DreamWorks’How To Train Your Dragonis a bona fide box office hit after its massive opening weekend that shattered franchise records. The 2025 live-action film is a remake of DreamWorks' 2010 animated movie of the same name. Its only been 15 years since audiences were first introduced to Hiccup and Toothless' story, and only 6 years have passed since the animated trilogy concluded. That did not deter excitement to see the same story told again in live-action, which meant highbox office expectations forHow To Train Your Dragon’s remake.
The belief that DreamWorks' live-action film would perform well financially came from a variety of factors. The original animatedHow To Train Your Dragonmovieswere very successful at the box office. Disney has also proved with its live-action remakes that there is a strong appetite among audiences for these types of films. So many people adoring the previous film creates a built-in intrigue, as there’s curiosity about what is the same andwhatHow To Train Your Dragonchangesin the remake. That’s resulted in a huge box office return already.
How Much How To Train Your Dragon’s Remake Made In Its Opening Weekend
It Outperformed Expectations
Universal and DreamWorks putHow To Train Your Dragonout in theaters on August 13, 2025, and it immediately flew to the number one spot at the box office. Itmade $84.6 million domestically in its opening weekend, dethroningLilo & Stitch’s nearly month-long run atop the box office. The film kicked off its reign by making $35,580,000 on Friday (including Wednesday and Thursday night preview sales). Interest remained strong over the weekend as the film posted $26,460,000 and $22,700,000 totals on Saturday and Sunday.
The live-action remake did even better internationally.How To Train Your Dragonmade an additional $114,145,000 abroad, allowing it to also be the number one film globally. This performance includes strong showings in Mexico ($14M), the United Kingdom ($11.4M), China ($11.2M), Brazil ($7.8M), and Korea ($7.4M). Those were the top 5 international territories forHow To Train Your Dragonin the opening weekend, with France ($5.1M), Australia ($4.4M), Spain ($4.3M), Germany ($4M), and Italy ($3.3M) completing the top 10.
With the domestic and international totals combined,How To Train Your Dragon’s opening weekend box officegrossed $198.7 million worldwide. The domestic and international split was 42.5% versus 57.5%.How To Train Your Dragonis already one of the top 10 highest-grossing 2025 moviesat the box office. It nearly beat Disney’s live-action remakeSnow Whitein its entirety in just three days.
How To Train Your Dragon Remake’s Opening Weekend Compared To The Rest Of The Franchise
The Live-Action Remake Broke Records
Continuing a pattern for the franchise,How To Train Your Dragonhas a new highest-grossing opening weekend record holderthanks to the live-action remake. The $84.6 million performance of the new film is well above the previous record,How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World’s $55 million opening. The reimagining is the third consecutive new release in the series to break this record. After the original film made $43.7 million in its opening weekend, the sequel jumped up to $49.4 million. The threequel then beat that, and now the live-action remake has done it again.
Whereas the animated movies all opened in a similar range, the live-action film had no trouble going beyond those totals. The nearly $31 million increase between the last animated film and this new release is big. Still, in every case, theHow To Train Your Dragonmovies used their opening weekends to propel them to great box office totals overall.
$43,732,319
$217,581,231
$277,298,240
$494,879,860
$49,451,322
$177,002,924
$444,534,595
$621,537,519
$55,022,245
$160,945,505
$379,042,054
$539,987,993
$84,600,000
$84,600,000 (currently)
$114,145,000
$198,745,000
The original animated film had strong legs as it made $494.8 million worldwide. Of the $217.5 million domestically, only 20.1% of that came from its opening weekend.How To Train Your Dragon 2performed even better overall, $621.5 million worldwide, but dipped domestically to $177 million. 27.9% of the sequel’s domestic gross came from its opening weekend. ForHow To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, there was a decline overall, $539.9 million worldwide ($160.9M came domestically). Its opening weekend made up 34.2% of its domestic total.
Why How To Train Your Dragon’s Box Office Is So Good
There Were Lots Of Factors In Its Favor
The franchise record-breaking performance forHow To Train Your Dragon’s box office is not terribly surprising based on how well most live-action remakes do. DreamWorks' movie boasts fairly positive reviews, which undoubtedly helped.How To Train Your Dragon’s Rotten Tomatoes scoressit favorably at 77% with critics and 98% with audiences. Instead of this being a case where bad critic reviews could tank its opening weekend with general audiences, the positive word of mouth helped ensure the movie would beat industry expectations, which were around $65M-$75M.
It helps thatHow To Train Your Dragonhas broad appealtoo. This is a movie that can be seen with the whole family. It’s a great viewing option for kids who are unfamiliar with the story, while many adults could also be interested after growing up watching the animated movies. Even if no one in the family is familiar with the animated films, the accessibility of this story makes it easy for audiences to walk into a theater to see it. Many may have even paid premium prices for 3D or IMAX viewing options.
How To Train Your Dragonalso did not have too much competition at the box office.Lilo & Stitchcame in second place, but it only made $15.5 million in its fourth weekend of release. Most people interested in Disney’s live-action remake have already seen it by this point. This allows DreamWorks to step in and make its movie the first choice for families looking to escape the summer heat and have a fun time at the theater. If it had come out a bit earlier,Lilo & Stitchwould have been a bigger competitor.
How Much Could The How To Train Your Dragon Remake Make At The Box Office?
Franchise Trends Point To A Favorable Total
How To Train Your Dragon’s box office total should climb fairly high over the coming weeks and months. The record high start domestically will undoubtedly help the movie exceed the original’s $217.5 million, which remains the franchise’s highest output domestically. It’s already made 38% of that total in the first three days. If the live-action remake has only decent legs and performs similar to the third film, it’ll make over $250 million domestically. If it performs more like the second film, it could make around $300 million domestically alone.A near $400 million domestic gross is not impossibleeither.
The expected larger total from domestic sales will nicely combine with what appears to be a favorable reception overseas. The previous films in the series made $277 million, $444 million, and $379 million internationally. The live-action remake is already made nearly half of the original film’s international total. An international gross closer to the sequels' performances may be more likely. It may even break a franchise record in this area, too, if interest remains high in the coming weeks.
it will take better-than-expected performances forHow To Train Your Dragonto earn $1 billion worldwide
Globally, it will take better-than-expected performances forHow To Train Your Dragonto earn $1 billion worldwide. That milestone probably is not in the cards for DreamWorks' film, but it is already wellon its way to becoming the franchise’s highest-grossing movie overall. It needs another $430 million overall to achieve this. At the beginning of the year,I predicted a $760 million final total forHow To Train Your Dragon’s box office. That may wind up being the floor for its total now.
How To Train Your Dragon Remake’s Box Office Is A Good Sign For The Franchise
Universal and DreamWorks have to be happy aboutHow To Train Your Dragon’s box office given what is known about the franchise’s future already. The studios previouslyconfirmedHow To Train Your Dragon 2is getting a live-action remakenext. With a 2027 release date set, they should have confidence that the sequel will be another smash hit. The second installment is the one audiences loved the most at the box office, so the live-action sequel could similarly do better than the original.
This also strengthens the chance that we will see all three animated movies remade in live-action. The early confirmation of the sequel guaranteed that Universal and DreamWorks would at least make the next film. Now withHow To Train Your Dragon’s box office receipts flying in, they could give the threequel an early green light too. There’s no reason to believe this franchise is one audiences will begin to ignore, considering how happy most are with it.
