All work and no play makes Drac a dull vamp, so it's time for A Monster Vacation in Hotel Transylvania 3

The Outpost blog lately has been serving up articles on sequel movies so this week continues the trend as the third outing of the Hotel Transylvania animated movies flows into cinemas nationwide with the title A Monster Vacation.

For readers needing a recap, the first Hotel Transylvania was released in 2012 by Sony Pictures Animation. Pretty much an original production unknown to the world at its time, the premise of this kids movie is that classic monsters like vampires, werewolves, mummies and the Frankenstein creature exist, but instead are the ones living in fear of humans who has prosecuted them for centuries. So as a safe-haven for monsters, vampire Count Dracula, or Drac for short (voiced by renown comedian Adam Sandler) has built a 5-star hotel as a safe-haven for monsters and to raise his daughter Mavis (voiced by Selena Gomez).

All's going well at Hotel Transylvania until a hapless young American tourist named Jonathan (Adam Samberg) strolls in nonchalantly. In order not to panic his monster guests over a "fearsome" human, Drac disguises Johnny as a Frankenstein-type monster to partake in Mavis' 118th Birthday Party. Well "Johnnystein" and Mavis expectedly “zing” and after some drama involving Drac's disapproval and human-monster relations, the duo come together romantically and all's happy again in Hotel Transylvania.

Breaking boundaries between humans and monsters are lovey dovey couple Mavis (Selena Gomez) and Johnny (Adam Samberg)

The movie proves a hit at the box-office which Sony execs deem suitable for a sequel, hence Hotel Transylvania 2 was released in 2012. In the animated world, seven years have passed where humans now know and tolerate the existence of monsters. Mavis and Johnny are married and have a  five year-old child named Dennis (Asher Blinkoff). Grandfather Drac is greatly concerned that Dennis has no vampiric powers and may have to live out his life as a human far away in California. Much of the movie premise then revolves around associated familial issues complicated further by the introduction of Drac's father Vlad (Mel Brooks) who is rather intolerant of humans. Since all kids animated movies end on a happy note, Dennis does eventually manifest some vampire abilities and therefore safe to remain in Transylvania to grow up with his monster family.

A Monster Vacation sets sail in cinemas now..

Now in Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation, Mavis surprises Drac with a family voyage on a luxury Monster Cruise Ship so he can take a vacation from providing everyone else's vacation at the hotel. The rest of Drac's Pack cannot resist going along. But once they leave port, romance arises when Dracula meets the mysterious ship Captain, Ericka. Now it's Mavis' turn to play the overprotective parent, keeping her dad and Ericka apart. Little do they know that his "too good to be true" love interest is actually a descendant of Abraham Van Helsing, ancient nemesis to Dracula and all other monsters.

#HOTELT3
New Adventures? ✅ New Monsters? ✅ New Trailer for #HotelT3? ✅ ?
Posted by Sony Pictures on Wednesday, 21 March 2018

The monsters dress down for the holidays!

Director Genndy Tartakovsky takes the reins again for the third time and reunites with the voice cast from previous movies. Together with the vamp family Drac, Mavis, Johnny, Dennis and Drac, the all too friendly monsters are back for the ride: “Frank”-enstein (Kevin James), Murray the Mummy (Keegan-Michael Key), Wayne the Werewolf (Steve Buscemi), Eunice (Fran Descher), etc. An assortment of new characters will also be introduced such as the infamous Van Helsing monster hunters.

Lonely Drac (Adam Sandler) sees potential romance with ship's Captain Erika (Kathryn Hahn)

Apparently as part of their monster cruise, some of the monsters stopped over in tropical Malaysia for their vacation! Check out these videos of Drac spotted in Penang absorbing some local culture and later in historic Malacca visiting A Formosa. He must have applied super-thick SPF 100 sunblock not to melt under our sunny weather!

HT3- Penang
Drac was real busy this week as he makan, travel, mingle, repeat! To all Penangites, he thought your food ‘chin chiak ho chiak’! And the street art? Amayyyzingggg! Let us know if you think there are other places Drac should visit too! Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation in cinemas 19 July 2018.
Posted by Sony Pictures on Monday, 25 June 2018

Drac at the gate of of A Formosa, a Portuguese fort build in the 16th century in the historic city of Malacca.

HT3
Pappa Drac went like, WALAOEHH! Let’s get him a cup of Malacca’s signature Coconut milkshake after this! Can you guess where he will be heading to next? Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation in cinemas 19 July 2018.
Posted by Sony Pictures on Friday, 29 June 2018

Since then Drac has met up with his good friends Frank and Murray to continue this vacation in Kuala Lumpur this week and later Johor.

The Outpost Movie Recon Team (M.R.T.) has reliable intel that these friendly monsters may be found at the following cinemas:

Friday 20 July

2:00pm @ GSC Midvalley Megamall

6:30pm @ TGV Sunway Pyramid

8:30pm @ MBO Subang Parade

Saturday 21 July

4:00pm @ MBO Setapak Central

8:00pm @ GSC Pavilion KL

Sunday 22 July

2:00pm & 6:00pm @ GSC IOI City Mall

Friday 27 July

1:00pm @ GSC Palm Mall, Seremban

6:00pm @ GSC Aeon Bandaraya Melaka 

Saturday 28 July

1:00pm & 8:00pm @ GSC Paradigm Mall, Johor Bahru

4pm @ TGV Bukit Indah, Johor Bahru

8pm @ GSC Paradigm Mall, Johor Bahru

Sunday 29 July

1:00pm @ GSC Paradigm Mall, Johor Bahru

4:00pm @ TGV Kulaijaya, Johor

Meet Murray, Drac and Frank “live” in Malaysia at selected cinemas this month.

Find out more about Hotel Transylvania 3 from the official website and follow Sony Pictures Malaysia on Facebook for local movie engagements including plenty of flash contests.

As per usual, the Outpost M.R.T. has scouted local movie goodies that Hotel-T fans can attempt to loot. Firstly GSC Cinemas are rewarding their customers exclusive soap with purchase of two Hotel Transylvania 3 tickets, plus a family purchase of two adults with at least one child ticket will take home a special drawstring bag. Refer to terms and conditions with info on participating cinemas from their official website.

In addition, those purchase of two tickets stand a chance to win one of three Dream Cruise vacations for two pax on luxurious ocean liner to Singapore or Phuket. Participate by posting in Comments of this Facebook post by 29 July 2018 and refer to full terms and conditions at GSC's website.

Finally, there is a simple free to join Facebook contest with movie premiums to be won just by Like / Love / Wow this post and tagging 5 friends before Sunday 22 July.

Premium-X Cinemas in One-City USJ also has a similar Facebook contest. Just follow instructions from their post.

TGV Cinemas is conducting a special Family Screening session this Saturday 21 July, 11am at Sunway Putra Mall, Kuala Lumpur. Thematic activities are included with tickets are priced at RM25 per pax whereby adults must attend with kids in tow. Drac, Frank and Murray might even be there to greet them! Get full terms and conditions at TGV's website then buy your tickets.

MBO Cinemas has a slew of Hotel Transylvania 3 promos, starting with a movie edition of their AllStar member card. Once again, members can utilise their Star Points in attempt to redeem movie premiums through "Name Your Own Points".

Purchasers of minimum two tickets for Hotel Transylvania 3 then stand a chance to win major prizes of a 50in Sony TV or PlayStation 4 Pro, as well as movie premiums. Don't wait too long though as contest ends this month on 31 July 2018.

For concession counter promos, only MBO Cinemas is offering a thematic cup as part of a single combo for RM28 or share combo for RM55 inclusive of soft drink(s) and popcorn. Find out more at this dedicated landing page on their website together with submission forms for the aforementioned contests.

Finally, mmCineplexes has movie premiums to giveaway via their Facebook post here. Participation requires proof of purchase for two Hotel Transylvania 3 tickets and submitting details via online form by 29 July 2018.

Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation is now showing in cinemas everywhere.

#HotelTransylvania #HotelT3

Disclaimer: Hotel Transylvania and its trademarks are copyright to Sony Pictures Animation, referenced here for fan service announcements without intent to infringe.

Spider-man Homecoming: Welcome home Spidey to the Marvel Cinematic Universe

by contributing writer Azrin Madin

Friendly neighborhood web slinger Spider-Man is coming to the big screens and this might be the best Spider-Man movie ever. So get your popcorn ready. You wouldn't want to miss this movie.

Official Synopsis:

A young Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland), who made his sensational debut in Captain America: Civil War, begins to navigate his newfound identity as the web-slinging super hero in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine – distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man – but when the Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges as a new villain, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.

Spider-Man Homecoming is directed by Jon Watts with screenplay by the writing teams of Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, Watts and Christopher Ford and Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. It stars Tom Holland as Spider-Man, Michael Keaton as Vulture, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Zendaya as Michelle, Marisa Tomei as May Parker, Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, joined by Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds, Laura Harrier as Liz Allan, Logan Marshall-Green as Jackson Brice, Bokeem Woodbine as Herman Schultz, Donald Glover as Aaron Davis and Michael Chernus as Tinkerer.

Some moviegoers may feel they have seen enough of Spider-Man. This is after all Sony Pictures' third attempt at the franchise. So what is special this time?

As some of you folks would be aware, licensing rights for trademarked Marvel characters are spread out amongst various movie studios. The more widely popular successful transitions from comic books to films are the X-Men mutants by 20th Century Fox, the Spider-man saga via Sony Pictures and more recently the Avengers by Marvel Studios. Due to licensing rights, movies by each studio existing in it's own "pocket universe" and thus characters that regularly team-up in Marvel Comics could not happen in live-action productions.

Marvel Studios (red), Sony Pictures (purple), 20th Century Fox (blue), Universal (yellow).
Source: www.thegeektwins.com 

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) was launched in 2008 by the first Iron Man movie paving the way for a handful of solo superhero titles leading up to the ensemble team of The Avengers in 2012 to massive box office success exceeding USD1.5 billion . Previous Spider-Man movies typically score the USD $700-800 million mark. No doubt seeing a most lucrative opportunity with Marvel's most popular superhero to swing higher in the box office, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios revisited the licensing rights for Spider-man in 2015 allowing web-head to be part of the MCU. And that's what makes Spider-man Homecoming so special this time around: Welcome home Spidey to the Marvel Cinematic Universe!

Director Jon Watts (far left) and Marisa Tomei (left) as Aunt May with the "kids": Jacob Batalon as Ned (centre), Tom Holland as Peter Parker (right) and Laura Harrier as Liz (far right).

British actor Tom Holland is the first teenager to play the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man. Which makes sense. You get a teenager to play a teenager. Why hasn't this been done before with Spider-Man? At only 5ft 7in, he looks boyish and he can perform back, side and front flips. Manohla Dargis of the New York Times, a long time film critic, says “Mr. Holland looks and sounds more like a teen than the actors who've previously suited up for this series”.

15-year old high-school student Peter Parker (right) tries to solve a technical puzzle with his best friend Ned.

We were first introduced to Spider-man in the MCU last year in Captain America: Civil War. Recruited by Tony Stark, he fought along side Iron Man and stole Captain America's shield in his superhero debut. He then traded blows with many of the MCU's veterans is one of the most epic superhero battles on screen. Let's just watch it again, ya?

The Airport Battle: One of the greatest action sequences in superhero cinema.

In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Peter Parker returns from his experience with the Avengers, under guise as the Stark Internship Program, to resumes his high school life. But being left with Stark's awesome Spidey suit, Peter's yearns to prove himself for admission into the Avengers and swings into action as the "neighborhood" Spider-man in New York's suburb county, Queens.

Introducing Stark Industries Spidey suit, A.I. "Karen" included.

After 2 months of mundane superhero-ing after school, webhead gets into trouble with some serious bad guys and learns what it takes to truly be a hero. Enter the Vulture, one of Spidey's iconic villains from the comics.

Find out more about Michael Keaton's villain, Vulture.

Early reviews for Spider-man Homecoming are out now and it seems to be overwhelmingly positive. It is currently sitting at a fresh 93% over at Rotten Tomatoes. Vox has listed 5 reasons why this is the best Spider-Man movie yet. Screenrant says “Spider-Man: Homecoming works as both a (very) funny high school comedy/drama and strong standalone superhero movie set in the MCU”. Newsweek calls it "the best Spider-man movie to date". IGN has rated the movie 8.7.

Tom Holland with Jacob Batalon takes a wefie with Singapore fans during movie press junket in early-June.Take a look at Tom's arm muscles!Photo credit Ore Huiying/Getty Images for Sony Pictures

Whilst locally written reviews are not out yet, listen to At The Movies where Umapagan, Iain McNally and Bahir Yeusuff compare Spider-man movies past and present.

Be sure to stay during the end-credits as well as there will be 2 post-credit scenes. The first scene takes place mid-way and the second at the very end. So when the credits roll, don't leave your seats yet!

Marvel movies are definitely popcorn movies. For your popcorn needs, GSC Cinemas has a cool concession counter combo consisting of one Spiderman: Homecoming Figurine Cup (3 designs) and a regular popcorn.

GSC Cinemas is also offering 2000 pieces of Spider-man keychains at selected locations. Every 4 movie tickets purchased from 6 July will be entitled for 1 keychain (while stocks last).

Over at TGV Cinemas, their Spider-Man: Homecoming combo serves popcorn in a limited edition Spider-man head bucket with a regular soft drink for RM31. They also have a limited edition “Spider-Man: Homecoming” Movieclub card available to new members whilst existing members can swap their card at RM5.

mmCineplexes variant of the popcorn combo offers a Spider-Man Head Tumbler with a 32oz drink (like sucking brains out of Spidey!) and a regular popcorn for RM20.

MBO Cinemas does not have a popcorn combo but instead a mini-Spider-man figurines for RM7.90 and exclusive tshirts for RM39.90 available with purchase of 2 movie tickets. The figurine can also be used to for their Facebook and Instagram contests to win movie merchandise.

They also have their limited edition Spider-man Homecoming Allstar member card. Members are really in for a treat as purchase of only 2 tickets will entitle to participate in the "Be A Spidey" contest to win a holiday package to London plus Sony Experia smartphones. Members may also bid for movie premiums. Find out more directly from MBO Cinemas.

Whilst we can't figure out Spidey's association with London, we do know he comes from New York and Maybank has certainly caught on to this by offering their customers a chance to win a trip to the Big Apple. This Grand Prize is only applicable to new credit or charge card holders though. Existing cardholders can instead redeem free popcorn with purchase of 2 movie tickets from TGV Cinemas using their Maybank card from 6 July. Head over to the official Maybank website for full details on their promotions.

For the chance to win Spider-man Homecoming Movie Premiums, join the KLIPS contest before 7 July. There are tshirts, sunglasses, wallets, Funko POP keychains and more to be won as shown in the visuals above.

Sony Pictures Malaysia Facebook Page contest.

Sony Pictures Malaysia is likely to be giving away similar Movie Premiums via their Facebook Page contests. The first "Photobomb" contest ask to share creative photos ends 6 July whilst the 2nd "Caption" contest to post creative answers ends 13 July.

A giant Spider-man statue at the entrance of Pavilion KL shopping mall.
Photo credit user "anordinarymouse" on www.skyscrapercity.com forum

More of these movie premiums are available from GSC Cinemas through their Instagram contest for Spidey fans visiting Pavilion KL shopping mall in downtown Kuala Lumpur. Post your photo with the giant Spider-man display on Instagram to participate.

As for toys, lotsa official Spider-man Homecoming action figures and role play products from Hasbro are available from major toy retailers like Toys R Us. LEGO also has 2 building sets for the movie.

Hasbro's Spider-man Homecoming toys.

No one is ever too old of LEGO!

Welcoming all Spider-Verse cosplay to a Fan Screening this Thursday 6 July, 8pm at mmCineplex Damansara.
Photo credit John Gullidge.

To celebrate Spider-man coming home to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Outpost brought together Spidey cosplay fans for a special Fan Screening of Spider-man Homecoming on Thursday 6 July at mmCineplex Damansara, e@Curve. Together with Spiderpools of Malaysia (SPM) and The Ultimate Cosplayers (TUC), this could be the most diverse number of Spider-Verse cosplayers to-date in Malaysia.

Numerous cosplayers attended as Spider-man from Homecoming in Stark-tech suits, plus at least one in Peter's homemade suit. Other Spideys comprised costumes from the original Sam Raimi Spider-man Trilogy as worn by Tobey Maguire (both hero and symbiote editions), Andrew Garfield's Amazing Spider-man 2, comics Ultimate Spider-man, SpiderGwen, Spider-man 2099, Iron Spider and more! Also present were Tony Stark, Iron Man, Captain America, Venom, Vulture, and Mary Jane, with Deadpool crashing the party.

Can you identify all those Spider-men?

Deadpool, it's NOT your party!?!

Fans cheer on Spidey in Homecoming.

Check out more photos from this Spider-Friends gathering at the Facebook Pages of Outpost Productions and mmCineplex. Also thanks to The Star for featuring us in the news; read the online edition here.

For every 2 tickets of Spider-man Homecoming purchased at mmCineplexes, customers can participate in Spin & Win for a guaranteed chance to win goodies like movie merchandise, Spidey tumbler, movie tickets, & more. Get the full details from mmCineplexes website.

Spider-Man: Homecoming swing into in Malaysian cinemas 6 July.

Must-Watch Movie of the Year!

Disclaimer: Spider-Man and other trademarks are copyright to Marvel and/or Sony Pictures, referenced here for fan service announcements without intent to infringe.