How to Train Your Dragon Projected to Break Major Box Office Record

How to Train Your Dragon is going to rewrite the box office history books.

June 11, 2025, 1:56pm

The live-action How to Train Your Dragon remake should rewrite the record books when it opens in theaters this weekend. According to The Wrap, the film is estimated to gross $75+ million domestically over its first three days. That figure would be the biggest debut for the How to Train Your Dragon franchise by far, easily topping the $55 million 2019’s How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World earned when it opened. If these projections hold, How to Train Your Dragon could score the fourth-largest three-day opening of the year so far, narrowly edging out Marvel’s Thunderbolts* ($74.3 million).

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The original animated How to Train Your Dragon opened with $43.7 million back in 2010, en route to a $217.5 million domestic total. How to Train Your Dragon 2, released in 2014, grossed $49.4 million in its first weekend and ended its run with $177 million in the U.S.

After How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World earned $521.7 million worldwide, the live-action remake of the first film is part of Universal’s strategy to keep the franchise as one of the studio’s premier brands moving forward. At CinemaCon earlier this year, Universal announced a remake of How to Train Your Dragon 2 is on the way and will premiere in June 2027. That announcement illustrated the studio’s confidence in the quality of the live-action remakes.

Fortunately, that confidence doesn’t appear to be misplaced. Reviews for How to Train Your Dragon are very positive, with some critics considering it an example of a live-action remake done right. The consensus is that it honors the original animated classic while leaving its own stamp on the material at the same time.

How to Train Your Dragon is coming out on the heels of Disney’s Lilo & Stitch remake, which broke box office records over Memorial Day weekend. Universal’s live-action remake isn’t going to be as big of a smash as the Mouse House’s juggernaut, but $75+ million would be an excellent start. The box office estimates illustrate that demand/interest for How to Train Your Dragon wasn’t significantly impacted by Lilo & Stitch dominating the family demographic over the past few weeks. They also prove Disney was smart to push back Pixar’s Elio to avoid a head to head showdown this weekend. How to Train Your Dragon is going to be a big draw, and it would have overshadowed Elio had the animated film kept its original release date.

Not only will How to Train Your Dragon get off to a strong start, it should be set up nicely for a lucrative run. Elio will likely take away some business next weekend, but then it shouldn’t face much direct competition until Jurassic World Rebirth opens in early July. F1‘s target demographic will likely skew older, with that film emerging as a counterprogramming option for adult moviegoers. Especially considering how much of a draw How to Train Your Dragon is overseas, the live-action remake should go down as one of the year’s biggest hits, highlighting why Universal is already moving forward on a new take of the sequel.