In 2004, the book series began attracting the attention of executives at DreamWorks Animation. After the success ofOver the Hedge (2006), producerBonnie Arnold became interested in the newly acquired property. The directors of the film wanted to ensure they took advantage of the improvisation abilities of the secondary cast by frequently bringing them together in the recording sessions. The filmmakers hired cinematographerRoger Deakins as a visual consultant to help them with the aesthetics of the film and to add a live-action feel.John Powell composed the film's musical score.
TheViking village of Berk is frequently attacked bydragons that steal livestock and endanger the villagers. Hiccup, the 15-year-old son of the village chieftain, Stoick the Vast, is deemed too weak to fight, so he creates mechanical devices under apprenticeship with Gobber, the village blacksmith. Hiccup uses abolas launcher to shoot down a Night Fury, a rare dragon, during a dragon raid, but nobody believes him. He enters the forest and finds the Night Fury but cannot bring himself to kill the dragon. Instead, he sets the creature free. The Night Fury then suddenly pins Hiccup down, but to Hiccup's surprise, the dragon spares him.
Before leaving with his fleet to find and destroy the dragons' nest, Stoick enrolls Hiccup in a dragon-fighting class with fellow teenagers Fishlegs, Snotlout, twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and Astrid, on whom Hiccup has a crush. Facing little success in the class, Hiccup returns to the forest and finds the Night Fury in a cove, unable to fly because Hiccup's bolas tore off half of his tail fin. Hiccup gradually befriends the dragon, naming him "Toothless" after his retractable teeth, and designs a harness andprosthetic fin that allows Toothless to fly with Hiccup riding atop his back.
Learning dragon behavior from Toothless, Hiccup manages to pass the training by subduing the dragons, earning admiration from his peers but sparking suspicion and jealousy from Astrid. Stoick's fleet returns home unsuccessful. When Hiccup learns that he must kill a dragon for his final exam, he tries to run away with Toothless, but Astrid discovers them, and Hiccup takes her on a flight to demonstrate that Toothless is friendly. During the flight, Toothless is hypnotically drawn to the dragons' nest, where an evil gigantic dragon named the Red Death summons relatively smaller dragons to feed it copious amounts of live food to avoid being eaten themselves. Realizing the dragons have been forced to attack Berk to survive, Astrid wishes to tell the village, but Hiccup advises against it to protect Toothless.
In his final exam, Hiccup faces a captive Monstrous Nightmare and tries to subdue it to prove that dragons can be peaceful. When Stoick unintentionally enrages the dragon into attacking, Toothless arrives to protect Hiccup but is captured. Enraged, Stoick confronts Hiccup until he inadvertently tells him the location of the Dragon's Nest. Thinking Hiccup betrayed the village, Stoick rashly disowns his son for befriending a dragon and prepares the fleet using Toothless as a guide to search and destroy the nest. Astrid prompts Hiccup to realize he spared Toothless out of compassion, not weakness. Regaining his confidence, Hiccup shows his friends how to befriend the training dragons, and they set out after their tribesmen.
Stoick and his Vikings locate and break open the dragons' nest, awakening the giant Red Death, which easily overwhelms them. Hiccup and his friends ride in on the training dragons, distracting the monster. Hiccup attempts to free Toothless, and Stoick, realizing his horrible mistake and his son was telling the truth, rescues and apologizes to both Hiccup & Toothless, telling the former he is proud of him as his son. In a fierce midair battle, Hiccup and Toothless sets the Red Death's mouth ablaze, destroy the giant dragon's wing membranes, causing it to crash fatally and explode. Whilst escaping the resulting explosion, Hiccup gets knocked off Toothless. He is saved by Toothless, but loses his left foot in the process.
Some time later, Hiccup awakes back in Berk and finds dragons frolicking in the village and Gobber having fashioned new prosthetics for him and Toothless. Hiccup is now admired by his village, including Astrid, who at first punches him in the arm for scaring her before kissing him. Berk begins a new era of humans and dragons living in peace.
Craig Ferguson as Gobber the Belch, Berk's blacksmith, a close friend of Stoick's, and teacher of the tribe's young dragon-training recruits.[6][4]
Jonah Hill as Snotlout Jorgenson, one of Hiccup's dragon-training classmates. Snotlout is brash, overconfident, and fairly unintelligent, but reliable.
Early production concept artwork of Toothless and Hiccup
The book series byCressida Cowell began coming to attention to the executives atDreamWorks Animation in 2004. Coming off her success inOver the Hedge, producerBonnie Arnold shortly became interested in the newly acquired property. She kept focusing on the project as time went on, and when DreamWorks Animation co-president of productionBill Damaschke asked her what she wanted to work on next, she chose "How to Train Your Dragon".[9]
FutureDog Man writer and directorPeter Hastings was one of the original directors of the film following both DreamWorks vets turned directors:Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron helmer Lorna Cook and futureTurbo,Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie andUnder the Boardwalk helmerDavid Soren.[10] Earlier versions of the film followed the novel closely but DreamWorks Animation decided that the story skewed too much towards younger viewers, which could negatively impact potential box-office revenue, and Cook, Soren and Hastings were respectively removed but received "Special Thanks" credit afterwards.[10] Damaschke hiredChris Sanders to take over, who in turn calledDean DeBlois, with whom he had worked onDisney'sLilo & Stitch, to co-direct.[10] The original plot has been described by DeBlois as "heavily loyal to the book," but was regarded as being too "sweet" and "whimsical" and geared to a younger demographic.[11] In the novel, Hiccup's dragon, Toothless, is believed to be a Common or Garden Dragon, a small breed. In the film, Toothless is an injured Night Fury, the rarest species of all dragons, far faster, aerodynamic and more powerful than the other species, and is large enough to serve as a flying mount for both Hiccup and Astrid. The filmmakers hired cinematographerRoger Deakins (known for frequently collaborating withthe Coen brothers) as a visual consultant to help them with lighting and overall look of the film and to "add a live-action feel".[11] Extensive research was done to depict both flight, as the directors knew they would be the biggest draw of the film's 3D effects, and fire, given animation could break away from the limitations seen in live-action films, wherepropane flames are usual due to being easier to extinguish. The dragons' designers made sure to create animals that were comical and also innovative compared to other dragon fiction. Toothless in particular tried to combine various dragon traits in ablack panther-inspired design, that also had large ears and eyes to convey emotion better.[12]
The directors made sure to cash in on the improvisation abilities of the secondary cast—Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig and T.J Miller—by frequently bringing them together in the recording sessions.[4]
John Powell returned to DreamWorks Animation to scoreHow to Train Your Dragon, making it his sixth collaboration with the studio, followingAntz,The Road to El Dorado,Chicken Run,Shrek, andKung Fu Panda (all of which he scored with eitherHarry Gregson-Williams and/orHans Zimmer). Powell composed an orchestral score, combining bombastic brass with loud percussion and soothing strings, while also using exotic Scottish and Irish tones with instruments like thepenny whistle andbagpipes. Additionally, Icelandic singerJónsi wrote and performed the song "Sticks & Stones" for the film. The score was released byVarèse Sarabande on March 23, 2010.
Overall, the score was well received by film score critics. Powell earned his firstAcademy Award nomination for his work on the film, ultimately losing toTrent Reznor andAtticus Ross for their score forThe Social Network.
How to Train Your Dragon had its United States premiere on March 21, 2010, at theGibson Amphitheatre inUniversal City, California,[13] and was theatrically released on March 26, 2010, in the United States.[14] It was originally scheduled to be released on November 20, 2009, but was pushed back to avoid competition withPlanet 51, other family films released in November.[15] The film was digitally re-mastered intoIMAX 3D, and released to 186 North American IMAX theaters, and approximately 80 IMAX theaters outside North America.[14]
A month before the release, DreamWorks Animation CEOJeffrey Katzenberg protestedWarner Bros.' decision to convertClash of the Titans from 2D to 3D, then to release it one week afterHow to Train Your Dragon.[16] Entertainment reporter Kim Masters described the 3D release schedule around March 2010 as a "traffic jam", and speculated that the lack of 3D screen availability could hurt Katzenberg's prospects despite his support of the 3D format.[17] That month, theater industry executives accusedParamount Pictures (who distributed the film on behalf of DreamWorks) of using high-pressure tactics to coerce theaters to screenHow to Train Your Dragon rather than competing 3D releases,Clash of the Titans andTim Burton'sAlice in Wonderland. As theater multiplexes often had just one 3D screen, theaters were unable to accommodate more than one 3D presentation at a time.[18]
How to Train Your Dragon was released on single-disc DVD, two-disc double DVD pack, andBlu-ray/DVD combo pack editions in Canada and the United States on October 15, 2010. Among the features available in the two-disc DVD edition and Blu-ray is an original sequel short film,Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon. As of February 2012, 9.7 million home entertainment units were sold worldwide.[19] The film was reissued on Blu-ray on May 27, 2014, with the short filmBook of Dragons and an episode ofDreamWorks Dragons added as additional bonus features.[20]
How to Train Your Dragon topped the North American box office with $43.7 million in its first weekend of release.[24] The film grossed $217.6 million in the United States and Canada and $277.3 million in foreign countries with a worldwide total of $494.9 million.[3]How to Train Your Dragon isDreamWorks Animation's highest-grossing film in the American and Canadian box office other than theShrek films.[25] It is the fifth-highest-grossing animated film of 2010, behindToy Story 3 with $1,063.2 million,Shrek Forever After with $752.6 million,Tangled with $576.6 million, andDespicable Me with $543.1 million and the10th-highest-grossing movie of 2010.[26] As of 2019[update], theHow to Train Your Dragon series has grossed over $1 billion worldwide.[27]
How to Train Your Dragon received universal acclaim upon its release. The film was widely praised for its animation, script, voice performances, musical score, and 3D sequences. Review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes reports that 99% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 210 reviews from professional critics, with an overall rating average of 7.9/10.[28] The website's critical consensus states, "Boasting dazzling animation, a script with surprising dramatic depth, and thrilling 3-D sequences,How to Train Your Dragon soars."[28] As of September 2025, it is DreamWorks Animation's highest-rated film on theRotten Tomatoes website.[29] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 75 out of 100 based on 37 reviews from critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[30] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[31]
Matt Risley ofVariety wrote a highly positive review, hailing it as "undoubtedly Dreamworks' best film yet, and quite probably the best dragon movie ever made".[32]James Berardinelli ofReelViews gave it 3.5 out of 4 stars, and complimented both the "technically proficient" animation and the "witty, intelligent, surprisingly insightful script".[33] Claudia Puig ofUSA Today noted that the film had "surprising depth", and praised the "sweetly poignant tale of friendship between man and animal".[34]Entertainment Weekly film criticOwen Gleiberman praised the film's usage of 3-D in all "its breathtaking spatial and emotional possibilities"; he gave a rating of A−.[35]Richard Corliss ofTime Magazine stated that "it's a foolproof scheme for picture making: take the plot elements of favorite movies, paint the concoction with bright colors so it looks like the zazziest customized car, set it running atNASCAR speed, and you haveHow to Train Your Dragon."[36]
BothRoger Ebert ofThe Chicago Sun-Times andA. O. Scott ofAt The Movies felt that character and story development had been sidelined in favor of the visual spectacle. Ebert criticized the lengthy "aerial battles between tamed dragons and evil ones", but did note that "[the film] is bright, good-looking, and has high energy".[37] Similarly, Scott commended the cinematography, observing that the "swooping and soaring [was] worth the price of a ticket."[38]Rolling Stone film criticPeter Travers, giving it three out of four stars, wrote that the film "works enough miracles of 3-D animation to charm your socks off."[39]
Roger Moore ofThe Orlando Sentinel, who gave the film 2½ stars out of 4, felt that the film's inclusion of more dramatic subject matter, instead of more comedic themes, was to the detriment of the film, making it a "waste of a funny book, some very funny actors and some darned witty animation."[40]Village Voice film criticElla Taylor also gave a more negative review of the film, describing it as an "adequate but unremarkable animated tale".[41]
A television series based on the film premiered onCartoon Network in Autumn 2012.Jay Baruchel,America Ferrera,Christopher Mintz-Plasse, andT. J. Miller reprise their roles as Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, and Tuffnut. The series, set between the first and second film, follows Hiccup and his friends as they learn more about dragons, discover new ones, teach others to feel comfortable around them, adapt traditions within the village to fit their new friends and battle against enemies as they explore new worlds.[50]
HarperCollins Children's Books published a storybook version of the film in 2010. The story was adapted by Rennie Brown while the illustrations were painted by Michael Koelsch.[51]
How to Train Your Dragon Arena Spectacular is an arena show adaptation of the first film featuring 24 animatronic dragons, acrobats and projections. It premiered on March 2, 2012, in Melbourne, Australia.[55]
In January 2024, it was announced thatHow to Train Your Dragon: Isle of Berk would be one of the five lands of Universal Orlando's third theme parkUniversal Epic Universe, which opened on May 22, 2025. The land features five attractions, including a launch roller coaster called Hiccup's Wing Gliders; a sky fly ride called Dragon Racer's Rally; an interactive boat ride called Fyre Drill; and a children's play area called the Viking Training Camp. The fifth attraction is a twenty-minute stage show adaptation of an existing show featured inUniversal Beijing that opened in 2021. The multi-media stage show puts guests right in the middle of a brand-new Viking adventure as Hiccup, Toothless, and Astrid encounter a challenge they must face together if they want the peace between Dragons and Vikings on Berk to persist.[61] Guests can also have a meet and greet with Toothless and Hiccup, as well as other various characters and dragons from the films.[62]
^Bogan, Elaine; Sanford, John (November 11, 2014),Dragons: Dawn of the Dragon Racers, Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse,archived from the original on October 1, 2020, retrievedMay 27, 2018
^Plato, Danielle (May 20, 2025)."The Isle of Berk: Inside Epic Universe, Part II".Theme Park Shark | Your Place for News, Videos and More From Disney, Universal and Your Favorite Theme Parks. RetrievedNovember 12, 2025.
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