Toothless and Hiccup (Mason Thames) in “How To Train Your Dragon.”
The live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon, starring Mason Thames, Nico Parker and Gerard Butler, had a monster opening at weekend box office, but as it turns out, the studios behind the film didn’t need to know any numbers before deciding the next step for the franchise.
Directed by Dean DeBlois — the filmmaker behind the 2010 animated version of the tale — the live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon earned $83.7 million domestically and $114.1 million internationally for a worldwide box office tally of $197.8 million in its first three-day frame.
The film’s blazing $87.3 million take from 4,356 North American theaters was more than enough to earn How to Train Your Dragon the No. 1 spot at the domestic box office, replacing the live-action version of Lilo & Stitch, which held onto the box office crown for the past three weekends.
This weekend, Lilo & Stitch earned $15.5 million domestically and finished a distant second place at the domestic box office.
Rated PG, How to Train Your Dragon follows the story of Hiccup (Thames), a misfit on the Viking island of Berk who wants to follow in the footsteps of his father, Chief Stoic the Vast (Butler) and become a dragon slayer. Hiccup’s ambitions change, though, when he accidentally ensnares a Night Fury dragon that he names Toothless.
After providing Toothless with an artificial tail flap so he can fly again, Hiccup bonds with the Night Fury and learns that the creature and his fellow dragons pose no danger to his fellow Vikings. Eventually, however, Hiccup faces the daunting task of convicing Stoic and fellow Viking teens including Astrid (Parker) that that humans and dragons can live in harmony.
With such a big start at the box office, fans are no doubt already wondering what’s in store for the future of How to Train Your Dragon. The good news is that DreamWorks and Universal Pictures were already at work on a sequel to How to Train Your Dragon before the film’s June 13 opening.
At CinemaCon in in Las Vegas in April, DreamWorks and Universal reps announced at the annual theater owners’ convention that they would be making a live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon 2, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Unlike most films, the framework was already in place for a sequel to the live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon since the 2010 film was followed by two more animated chapters: 2014’s How to Train Your Dragon 2 and 2019’s How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.
A release date for How to Train Your Dragon 2 has already been set for June 11, 2027, EW reported.
Why Was ‘How To Train Your Dragon 2’ Announced So Early?
Most studios take a wait-and-see approach to determine whether they will produce a sequel for any given film, and generally those determinations depend on how said film performs financially at the box office.
However, DreamWorks and Universal’s decision to move ahead on a live-action How to Train Your Dragon sequel was based on test audiences’ reactions, director Dean DeBlois told EW.
“I think once [Universal Pictures] saw a pretty finished version of the movie that we tested with an audience, they felt really confident,” DeBlois told EW in a May interview that was published on Sunday. “And so they wanted to let it be known especially at CinemaCon, because there [are] so many factors that go into planning for a movie, even two years out, getting screens and premium large format screens, and just getting movie theater exhibitors excited.”
After the studios said at CinemaCon that How to Train Your Dragon 2 was already in the works, DeBlois told EW he was “a little reluctant” to make the annoucement.
“I’m like, ‘Maybe we should just release the movie first and see if people like it before you go and announce another one?’ But I understood that that was the audience where you want to get them excited about what’s coming,” the director told EW.
As it turns out, DreamWorks and Universal’s risk of announcing How to Train Your Dragon 2 early paid off, considering the film’s massive $197.8 million worldwide opening.
Per Variety, How to Train Your Dragon had a $150 million production budget before prints and advertising, but the large number seems recoupable considering the film has only been playing in theaters for three days.
One more incentive that likely pushed DreamWorks and Universal to their early committment to How To Train Your Dragon 2 was the track record of the original animated trilogy, which earned $1.6 billion at the worldwide box office.
Rated PG, How to Train Your Dragon is new in theaters.
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