How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is flying across the world as we speak. The third film concludes the trilogy for Hiccup and Toothless, and it has already opened in 41 international markets, before we get it over here on February 22.
Super Bowl weekend was appallingly slow for the domestic box office, but How to Train Your Dragon 3 topped the international box office, picking up $40.2 million for a current worldwide total of $84.4 million. According to Deadline, the family film's release actually helped boost the weekend 8% across the top five titles as compared to last week and last year.
Australia has had the film in theaters since early January, and it's made $15.5 million so far. Brazil picked it up a couple of weeks later and the film has made about $10 million at this point.
How to Train Your Dragon 3 opened at No. 1 in 20 of the 23 international markets it debuted in during this session. The film made $8.7 million in Mexico, marking the biggest weekend launch ever for a DreamWorks Animation movie in that country. Deadline said the U.K. debut of $6.8 million was better than the launch of the previous two films, and they added that Italy was also tracking ahead of the first two films in the HTTYD franchise. So far, so good.
Next, How to Train Your Dragon 3 opens in more markets -- including France, Germany, and locations in South East Asia. China, the second-largest movie market after our domestic U.S./Canada market, is scheduled to get the movie on March 1.
The U.S. won't get How to Train Your Dragon 3 until February 22, but many people have already seen it. Critics got it early, and posted very positive reviews. On Saturday, February 2, fans flocked to sold-out early screenings, posting emotional reviews across the internet.
Hiccup voice actor Jay Baruchel said The Hidden World would leave fans sad, but satisfied, and that seems to be the case in many of the reactions. It sounds like a winner.
Will How to Train Your Dragon 3 also win at the box office? The first How to Train Your Dragon movie came out in 2010 and made $494,878,759 worldwide, per Box Office Mojo, from about $217.5 million on the domestic side and $277M overseas. How to Train Your Dragon 2 arrived in 2014 and made $621,537,519 worldwide. So that's the total for The Hidden World to beat, if it wants to conclude the trilogy at the top.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World will be released over here on Friday, February 22, but since many fans have already seen it, you should be careful to avoid spoilers out there. The animated film is just one of many movies to look forward to in 2019.
