2026 is already a great year for family-friendly entertainment on streaming thanks to a wave of new additions that just hit Hulu. The Disney-backed streamer rang in the new year with the arrival of dozens of new titles on January 1st. Hidden in a lineup that included titles like 28 Weeks Later and Super Troopers was an underrated family franchise, but it’s not all good news for fans.
The Hotel Transylvania franchise has found a new streaming home on Hulu, but only half of the franchise is available to watch. On January 1st, Hulu added both Hotel Transylvania and Hotel Transylvania 2 to its catalog, but Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation and Hotel Transylvania: Transformania didn’t join them. The Sony Pictures Entertainment animated film series centers around the infamous Count Dracula, whose luxurious, human-free resort for monsters gets upended when a human accidentally stumbles upon it and sparks romance with his daughter Mavis. The movie stars Adam Sandler as the voice of Dracula and Selena Gomez as Mavis.
The Hotel Transylvania Franchise Flips the Script on Classic Monsters
What makes the Hotel Transylvania franchise so good is the way it succeeds in subverting classic horror tropes. Iconic monsters like Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, and werewolves are transformed from the terrifying villains they are portrayed as in horror into relatable and goofy characters with deep emotional cores, everyday problems, anxieties, and desires. By turning the scary “other” into the lovable heroes and challenging the typical monster-hates-human dynamic, the movies create a welcoming gateway to horror for kids and transform classic horror tales into family-friendly stories about found family, friendship, and acceptance delivered with infectious energy and plenty of humor.
Although the movies have generated mixed receptions from critics and audiences (the first two movies earned rotten critic scores but fresh audience ratings on Rotten Tomatoes), the Hotel Transylvania franchise is really just a fun, low-stress experience that just about anybody can enjoy. The movies have also proven to be box office home runs, generating over $1.3 billion worldwide against a combined production budget of $245 million, and the franchise isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. In 2024, Netflix ordered a Hotel Transylvania spinoff series titled Motel Transylvania. The series, which will center around Dracula and Mavis as they open a motel for both humans and monsters in the California desert, is set to premiere in 2027.
What’s New on Hulu?
The first two Hotel Transylvania movies are far from the only fresh titles in Hulu’s streaming library. January 1st brought dozens of new-to-Hulu movies. Hulu subscribers can now stream hits like 28 Weeks Later, A Good Day To Die Hard, Hacksaw Ridge, Idiocracy, Little Manhattan, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Resident Evil, Super Troopers, and several Predator films. Hulu has even more great additions lined up for the remainder of the month, including The Luckiest Man in America (January 6th), Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (January 22nd), and 2025’s Tin Soldier (January 30th).
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