How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World

One year after becoming chieftain, Hiccup, his Night Fury Toothless and their fellow dragon-riders continue to rescue captured dragons in order to bring them to Berk and its bustling dragon and human utopia. Their efforts have resulted in the island becoming overpopulated with dragons. In response, Hiccup desires to find the "Hidden World", a dragon safe haven spoken of by his late father Stoick. Meanwhile, a white female Fury dragon, held captive by warlords, is given to infamous dragon hunter Grimmel the Grisly as bait for him to capture Toothless for the warlords' use as an alpha.

Toothless discovers the white Fury, (a new species[10] which Astrid dubs a "Light Fury")[10] in the woods, and the two become enchanted with each other until the Light Fury, sensing Hiccup's nearby presence, flees. Hiccup and Tuffnut later discover Grimmel's dragon traps in the area. Grimmel visits Hiccup that night demanding he hand over Toothless, but Hiccup has prepared an ambush for him; Grimmel escapes, with his Deathgripper dragons burning down Hiccup's house and most of Berk in the process. Hiccup then rallies the citizens and dragons to leave Berk on a quest to find the Hidden World and safety from dragon hunters.

Mid-journey, the Berkians discover an island on which they initially plan simply to rest, but soon begin to settle there, dubbing it “New Berk”. Seeing Toothless' inability to fly solo hindering his growing relationship with the Light Fury, Hiccup rebuilds an automatic tail for him. Upon receiving it, Toothless flies off, meeting the Light Fury on his own and flying with her to an unknown land. Valka, on a scouting patrol, notices Grimmel's approaching army and reports back to Hiccup. Hiccup and the dragon riders head to capture Grimmel, but fall into his trap and barely escape. Ruffnut is captured, but irritates Grimmel until he lets her go.

Hiccup, Astrid and her dragon Stormfly, searching for Toothless, find the Hidden World and see Toothless and the Light Fury leading the dragons there as a happily mated couple. When the two humans are soon discovered, Toothless rescues them and returns them to the Berkians, with Hiccup realizing his people would be intruders and unsafe in the Hidden World. Ruffnut returns, but Grimmel secretly follows her to New Berk. Grimmel appears and captures Toothless and the Light Fury who had followed them to New Berk. Toothless' alpha status allows Grimmel to capture the rest of Berk's dragons by holding the Light Fury hostage.

With Astrid's encouragement, Hiccup sets out with the dragon riders to stop Grimmel and his army. Gliding on wingsuits, they catch Grimmel's army off-guard, igniting a battle, and freeing the dragons. With help from Stormfly, Hiccup frees Toothless, while Grimmel drugs the Light Fury into obeying him. Hiccup and Toothless give chase and defeat Grimmel's Deathgrippers, but Grimmel tranquilizes Toothless midair causing the dragon to fall helplessly. Hiccup, realizing he cannot rescue Toothless alone, frees the Light Fury and implores her to save Toothless. Hiccup is fully prepared to sacrifice himself in order to save Toothless as both he and Grimmel plummet toward the sea; however, the Light Fury returns to save Hiccup, while Grimmel falls to his death.

Back on the island, Toothless and Hiccup fully realize that dragons will never be safe in the human world. Hiccup bids an emotional farewell to Toothless as all the Berkians tearfully set their dragons free to live in the Hidden World, the Light Fury leading the dragons away and Toothless following them. Sometime later, Hiccup and Astrid finally marry and become the chieftains of New Berk.

Years later, Toothless and the Light Fury have mated and given birth to three hybrid dragon fledglings called Night Lights. Hiccup, Astrid, and their two children sail across the sea to visit them at the edge of the Hidden World. After introducing his son and daughter to his old friend, Hiccup and Astrid take their children flying on Toothless and Stormfly, accompanied by the Light Fury and their offspring. Hiccup vows that until humankind is ready to coexist peacefully with dragons, the dragons will stay hidden while the Berkians guard their secret.

• Jay Baruchel as Hiccup, the son of Stoick the Vast and Valka, the newly crowned Viking chief of Berk, and the one who initially trained the dragons.[11]
  • A.J. Kane as young Hiccup.
• America Ferrera as Astrid, an excellent fighter; she is Hiccup's betrothed wife.[11]
• F. Murray Abraham as Grimmel the Grisly, an infamous dragon hunter who is responsible for the near-extinction of the Night Furies.[12]
• Cate Blanchett as Valka, a dragon rescuer and Hiccup's mother, now living on Berk after twenty years of isolation.[11]
• Craig Ferguson as Gobber the Belch, a seasoned warrior, blacksmith and dragon dentist.[13]
• Jonah Hill as Snotlout Jorgenson, a brash, overconfident, and fairly unintelligent, but a reliable friend of Hiccup.[13]
• Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs Ingerman, an enthusiastic friend of Hiccup knowledgeable in dragon lore which he often relates in a role-playing game style.[13]
• Kristen Wiig as Ruffnut Thorston, Tuffnut's fraternal twin who is friends with Hiccup.[14][13][15]
• Justin Rupple as Tuffnut Thorston, Ruffnut's fraternal twin who is friends with Hiccup.[14][13][15] He was previously voiced by T.J. Miller in the last two preceding movies and the TV series.
• Kit Harington as Eret, a former dragon hunter who used to work for Drago Bludvist who has joined the dragon riders after the events of the second film.[12]
• Gerard Butler as Stoick the Vast, the late father of Hiccup and Berk's previous chieftain, as seen in flashbacks.[16]
• Julia Emelin as Griselda the Grievous, an aggressive warlord who works with Grimmel.
• Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Ragnar the Rock, an incompetent warlord who works with Grimmel.
• James Sie as Chaghatai Khan, a less aggressive and stubborn warlord who works with Grimmel.
• David Tennant as Ivar the Witless, a dragon trapper who works for the Warlords.
  • Tennant also voices Spitelout Jorgenson, the father of Snotlout.
• Robin Atkin Downes as Ack, a blond-bearded Viking.
• Kieron Elliot as Hoark, a Viking with a knotted beard.
• Ashley Jensen as Phlegma the Fierce, a female Viking who works as a botanist at the School of Dragons.
• Gideon Emery as Trapper

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."[17] Dean DeBlois, the writer and director of the second and the third film, stated that How to Train Your Dragon 2 was 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."[18] DeBlois said in an interview that the third part would be released in 2016.[19] Although the series has taken a different path of telling a story of Hiccup and Vikings, author Cressida Cowell revealed that the trilogy and the book series will have similar endings (with "an explanation as to why dragons are no more").[20]

The film is produced by Bonnie Arnold[21] and Brad Lewis. DeBlois and Chris Sanders are the executive producers; Sanders was an executive producer of the second film and co-director of the first.[21] Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Kristen Wiig returned in the third film,[21] with Justin Rupple replacing T.J. Miller as Tuffnut.[14] DeBlois revealed that Miller did initially return to voice Tuffnut, but DreamWorks recast him after the actor's sexual misconduct, assault allegations and arrest for calling in a fake bomb threat.[22] Cate Blanchett also reprised her role as Valka from the second film.[11] On November 14, 2017, it was announced that Kit Harington would reprise his role as Eret and F. Murray Abraham had joined the cast.[12] During the earlier stages of production, DeBlois stated that Djimon Hounsou would also return as Drago Bludvist.[23] It was even planned to have Drago redeemed by the film's end, but halfway through development, DreamWorks co-founder 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.[24] On April 17, 2018, DreamWorks Animation announced that the sequel's title would be How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.[25][26] The animation challenges of the production required DreamWorks Animation to update and invent new software to handle complex tasks, such as lighting the Light Fury dragon.[27]

In September 2012, 20th Century Fox, the studio's then-distributor partner, and DreamWorks Animation announced the film was originally going to be released on June 17, 2016.[21][32][33] In September 2014, the film's release date was pushed back a year from its original release date of June 17, 2016 to June 9, 2017.[11] DeBlois explained the release date shifts as such: "It's just that these movies take three years. I think it was a little ambitious to say 2016... 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."[34]

In January 2015, the release date was pushed back a year from June 9, 2017 to June 29, 2018 following DreamWorks Animation's corporate restructuring and lay-offs meant to maximize the company's "creative talent and resources, reduce costs, and drive profitability."[35][36] On June 18, 2016, the release date was moved up from June 29, 2018 to May 18, 2018, taking the release date of the Warner Animation Group's The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.[37] On December 5, 2016, the US release date was pushed back from May 18, 2018 to March 1, 2019.[38] The release date was moved up for a final time from March 1, 2019 to February 22, 2019, taking the slot of The Turning, a live-action DreamWorks film which in turn was pushed back to January 24, 2020.[39][40]

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