‘Hotel Transylvania’ Checks In With Record Breaking $43 Million

Hotel Transylvania, the new animated comedy featuring the voices of Adam Sandler and Selena Gomez has topped the U.S. box office with $43 million – the highest September total ever. It’s also the biggest haul of any movie since the all-conquering ‘The Dark Knight Rises’.

It’s superb news for Sony, who couldn’t have expected that the quirky comedy would pull in so much cash. The good news didn’t end there for the studio either, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s ‘Looper’ taking second spot with $21.2 million. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the performance of both movies ensured that Sony took over Warner Bros as the studio with the current biggest market share ($1.285 billion). Directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, ‘Hotel Transylvania’ is a family movie that’s success was fuelled almost solely by word-of-mouth. Rory Bruer, Sony’s president of distribution, said, “More than anything, this film has been such a collaboration of talent, and it paid off in such a huge way. Everyone in our company just loved this film. And to perform at this level in September shows that Hotel Transylvania has something for everyone.” The movie received lukewarm praise from critics, with the New York Times writing, “The movie loses its originality as it rolls toward its predictable conclusion, but it's still lovely to look at.”

It would be a huge result should ‘Hotel Transylvania’ hold onto the No.1 for a second successive week. Tim Burton releases his latest animated tale ‘Frankenweenie’, while Liam Neeson returns in ‘Taken 2.’