Bad news, dragon fans: Toothless aficionados everywhere will have to be patient for an extra 12 months, as DreamWorks Animation has decided to shift the third entry in the How To Train Your Dragon franchise to 2017.
The second film arrived earlier this year, and despite some worries that it didn’t perform quite as well in the States as the first – $174 million so far, compared to the original’s $277.2 million US haul – the international figures have been much more favourable, with the sequel totalling $598.8 million globally compared to $494.8 million last time.
No reason for the shift has been given, but we do know that writer/director Dean DeBlois and producer Bonnie Arnold remain firmly attached. Presumably, the request for more time came from within, and we all know we want the third movie to look and feel as spectacular as the first two.
So we’ll have to wait a little longer to find out what happens after the big changes in the second film. Jay Baruchel and the rest of the voice cast are scheduled to return for the film, which has now been set for a June 9, 2017 release across the pond. If the release pattern holds, we can probably expect to see the new movie on screen in July 2017. Meanwhile, Empire's own experiments to breed our own Toothless are ongoing. So far, the only results have been some rather confused lizards and a traumatised bat, but we remain confident we'll get there eventually.