How to Train Your Dragon 3, officially titled The Hidden World, is the third and final installment in DreamWorks’ 3D computer-animated fantasy series.
The first installment of the series, How to Train Your Dragon, came out in 2010, and fans have been impatiently awaiting the final installment in the trilogy after the second installment, How to Train Your Dragon 2, came out in 2014.
The trilogy, based on a book series of the same name by Cressida Cowell, is one of the biggest animation franchises ever. The 2010 original as well as its 2014 sequel achieved critical and box office success, each earning Oscar nominations and a combined $1.1 billion worldwide at the box office.
How to Train Your Dragon 3, slated for release next year, will continue to follow the adventures of young Hiccup Haddock Horrendous II, and his Night Fury dragon companion, Toothless.
Hiccup is the son of Stoick the Vast, chief ruler of the Viking Hairy Hooligan Tribe of the fictional Isle of Berk. Hiccup sets out, as tradition prescribes, to find a dragon to slay, but ends up befriending the first dragon he captured.
In the final installment of the series, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Hiccup and his dragon companion, Toothless, together confront a grave threat to the survival of their tribe and species respectively.
Ahead of the release of one of the most highly anticipated animation films for 2019, we’ve put together everything you need to know about How to Train Your Dragon 3.
How to Train Your Dragon 3: The Hidden World release date
DreamWorks Animation announced on December 2016 that How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World will premiere in the U.S. on March 1, 2019, and on February 1, 2019, in the U.K.
The announcement in December 2016 was actually the fourth time that DreamWorks had moved the release date for How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.
In September 2012, DreamWorks tentatively set June 18, 2016, as the release date, but announced in September 2014 that it had shifted it to June 9, 2017.
The studio then later announced in January 2015 that the date had been pushed back to June 29, 2018. In June 18, 2016, came the announcement that the date was being moved to May 18, 2018.
The current release date of March 1, 2019, was announced on December 5, 2016.
How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World details
Dean DeBlois, who wrote the screenplay for How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, returns to his role as director after he and Chris Sanders co-directed the first movie, and DeBlois directed the second movie alone.
Bonnie Arnold also returns as producer after her role in the first two installments of the series. Arnold is co-producing the final installment of the series with Brad Lewis, known for his work on Antz (1998) and Ratatouile (2007). Cinematrographer Roger Deakins, who won an Oscar for his work on Blade Runner 2049, returns as cinematographic consultant.
John Powell also returns to score the movie.
This is the first installment of How to Train Your Dragon series that Universal Pictures is distributing. It follows the acquisition of DreamWorks Animation in 2016 by Universal Pictures’ parent company, NBCUniversal. The acquisition led to the end of DreamWorks’ distribution deal with 20th Century Fox.
After DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg announced in December 2010 that there would be “at least three” installments in the series, fans began speculating about a fourth movie in the series.
But director Dean DeBlois addressed the speculation in October 2014, saying that DreamWorks Animation was not planning a fourth installment for the animated franchise. He said that the studio was instead planning for animated spin-offs of the series.
The franchise has so far spawned a number of spin-offs, including four short films — Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon (2010), Book of Dragons (2011), Gift of the Night Fury (2011), and Dawn of the Dragon Racers (2014) — TV series and several video games.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World poster
DreamWorks Animation and Universal Pictures shared the official title for the upcoming final installment of the animated franchise on April 17, 2018, and unveiled the first poster on May 31, 2018.
The poster gave eager fans their first look at Toothless and his new Light Fury female partner, and shows Hiccup standing in full armor in the background.
The poster also confirmed previous reports that the official title of the upcoming animation film would be How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World teasers and trailers
Update: DreamWorks released the second trailer for How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World on October 25, 2018.
DreamWorks released the first trailer for How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World on June 7, 2018. Fans were deeply impressed with the stunning animation and were unanimous that it was far better than the original 2010 film.
A scene shows Toothless meeting a female dragon, his love interest in the film, while another scene shows Hiccup, Astrid and Toothless exploring a hidden world of dragons. In one scene, the female Light fury appears to teleport.
The villainous character, Grimmel the Grisly, arrives in Berk, and boasts that he has hunted all Night Fury dragons except Toothless. A scene shows Toothless’ Night Fury friend being captured and locked up in a cage.
After the first trailer was released on June 7, 2018, DeBlois revealed further details about the film on June 14, 2018, at the Annecy International Animation Festival in Annecy, France. He showed the first trailer released on June 7, 2018, and additional clips, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The first clip, titled First Date, shows a moonlit scene reminiscent of the Forbidden Friendship scene from the first film when Hiccup and Toothless first got acquainted. First Date presents a moonlit scene by a lake in which Toothless gets acquainted with his new love interest, the white, blue-eyed, female Light Fury dragon.
“I’m a fan of sequences that can be driven by music and the absence of dialogue,” DeBlois said, according to the Hollywood Reporter. “Toothless is the last of his kind and has been living with humans for a while, so it seemed the perfect setup for a bumbling first date with the Light Fury, who is more in tune with her wild nature.”
The scene ends when the Light Fury flies away. Toothless could not follow her because he is unable fly without Hiccup controlling his artificial tail.
The second clip, titled Automatic Tail, shows Toothless now able to fly by himself after Hiccup creates an automatic tail for him. Hiccup then watches Toothless fly away.
The third clip, titled Rescue Mission, is an opening sequence in which Hiccup and Toothless attempt to rescue some dragons. The clip also introduces new dragons, including Hob Gobbler, “a little round dragon that’s sort of a cross between a bull frog and a French bulldog,” according to DeBlois.
We also meet Crimson Goregutter, “a stately old grump of a dragon… very protective.”
The final clip, titled Berk Overcrowded, shows the Viking village of Berk overcrowded with humans and dragons, the result of Hiccup’s Dragon-Viking utopia experiment. According to DeBlois, it is clear from the scene that the utopia is unsustainable and that “in order to maintain their way of life, they need a better plan. Their home island can no longer sustain and protect them.”
The Hidden World plot
Director Dean DeBlois had teased during the VES (Visual Effects Society) Awards in 2015 that How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, billed as the epic conclusion to the trilogy, will be a coming-of-age story.
“When I was asked to come up with ideas for a sequel, I had the idea of doing a trilogy so we could have three acts of one coming-of-age story for Hiccup,” DeBlois aid.
The storyline of the film series is a prequel to the book series. It starts before the book series and ends where the book series begins. Hiccup is an adult in the books, but he is a teenager and later a young adult in the film series.
The film series tells the story of the fictional Isle of Berk, home to the Vikings of the Hairy Hooligan Tribe.
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, son of Stoick the Vast, chief fuller of Berk, sets out, in accordance with Hairy Hooligans tradition, to find a dragon to slay, but instead finds a rare baby Night Fury dragon, named Toothless.
He befriends and adopts Toothless as a pet, and sets an example to his dragon-hunting tribesmen that humans and dragons can be friends and live together in harmony.
Hiccup later becomes chief ruler of Berk, alongside his love interest, Fearless Astrid Hofferson, after the death of his father Stoick the Vast. He succeeds in creating the world’s first Dragon-Viking utopia. The Viking village of Berk is populated by humans and dragons living in harmony, with Hiccup as their leader.
In How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Toothless, Hiccup’s Night Fury dragon friend, finds a love interest, a mysterious, fire-blasting female dragon with white skin and blue eyes. Poor Toothless is distracted by the beautiful female Light Fury, and Hiccup tries to aid Toothless’ clumsy efforts to get acquainted with the lady dragon.
However, the sudden appearance of the female Light Fury is followed by the emergence of a dark threat to the village and its peaceful inhabitants. The survival of the Dragon-Viking utopia is threatened by the arrival of the villainous Grimmel the Grisly — voiced by F. Murray Abraham — and his Deathgrippers, a horde of “vicious trained dragons.”
Grimmel declares in a scene from the trailer that he has hunted all Night Fury dragons to extinction, except Toothless. To get Toothless, he captures his love interest, the beautiful female Light Fury.
DeBlois described Grimmel, during his presentation at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in Annecy, France, as “a capable, experienced dragon hunter and the man responsible for having killed all the Night Furies except for Toothless. He’s tall and slender, agile and graceful, cunning and barbaric. And he believes dragons do not belong in his world.”
Grimmel’s arrival tests the bond between Hiccup and Toothless. They must fight side-by-side to ward off the threat to their collective survival.
The Hidden World voice cast
Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera and Cate Blanchett will reprise their roles as Hiccup, Astrid and Hiccup’s mother Valka respectively in How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.
The Canadian actor and comedian, Jay Baruchel, is known for his role in comedy films such as Knocked Up (2007), The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (2010), and This Is the End (2013).
America Ferrera is best known for her role as Betty Suarez in the ABC comedy drama series Ugly Betty (2006-2010), while the Oscar -winning Australian actress Cate Blanchette is best known for playing Elizabeth I in the 1998 film Elizabeth, and portraying Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator (2004).
Craig Ferguson, the former host of Celebrity Name Game (2014-2017) and The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, returns to voice Gobber the Belch.
Kit Harrington, best known for his role as Jon Snow in the HBO TV series Game of Thrones (2011- ), voices the former dragon trapper Eret, while F. Murray Abraham, who played Antonio Salieri in Amadeus (1984), voices the villain Grimmel.
Jonah Hill, who appeared in This Is the End (2013), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) and War Dogs (2016), will voice Snotlout Jorgenson. Christopher Mintz-Plasse – Forgell “McLovin” in Superbad (2007) and Augie Farks in Role Models (2008) — voices Fishlegs Ingerman, while T.J. Miller and Kristen Wiig will voice the twins Tuffnut and Ruffnut Thorston respectively.
T.J. Miller was part of the voice cast in the first two films but became embroiled in controversy following allegations of sexual assault. There were rumors that DeBlois would recast Miller, but it has been confirmed that Miller will reprise his role as the twin Tuffnut, alongside Kirsten Wiig.
Gerard Butler will voice Stoick the Vast, Hiccup’s father, although Stoick died in How to Train Your Dragon 2. It appears that Stoick will appear this time in a flashback scene.