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How to Train Your Dragon

How to Train Your Dragon (abbreviated HTTYD, and also known as DreamWorks Dragons) is an American media franchise from DreamWorks Animation and loosely based on the eponymous series of children's books by British author Cressida Cowell. It consists of three animated feature films: How to Train Your Dragon (2010), How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), and The Hidden World (2019); five short films: Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon (2010), Book of Dragons (2010), Gift of the Night Fury (2011), Dawn of the Dragon Racers (2014), and Homecoming (2019); and a live-action reboot from Universal Pictures in development and scheduled for release on June 13, 2025.[1][2]

For other uses, see How to Train Your Dragon (disambiguation).

How to Train Your Dragon

How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

DreamWorks Animation
(Universal Pictures)

2010–present

How to Train Your Dragon
by Cressida Cowell

The Serpent's Heir (2017)

How to Train Your Dragon Live Spectacular (2012)

The television series based on the events of the first film, DreamWorks Dragons, began airing on Cartoon Network in September 2012. The first and second seasons were titled Dragon: Riders of Berk and Dragons: Defenders of Berk respectively. After the two seasons on Cartoon Network, the series was given the new title Dragons: Race to the Edge. The characters are older and it served as a prequel to the second film, running from June 2015 to February 2018.[3] A second series, titled Dragons: Rescue Riders, began airing on Netflix in 2019 and features a completely different cast and locale than the original series of films and TV shows, but is set in the same universe. A third series, Dragons: The Nine Realms, began streaming on Hulu and Peacock in December 2021, with Rescue Riders transferring to Peacock beginning with the third season under the Heroes of the Sky subtitle. Unlike past entries in the franchise, The Nine Realms is set in the 21st century, specifically 1,300 years after the events of The Hidden World.


The franchise primarily follows the adventures of a young Viking named Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III (voiced by Jay Baruchel), 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, alongside 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. Upon becoming leaders of their kind, Hiccup and Toothless are forced to make choices that will truly ensure peace between people and dragons. Dean DeBlois, the director of the film trilogy, described its story as "Hiccup's coming of age", taking place across a span of five years between the first and second film, and a year between the second and third film.[4]


The film series has been highly acclaimed, with each film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, in addition to the first film's nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Score.

Short films[edit]

Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon (2010)[edit]

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.[33]


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.

Book of Dragons (2011)[edit]

Book of Dragons is an 18-minute[34] 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 different dragons, each separated into 7 classes: Stoker (Terrible Terror, Monstrous Nightmare), Boulder (Gronckle, Whispering Death), Fear (Hideous Zippleback, Snaptrapper), Sharp (Deadly Nadder, Timberjack), Tidal (Scauldron, Thunderdrum), Mystery (Changewing, Boneknapper) and Strike (Skrill, Night Fury).[35]

An video game released by Activision called How to Train Your Dragon was released for the Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3 gaming consoles. It is loosely based on the film and was released on March 23, 2010.

action adventure

A game for published by Griptonite Games, was also released on March 23, 2010 and published by Activision.[41]

Nintendo DS

video game was released by Activision on November 15, 2011,[42] for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, 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.[43]

Dreamworks Super Star Kartz

Dragons: TapDragonDrop, a mobile video game, developed by PikPok, was released on May 3, 2012, on for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.[44]

App Store

Dragons: Wild Skies, a 3D virtual world game based on the television series has been launched on August 27, 2012, on CartoonNetwork.com.[45] The game allows players to find, train and ride wild dragons, including new ones as they are introduced in the series.[46]

DreamWorks Dragons

School of Dragons, a 3D educational produced by JumpStart, game concept was co-created by Producer David Jaloza and Lead Designer Justin Prate was released online in July 2013,[47] after a month-long beta testing.[48] A Facebook version was released in October 2013, followed by an iPad app in December 2013, a version for Android-powered tablets in March 2014,[47] and a version for the PC in 2014.[49] In the game, each player is able to adopt, raise and train a dragon, while learning how they function.[48] The game was shut down on June 30, 2023.

massively multiplayer online role-playing game

Dragons Adventure, an game, was released in November 2013, exclusively for Nokia Lumia 2520.[50]

augmented reality

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 , it was released in May 2014 for iOS,[51] and on June 20, 2014, for Android and Facebook.[52]

Ludia

, an action adventure game, was released in June 2014 for Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS, Wii, Wii U and PlayStation 3.[53] The game was published by Little Orbit.

How to Train Your Dragon 2

Dragons: Titan Uprising was announced by Canadian developer in November 2018, and released in early 2019.[54]

Ludia

Dragons: Dawn of New Riders, an action adventure game, developed by and released in 2019 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC. The game involves the playable characters Scribbler and Patch on their quest to defeat Eir, by exploring the world and its puzzle and battle elements.[55]

Climax Studios

Dragons: Legends of the Nine Realms, an action adventure game, developed by Aheartfulofgames and released in 2022 for , PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC.[56]

Xbox One

Dreamworks All-Star Kart Racing is a racing video game published by GameMill Entertainment, and includes Hiccup and Astrid as playable racers, along with a race track based on New Berk. The game was released on November 3, 2023 for , PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Xbox One.[57]

Nintendo Switch

Live performance[edit]

Ice show[edit]

A Broadway-style production titled How To Train Your Dragon On Ice is currently on Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas.[68]

Theme parks[edit]

Heide Park[edit]

In 2016, the German theme park Heide Park created a whole section of the park offering various rides based on the franchise called "How to Train Your Dragon: The Island". It offers three different flying attractions and a boat ride where guests venture into the dark Dragon Caves to meet and help Hiccup, Toothless and their friends.[76]

Motiongate Dubai[edit]

The Dubai Hollywood-inspired theme park Motiongate Dubai also features a section of the park based on the films and television series. The most prominent attraction is the hanging roller coaster named "Dragon Gliders". Riders join Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid, and Stormfly in flying through the caves of the Forbidden Island, where they come across an unexpected threat.[77] Guests can also meet and greet with Hiccup, Toothless, and Astrid.[78]

Universal Studios[edit]

To promote How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Universal Studios Florida briefly had a limited-time virtual reality experience where guests could experience riding on Toothless, while Universal Studios Hollywood allowed visitors to meet and greet with Toothless.[79] Universal Studios Beijing's Hollywood Boulevard area contains Untrainable, an immersive How to Train Your Dragon-themed stage show with largescale puppets and sets.[80][81] In January 2024, it was announced that How to Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk would be one of the five lands of Universal Florida's fourth theme park Epic Universe, which will open in 2025.[82]

DreamWorks Water Park[edit]

A Proslide KrakenRACER mat racing slide called Dragon Racers opened at DreamWorks Water Park at American Dream in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on October 1, 2020, along with a Proslide and the world's tallest and longest hydromagnetic water coaster called Toothless Trickling Torpedo.[83][84][85]

Reception[edit]

Box office[edit]

Having earned over $1.6 billion worldwide, How to Train Your Dragon is the 13th highest-grossing animated franchise.

Official website

DreamWorks Animation's School of Dragons