Hotel Transylvania 2 Review Roundup: Sequel is Set "to Make the Most Noise" in the Box Office

Animated film written by Adam Sandler projected to have financial success

Looks like this hotel's vacancy sign may be permanently lit. 

Hotel Transylvania 2, which opens in theaters Friday, is Sony's animated sequel to the 2012 Golden Globe-nominated film of the same name co-written by and starring Hollywood's leading funny man Adam Sandler. The film takes place 7 years after the characters were last seen on the silver screen.

The hotel, which operates as a resort for monsters looking for a getaway, is now open to human vacationers. Count Dracula's daughter Mavis and human Johnny, who we met in the first film, now have a young son named Dennis who doesn't display any vampire skills—a devastating reality for grandpa Count Dracula, voiced by Sandler.

While employing the help of his friends to transform Dennis, Dracula's father, Vlad arrives, wreaking havoc when he realizes humans are allowed at the resort.

The film will feature most of the beloved voices from the first film, including Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, Steve Buscemi, David Spade, Fran Drescher, and Molly Shannon, while also introducing some new voices into the mix—like Mel Brooks, Nick Offerman, and Megan Mullally. 

The PG-rated film hits theaters Friday. The film is projected to be a box-office triumph across the board, attributed to the lack of films currently available in the genre, despite Sandler's waning appeal.

Here are some of the critic's reviews:

• "Look for Hotel Transylvania 2 to make the most noise, sinking its teeth into $35 million from 3,753 theaters. That's a little shy of the $42.5 million opening the first film in the family series enjoyed in 2012, but Adam Sandler, who voices Count Dracula, isn't as big a draw as he once was and the previous picture debuted against weaker competition in the form of Looper and little else," Variety's Senior Film and Media Reporter Brent Lang wrote. "Hotel Transylvania 2 was produced for $80 million and should do well internationally given that the first picture did nearly 60% of its business overseas. It opens in roughly 30 foreign markets, including major territories such as Mexico and Brazil, gradually rolling out across the globe through mid-October."

• "After three up weekends in a row, September moviegoing continues to clickety-clack with Sony Animation's Hotel Transylvania 2 set to take No. 1 with a FSS in the low $30Ms, maybe $40M at 3,752 theaters. The studio will be very happy if they hit $32M; in fact that would make it their highest opening calendar year to date before Spectre stacks bodies," Deadline's Anthony D'Alessandro wrote. "If the Adam Sandler vehicle –which he produced, co-wrote and voiced — hits that high mark, attribute it to the fact that there hasn't been a full-blooded studio family toon in the market since Universal/Illumination's Minions."