The How to Train Your Dragon franchise from DreamWorks Animation consists of two feature
films How to Train Your Dragon and How to Train Your Dragon 2, with a third planned
for a 2016 release. The franchise is loosely based on the English book series by Cressida
Cowell. The franchise also consists of three short films: Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon,
Book of Dragons, and Gift of the Night Fury. A television series, Dragons: Riders of Berk,
began airing on Cartoon Network in September 2012. Its second season was renamed Dragons:
Defenders of Berk. The franchise follows the adventures of a
young Viking named Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, son of Stoick the Vast, leader of the
Viking island of Berk. Although initially dismissed as a clumsy and underweight misfit,
he soon becomes renowned as a courageous expert in dragons, beginning with Toothless, a member
of the rare Night Fury breed as his flying mount and his closest companion. Together
with his friends, he manages the village's allied dragon population in defense of his
home as leader of a flying corps of dragon riders. Dean DeBlois, the director of the
trilogy, described its story as "Hiccup's coming of age," taking a span of five years
between the first and second film, while explaining why dragons no longer exist.
Film series How to Train Your Dragon
How to Train Your Dragon, the first film in the series, was released on March 26, 2010.
It was directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders. The film is loosely based on the
2003 book of the same name by Cressida Cowell. The film grossed nearly $500 million worldwide,
and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. The story takes place
in a mythical Viking world where a young Viking teenager named Hiccup aspires to follow his
tribe's tradition of becoming a dragon slayer. After finally capturing his first dragon,
and with his chance at finally gaining the tribe's acceptance, he finds that he no longer
has the desire to kill it and instead befriends it.
How to Train Your Dragon 2
A sequel, How to Train Your Dragon 2, was confirmed on April 27, 2010. The film was
written and directed by Dean DeBlois, the co-director of the first film. Bonnie Arnold,
the producer of the first film, also returned, with Chris Sanders, who co-directed the first
film, only exec-producing this time due to his involvement with The Croods and its sequel.
The film was released on June 13, 2014. It was announced that the entire original voice
cast – Baruchel, Butler, Ferguson, Ferrera, Hill, Mintz-Plasse, Miller and Wiig – would
return for the sequel. New cast includes Kit Harington as Eret, Cate Blanchett as Valka,
and Djimon Hounsou as Drago Bludvist. John Powell, the composer of the first score, will
also return for the second and third film. An interview with Dean DeBlois revealed this
about the sequel: "At the end of last film, all these Vikings who were previously somewhat
landlocked are now on the backs of dragons so the entire Northern Hemisphere opens up
to them. And with that Hiccup’s curiosity increases, the map expands and inevitably
they are going to come across new dragons and new cultures."
How to Train Your Dragon 3 In December 2010, DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg
confirmed that there would also be a third film in the series: "How To Train Your Dragon
is at least three: maybe more, but we know there are at least three chapters to that
story." Dean DeBlois, the writer and director of the second and the third film, said that
How to Train Your Dragon 2 is being intentionally designed as the second act of the trilogy:
"There are certain characters and situations that come into play in the second film that
will become much more crucial to the story by the third." DeBlois said in an interview
that the third part will be released in 2016. Although the series has taken a different
path of telling a story of Hiccup and Vikings, Cressida Cowell has revealed that the trilogy
and the book series will share their ends. In September 2012, 20th Century Fox and DreamWorks
Animation announced the release date for June 18, 2016, which was later changed to June
17, 2016. The film is being produced by Bonnie Arnold, and exec-produced by Dean DeBlois
and Chris Sanders. Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill,
Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T. J. Miller and Kristen Wiig are set to return in the third
film. Television series
DreamWorks Dragons
On October 12, 2010 it was announced that Cartoon Network had acquired worldwide broadcast
rights to a weekly animated series based on the movie, which was scheduled to begin sometime
in 2012. In January 2011, producer Tim Johnson confirmed that work had begun on the series
and that, unlike the TV series spin-offs of the films Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and Monsters
vs. Aliens, How To Train Your Dragon's series is much darker and deeper, like the movie.
The show is the first DreamWorks Animation series that airs on Cartoon Network instead
of Nickelodeon, unlike previous series such as The Penguins of Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda:
Legends of Awesomeness and Monsters vs. Aliens. Although it was announced that the series
would be called Dragons: The Series, TV promos shown in June 2012 revealed a new title - Dragons:
Riders of Berk. The series began airing in the third quarter of 2012. John Sanford, the
director of seven episodes in the first season, confirmed that there would also be a second
season. Jay Baruchel, who voiced Hiccup, also stars in the series, as well as America Ferrera,
Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and T. J. Miller. The second season is accompanied with the
new subtitle, Defenders of Berk, replacing the previous Riders of Berk subtitle.
Short films Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon
Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon is a 16 minute sequel short film to the feature film, How
to Train Your Dragon. The short was originally broadcast on television on October 14, 2010
on Cartoon Network, and released next day as a special feature on Blu-ray and double
DVD edition of the original feature film. The film follows Hiccup and his young fellows
accompanying their mentor, Gobber, on a quest to kill the legendary Boneknapper Dragon.
About half the film is done in traditional animation, showing Gobber's history and his
encounters with the Boneknapper, and how he comes to look like he does now. As it turns
out, the Boneknapper has been after Gobber because he had found the one bone it needed
to complete his own coat of bone-armor, and was using it to keep his pants up.
Book of Dragons
Book of Dragons is an 18-minute short film, based on How to Train Your Dragon, and was
released on November 15, 2011, on DVD and Blu-ray, along with Gift of the Night Fury.
The short shows Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, Toothless and Gobber telling the legend behind
the Book of Dragons and revealing insider training secrets about new, never before seen
dragons. The short shows a total of 14 wyverns, each spread into 7 breeds: Stoker, Boulder,
Fear, Sharp, Tidal, Mystery and Strike. Gift of the Night Fury
Gift of the Night Fury is a 22 minute How to Train Your Dragon Christmas special, directed
by Tom Owens. It was released on November 15, 2011, on DVD and Blu-ray, along with Book
of Dragons. Based on How to Train Your Dragon, the short takes place in the middle of preparing
for the Viking winter holiday, 'Snoggletog', when suddenly all the dragons inexplicably
go on a mass migration, except for Toothless, so Hiccup gives him something to help.
Dawn of the Dragon Racers A short film, titled Dawn of the Dragon Racers,
will be released on November 11, 2014, on the DVDdigital release of How to Train Your
Dragon 2. Release
Box office performance Critical reaction
Cast and characters Note: A dark grey cell indicates the character
was not in the film. Crew
Video games An action adventure video game released by
Activision called How to Train Your Dragon was released for the Wii, Xbox 360, PS3 and
Nintendo DS gaming consoles. It is loosely based on the film and was released on March
23, 2010. Super Star Kartz video game was released by
Activision on November 15, 2011, for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, and
Nintendo 3DS. The game features 14 different characters from DreamWorks' films - How to
Train Your Dragon, Madagascar, Shrek, and Monsters vs. Aliens.
Dragons: TapDragonDrop, a mobile video game, developed by PikPok, was released on May 3,
2012, on App Store for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.
Dragons: Wild Skies, a 3D virtual world game based on the television series DreamWorks
Dragons has been launched on August 27, 2012, on CartoonNetwork.com. The game allows players
to find, train and ride wild dragons, including new ones as they are introduced in the series.
School of Dragons, a 3D educational massively multiplayer online role-playing game produced
by JumpStart, was released online in July 2013, after a month-long beta testing. A Facebook
version was released in October 2013, followed by an iPad app in December 2013, and a version
for Android-powered tablets in March 2014. In the game, each player is able to adopt,
raise and train a dragon, while learning how they function.
Dragons Adventure, an augmented reality game, was released in November 2013, exclusively
for Nokia Lumia 2520. Dragons: Rise of Berk is a free game which
allows players to build their own Berk village, send Hiccup and Toothless out on exploration,
hatch and collect up to 30 dragons and train their own dragon at the academy. Developed
by Ludia, it was released in May 2014 for iOS, and on June 20, 2014 for Android and
Facebook. How to Train Your Dragon 2, an action adventure
game, was released in June 2014 for Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS, Wii, Wii U and PlayStation 3.
The game was published by Little Orbit. Live shows
Ice Show A Broadway-style production named How To Train
Your Dragon ON ICE is currently on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas.
Arena Show
How to Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular or How To Train Your Dragon Arena Spectacular
is an arena show adaptation of the feature film How to Train Your Dragon. The show is
being produced in partnership with Global Creatures, the company behind another arena
show Walking with Dinosaurs - The Arena Spectacular, and directed by Nigel Jamieson. The score
was composed by John Powell and Jónsi from Sigur Rós. Arena Spectacular features 24
animatronic dragons - 10 different species in various sizes: Nadder, Gronckle, Nightmare,
Night Fury, Red Death, Skrill, Stinger, Kite Dragon, Zippleback and Egg Biter. It also
features villagers and Vikings, including Hiccup, Astrid, Stoick, and Gobber.
The show premiered as How to Train Your Dragon Arena Spectacular on March 3, 2012, in Melbourne,
Australia, and was followed by a New Zealand tour in April 2012. Renamed to How to Train
Your Dragon Live Spectacular, it toured United States and Canada between June 2012 and January
2013, when it was cancelled in favour of taking the show to China where it will premiere in
the middle of 2014. References
External links Official website
DreamWorks Animation's School of Dragons