Despite the fact that it launched to a “disappointing” first weekend, How To Train Your Dragon has been roaring around the US box office charts, and surged back to top position this weekend. Given that performance, it’s not really surprising that DreamWorks would want to get a sequel flying.

And so it came to pass: in a otherwise dry financial report yesterday, DreamWorks boss Jeffrey Katzenberg announced the studio’s plan for the little Dragon film that could: "2010 is off to a strong start, thanks in large part to the performance of How To Train Your Dragon, which – having grossed nearly $375 million to date in worldwide box office – has become DreamWorks Animation's next franchise. We plan to release the sequel theatrically in 2013."

Three years seems like a short timeline to get a big CG animated film made, but it’s not impossible – Dragon directors Dean DeBlois and Chris Saunders had to turn the film around from a stalled original version in less than that. Plus, Cressida Cowell’s original novel is only the first in a series (and the sequel involves pirates!) so there are lots more potential stories – although any sequels are likely to differ from their source just as much as the first film did.