Selena Gomez’s Mavis is Hotel Transylvania’s most loved character

When Sony Pictures Animation’s Hotel Transylvania first opened in 2012, it received a mixed critical reception. But it ended up having the highest-grossing September opening weekend (read: post-summer blockbuster season) in United States box office history, with US$42 million (S$56 million); eventually earning a worldwide box office total of more than US$358 million.

Much of Hotel Transylvania’s success can be attributed to its two key characters: Dracula (voiced by funny man Adam Sandler) and his 118-year-old “teenage” daughter Mavis (voiced by starlet Selena Gomez). Not surprisingly, both of them are the most popular characters from the movie, said its director, Genndy Tartakovsky, who is back at the helm with Hotel Transylvania 2.

“I think people related to (Dracula) a lot as a father and as just a comedic cartoon character, so to speak,” Tartakovsky said at a press conference in Cancun earlier this month, where he and his leading voice stars were promoting the inevitable sequel. “I think Mavis was a huge, huge success and, you know, girls and boys really liked (her).”

Interest in Gomez from boys and girls has always been high, of course; not least because the spotlight has been on the actress/singer in the last couple of months. First, she hit back at someone on social media who wrote: “You need to work out! Please stop eating junk food!” She called that person “disgusting”, adding: “It’s not your place to tell anyone what they should or should not do.”

Then, after teasing fans for weeks, Gomez finally released her sexy music video, Good For You, with a scene featuring her in shower. There was also all that talk about ex-beau Justin Bieber and his music video, Where R U Now, which had fans wondering if the song really was a dig at the 22-year-old starlet. (There is a scene in which the words “Jelena 5ever” are crossed out on a chalkboard — Jelena, of course, is the mashup of “Justin” and “Selena”.)

But if Bieber really was asking about Gomez’s whereabouts, he should head to a cinema in September, because she and Sandler are reprising their roles in Hotel Transylvania 2, alongside all the original’s favourite monsters, including Frankenstein (Kevin James), Wayne the Werewolf (Steve Buscemi), the Invisible Man (David Spade) and Mavis’ human partner, Jonathan (Andy Samberg).

The 13-time Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated director Tartakovsky (who gave us the cult animated TV series Dexter’s Laboratory as well as Samurai Jack and Star Wars: The Clone Wars) shared that the new movie will see how Dracula deals with Mavis’ and Jonathan’s baby boy Dennis — and the hotel door is wide open for a plethora of new voices. These include former Saturday Night Live comedian Dana Carvey as a vampire camp counsellor, husband-and-wife comedians Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally (Parks And Recreations) as Jonathan’s parents and comedic legend Mel Brooks as Vlad, who plays Dracula’s dad.

“For Drac’s father, we definitely wanted somebody who’s a real badass, you know, who’s almost like the original Dracula, somebody who’s very, very old.” said Tartakovsky. “(But) it is a comedy so we didn’t want to go too scary. When we came up with Mel Brooks, it really was fitting, because he’s a great comedian and Adam’s a good comedian. So they kind of complemented each other very well.”

Although much has changed in the monstrous mansion, which now allows both humans and “beasties” to peacefully cohabit, the main message from the original feature, about “accepting others who are different”, remains.

“It’s acceptance,” said Tartakovsky. “I think people accept change, especially nowadays where, not to get too political or pop culture, but with the whole Bruce Jenner/Caitlyn Jenner thing, people are pretty accepting of it. And he, or she, is getting more people to look at that story than probably what’s happening in the Middle East. So I think change is part of our culture. Everything is new. We’re all expressing ourselves in a very unique way and people are for the most part accepting.”

Hotel Transylvania 2 is set to open in Singapore on Sept 24.