How to Train Your Dragon 3 Sets Franchise Record In Opening Weekend

Published Feb 24, 2019

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an emotionally rousing entry buoyed by stunning animation and a heartfelt story. The Hidden World generated positive word-of-mouth leading up to its theatrical release, establishing it as one of the better offerings in the early part of 2019.

As encouraging as those reviews were, it wasn't necessarily a guarantee The Hidden World would be a box office hit. Just a couple weeks ago, the worst Super Bowl weekend and Presidents Day weekend in some time. Fortunately, the return of How to Train Your Dragon provided a spark and gave the multiplex a much-needed shot in the arm.

According to Box Office Mojo, The Hidden World grossed $55.5 million in its opening weekend. When coupled with the grosses from advanced Fandango screenings earlier this month, the animated sequel has made $58 million Stateside. That's the highest debut in the history of the franchise, topping How to Train Your Dragon 2's $49.4 million. It's also the largest opening weekend of 2019 so far.

This shouldn't really come as a surprise, but it's still a nice development to see. As alluded to above, a number of films have faced rough sledding at the box office. Alita: Battle Angel managed to exceed expectations, it didn't break any records either. The manga adaptation fell a steep 57.9 percent during its second weekend and has only made $60.6 million domestically. It will need a strong showing overseas (particularly in China) to turn a profit. At the end of the day, The Hidden World will likely go down as the first proper hit of the year.

There are still a couple of weeks left until Captain Marvel opens, so How to Train Your Dragon should be set up for a fruitful run. It's already turned a profit, as it's earned $274.9 million against a $129 million production budget. Several of the holdovers aren't generating much interest, so there isn't anything that poses a direct threat until the MCU's latest arrives. Universal picked a good weekend for The Hidden World, finding a soft spot in the release calendar and taking full advantage of minimal competition.