The live-action remake of “How to Train Your Dragon” soared to the top of the box office last weekend. It dethroned “Lilo & Stitch” with an impressive $84 million debut. Hiccup and Toothless captured hearts and dominated the live-action remake arena.
#HowToTrainYourDragon finished opening wknd ABOVE estimates at North American #boxoffice. Final wknd numbers:
Domestic – $84.6M
Intl – $113M
Global – $197.6MTop 5 intl openings:
Mexico – $13.8M
China – $11.1M
UK – $11M
Brazil – $7.8M
Korea – $7.4M#HTTYD $IMAX $AMC— Gitesh Pandya (TikTok @gitesh.pandya) (@GiteshPandya) June 16, 2025
This marks a successful entry for Universal and DreamWorks on the 15th anniversary of the original animated film. The film launched with $83.7 million. It carved a significant niche among live-action remakes.
Watch my wknd #BoxOffice video recap right now on #TikTok and follow me there for more videos!#HowToTrainYourDragon #HTTYD #LiloAndStitch #Materialists #MissionImpossible #Ballerina #movies #movie #filmtwitter #filmX #film #films https://t.co/YU04tMUKHL
— Gitesh Pandya (TikTok @gitesh.pandya) (@GiteshPandya) June 16, 2025
It trailed behind “The Lion King” (2019) and “Beauty and the Beast” (2017) at the box office. But it still proved its mettle with a robust launch. This opening places it eighth among recent remakes.
A Sunday morning chatting box office with the @AP's @MrLandrum31 is a very good day indeed! – https://t.co/0irBlF4Ov5 “This is yet another example of a live-action remake really delivering on the promise of the marketing,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for…
— Paul Dergarabedian (@PDergarabedian) June 15, 2025
It demonstrates strong audience interest, despite the highly competitive field of Disney retellings. The 2010 original film opened to $43.7 million. It garnered a strong word-of-mouth success, grossing $217.5 million domestically.
The sequels, though facing diminishing domestic returns, completed a successful trilogy. The total was $1.63 billion globally. The current remake’s $83.7 million debut marks it as the 18th highest June opening.
Expectations are to reach significant milestones in the future. Internationally, it made an additional $114 million, bringing the total start to over $197 million. While “How to Train Your Dragon” enjoyed success, Mike Flanagan’s “The Life of Chuck” underperformed.
Dragon remake dominates the box office
Despite winning the People’s Choice award at the Toronto Film Festival, the film only grossed $2.1 million in its debut across 1,074 theaters. This performance falls short when compared to other acclaimed films, such as “The Shawshank Redemption”.
Despite a slow start, that film found its audience and success over time. “Lilo & Stitch” slipped to second place with $15.5 million after a dominant three-week run. This brings its domestic total to over $366 million and its worldwide total to $800 million.
The decline was expected with the entry of strong new contenders. Meanwhile, A24’s “Materialists” opened strong, earning $12 million in its debut. This performance marks it as one of A24’s more successful releases.
It signals a positive trend for the studio. Other box office contenders included a mixed bag of established hits and disappointing follow-ups. In its sophomore weekend, the John Wick spinoff fell dramatically by 61%, grossing $9.4 million.
This poses questions about its overall profitability given its $90 million budget. Other notable performers included Wes Anderson’s latest, which underperformed compared to his previous works. An R-rated horror hit a respectable $3.9 million in its fifth weekend.
“How to Train Your Dragon’s triumphant return has set a high bar for future releases. With robust initial numbers and substantial international earnings, it looks set to become a significant hit for Universal and DreamWorks. Conversely, other films, such as “The Life of Chuck,” demonstrate the unpredictable nature of the box office.
Critical acclaim does not always translate to commercial success.
