood Reporter

    REVIEW: The second feature in as many months to contain animated zombies (and Tim Burton’s "Frankenweenie" lurking just around the corner), "Hotel Transylvania" checks in as an anemic example of pure concept over precious little content.

    Despite the proven talents of first-time feature director Genndy Tartakovsky ("Dexter’s Laboratory"), writers Peter Baynham ("Arthur Christmas") and SNL vet Robert Smigel, and a voice cast headed by Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg, the collaboration falls flat virtually from the get-go, serving up half-hearted sight gags that have a habit of landing with an ominous thud.

    Being given a public airing at the Toronto International Film Festival ahead of its official Sept. 28 opening, the film could initially benefit from a monster marketing push from Sony, but it’s unlikely the “No Vacancy” sign will be lit for long.

    Assuming an unsteady Transylvanian accent which, like his bat wings, tends to flit in and out of the picture, Sandler’s overprotective daddy Dracula is having trouble shielding his daughter Mavis (Selena Gomez) from outside elements on the eve of her 118th birthday.

    Determined to shut himself off from those elements after the death of his wife a century or so earlier at the hands of an angry mob, Dracula had constructed a refuge of an exclusive resort where he and his monstrous ilk could feel free to be themselves.

    But when a party crasher turns up in the form of Jonathan (Samberg), a slacker human backpacker who catches Mavis’ eye, the Count finds it increasingly difficult to keep her under his wing.

    While director Tartakovsky’s retro pop sensibilities served Cartoon Network well with the likes of "Dexter’s Laboratory," "The Powerpuff Girls" and "Samurai Jack," and "Hotel Transylvania" has an undeniable visually zippy style, the ghost of a script by Baynham and Smigel provides him with very little of substance.


    For the most part there’s just a lot of dashing about the hotel’s cavernous hallways as the assembled voice cast (also including Kevin James, Fran Drescher, Steve Buscemi, Molly Shannon, David Spade and Cee Lo Green) attempts to lend some personality to the underdeveloped characters.

    Ironically, the scattered enterprise exhibits signs of life when the characters leave the confines of the hotel, but that hint of something more arrives too late in the game.

    And while those 3-D glasses really bring nothing to the party, Mark Mothersbaugh’s lively score adds a ghoulish cool to the otherwise uninspired proceedings.

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