How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is a 2019 American computer-animated action fantasy film loosely based on the book series of the same name by Cressida Cowell, produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures. A sequel to 2010's How to Train Your Dragon and 2014's How to Train Your Dragon 2, it is the third and final installment in the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy.

Written and directed by Dean DeBlois, the film stars the voices of Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Kit Harington, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Justin Rupple, Kristen Wiig and F. Murray Abraham. This is the first DreamWorks Animation film to be distributed by Universal Pictures, whose parent company NBCUniversal acquired DWA in 2016, and since the end of their distribution deal with 20th Century Fox.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World was released on January 3, 2019 in Australia, and is scheduled to be released on February 22, 2019 in the United States.

Plot
One year following the events of the second film, Hiccup, now the chief of Berk, has fulfilled his dream of creating a peaceful dragon utopia, where both humans and dragons live together. Though Hiccup is content with the current events, his constant missions with Toothless, his girlfriend Astrid, his mother Valka, and their gang of Dragon Riders, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and former dragon-trapper Eret, in saving dragons from various dragon hunters has caused Berk to become overpopulated with dragons. On one particular mission to save dragons from a hunting ship, Hiccup and his crew miss one dragon, a white Night Fury who can turn invisible. Its captors deliver the dragon to an evil dragon hunter called Grimmel the Grisly, who promises to use it to hunt down Toothless and deliver him back to the hunters.

Days later, Toothless and the white Night Fury (dubbed by Astrid as the Light Fury) meet, and Toothless immediately grows attached, but is disillusioned when the Light Fury runs from him when Hiccup is around. The next day, Hiccup and Toothless search for the Light Fury, but instead are met by one of Grimmel's traps indicating to them that he's in the area. That night, Grimmel visits Hiccup's house and threatens the colony if Hiccup doesn't surrender Toothless, and reveals his extreme hatred of the relationship between humans and dragons and wants it to be extinct. Grimmel is caught off-guard by an attack from the Dragon Riders, but he manages to escape and burns Hiccup's house to the ground, prompting Hiccup to come to the realization that he, the people, and their dragons need to move to a place his father Stoick once told him about: a hidden world where all dragons live.

The people and dragons of Berk follow Hiccup off and towards the Hidden World, angering the hunters who don't appreciate Grimmel's slow progress in the matter of securing Toothless. The people of Berk find themselves at a new, larger island for them and their dragons to rest, but soon become comfortable and plead to stay there. Toothless once again encounters the Light Fury, and after she runs once more, Hiccup adjusts Toothless' tail so he can fly on his own, and he goes off with the Light Fury, who takes him to the Hidden World.

Valka notices Grimmel's approaching army and warns the Dragon Riders of it. Hiccup launches a mission to capture Grimmel, but they are attacked and only just make it out alive, however, Ruffnut is captured. They worry about her for a while, until Ruffnut is able to annoy Grimmel into letting her go, unaware that he's following her after hearing her mention where the Dragon Riders and the people and dragons of Berk are at.

Hiccup and Astrid go off on a search for Toothless and end up finding the Hidden World, discovering that Toothless and the Light Fury are living peacefully together with all the dragons as king and queen. However, the dragons attack the two upon discovering them, and Toothless is forced to leave the Hidden World and take Hiccup and Astrid back to their land, causing Hiccup to realize his people won't be safe there. He decides to let Toothless go and live in the Hidden World, until they see the Light Fury also followed them back. They rejoice for a moment, until both Toothless and the Light Fury are captured by Grimmel, who takes them and the rest of the dragons back to his army.

After being encouraged by Astrid, who says that Hiccup has always been a unique and determined Viking even without Toothless, Hiccup sets out with Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Gobber, Valka and Eret to stop Grimmel and his army and save Toothless, the Light Fury and the dragons. They manage to catch Grimmel's army off-guard, and Toothless orders the dragons to rebel, igniting a massive battle. However, Grimmel kidnaps the Light Fury and drugs her so she listens to him, as Toothless and Hiccup chase after him. In a last-ditch attempt to prove that the relationship between humans and dragons is false, Grimmel shoots Toothless out of the sky, forcing Hiccup to release the Light Fury's drug collar, and sacrificing himself to let her save Toothless. As Hiccup and Grimmel fall through the air, the Light Fury gets Toothless to safety, and in the nick of time, she rescues Hiccup and delivers him back to the island, while Grimmel falls to his death.

Realizing the world isn't ready for dragons, Hiccup and Toothless say their goodbyes, and all the Dragon Riders and people of Berk also say goodbye and set their dragons free, as Toothless leads the dragons towards the Hidden World, and to safety. Months later, the people of Berk settle into their new island, while Hiccup and Astrid get married in a large ceremony. Years later, Hiccup, Astrid and their two children travel on a Viking ship to the edge of the Hidden World, where they reunite with Toothless, the Light Fury, and their three children, and all of them fly off into the sky together.

Cast

 * Jay Baruchel as Hiccup
 * Cate Blanchett as Valka
 * Craig Ferguson as Gobber the Belch
 * America Ferrera as Astrid
 * Jonah Hill as Snotlout Jorgenson
 * Kit Harington as Eret
 * Justin Rupple and Kristen Wiig as Tuffnut and Ruffnut Thorston
 * Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs Ingerman
 * F. Murray Abraham as Grimmel
 * Gerard Butler as Stoick the Vast

Production
In December 2010, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg announced 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 have similar endings (with "an explanation as to why dragons are no more").

The film is being produced by Bonnie Arnold, and exec-produced by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders. Jay Baruchel, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Kristen Wiig are set to return in the third film, with Justin Rupple replacing T.J. Miller as Tuffnut. Cate Blanchett will also reprise her role as Valka from the second film. On November 14, 2017, it was announced that Kit Harington will reprise his role as Eret and F. Murray Abraham has joined the cast. In the earlier stages of production, DeBlois has stated that Djimon Hounsou would also return as Drago Bludvist. It was even planned to have Drago redeemed by the film's end, but halfway through development, Steven Spielberg convinced DeBlois that the story of Drago's redemption required more screen time that they could not provide, causing his inclusion to be scrapped. On April 17, 2018, DreamWorks Animation announced that the sequel's title has changed to How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.

Release
In September 2012, 20th Century Fox, the studio's then-distributor partner, and DreamWorks Animation announced the release date for June 18, 2016, which was later changed to June 17, 2016. In September 2014, the film's release date was moved to June 9, 2017. DeBlois explained the release date shift: "It's just that these movies take three years. I think it was a little ambitious to say 2016 (laughs). As is normally the case, they kind of throw darts out into the future and wherever they land they call that a release date until we start talking about it in practical terms, and then it's like, 'Uh yeah that's not enough time. So knowing that they take three years from this moment, from outlining and writing the screenplay through to the final lighting of it, it's just a process of building models and doing tests and animating, storyboarding, the whole thing just adds up to about three years."

In January 2015, the release date was pushed back to June 29, 2018 following corporate restructuring, massive lay-offs, and to maximize the company's "creative talent and resources, reduce costs, and drive profitability." On June 18, 2016, the release date was moved up to May 18, 2018, taking over the release date of Warner Animation Group's The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part. On December 5, 2016, the US release date was pushed back again to March 1, 2019, taking over the slot previously held by Universal Animation Studios' Paradoria 2: Enchanted Realm. Then on September 27, 2018, the release date moved once again to February 22, 2019, taking over the slot of Sony Pictures Animation's Addie and The Turning, a live-action DreamWorks film.

Marketing
On May 31, 2018, the first poster was released and the first official trailer premiered on June 7. The second trailer was released online on October 25, 2018.

Box office
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World grossed $1.5 million on its opening day in Australia, setting a record for a DreamWorks Animation film in that country (surpassing Shrek 2). In New Zealand, the film grossed $173,000 on its opening day, ranking as DreamWorks Animation's second biggest opening day in the country, behind Shrek 2.

Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 100% based on 7 reviews, and an average rating of 7.5/10. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 82 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".