As much as I hoped that
As for the trailer itself (from Apple), it's an effective sell, offering tidbits of plot and presumably a few too many visual spoilers without actually stating the story in explicit terms. The one big plot twist, involving the identity of Cate Blanchett's character, is once again unveiled, as is the main characters' surprisingly positive reaction to said twist. The most promising aspect of what's been revealed thus far is that we're clearly not getting a rehash of the first film, but rather a somewhat different story that acknowledges the status quo and goes from there.
Oh, and it looks visually outstanding, the kind of thing that demands an IMAX 3D screening if at all possible. As I mentioned back in December, it will be interesting to see if any proverbial easter eggs or inside references await those who have watched the ongoing Dragons: Riders of Berk which has run on Cartoon Network since 2012. With all of the talk about Marvel interconnecting their films and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., DreamWorks did a slightly less ambitious version first, releasing television shows concurrently with their animated theatrical sequels. It will something to watch over the next few years.
What's most interesting about this sequel is that the younger characters all look visibly older as would be the case with a five-year passage of time. Offhand, I can't recall another instance of such a thing, since most animated franchises stem around ageless talking animals (Ice Age, Madagascar) or adults who whose physical appearance doesn't change in between chapters (the Shrek films). It will be interesting to see how "different" the younger characters of Finding Dory or the just-announced Incredibles sequel will look via the passage of time, presuming of course the films don't pick up immediately after their predecessors. It may be a minor point, but it's somewhat uncharted territory for animated franchises.
The only questions now are A) will the film be any good and B) how will it fare at the box office. That the studio took four years in crafting a sequel lends reasonable hope to the notion of a worthwhile successor to the much-loved original. As far as box office goes, this feels like one of those break-out sequels I'm always talking about. If any film has the chance of being one of those sequels that capitalizes on a much-liked but not super successful original and blowing the original's box office totals out of the water, it's this one.
The original How To Train Your Dragon earned $494 million in 2010, a fine sum but less than even the likes of The Croods ($587m). Ten years ago Shrek 2, a well-liked sequel to a popular and leggy original, shocked pretty much every box office pundit and grossed $440 million in America and $916 million worldwide, or basically double the original film's $440m gross. Last year Universal's Despicable Me 2 pulled the same trick, earning $970m off of the original's $543m. Of course, it's possible that the film will play like Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2 and earn just a little over the original's worldwide gross (think $550m), which would still make it a hit compared to its $165m budget.
Call it a hunch, call it gut feeling, but How To Train Your Dragon 2 feels like the top-tier mega-smash that's getting somewhat lost in the discussion over comic book sequels. In all seriousness, who isn't going to see this? Since the would-be summer preview stuff is about to start, let me go out on a limb and suggest that, if How To Train Your Dragon 2 is as good as we hope it will be, I believe that How To Train Your Dragon 2 will end up the biggest-grossing film of the summer. If I'm wrong so be it, and you can all make fun of me (but not the film) in August if it barely tops $500 million.
But I smell another Finding Nemo or Shrek 2 or Despicable Me 2 (which wasn't even very good), the leggy animated crowd pleaser that packs them in as would-be blockbusters disappoint or fall by the wayside. It has all the ingredients for a classic break-out sequel and it has comparatively light direct competition after it opens. Transformers 4 and Guardians of the Galaxy will skew young, but in terms of explicit family fare, Planes: Fire and Rescue opens a month later while Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (which I assume will be PG) opens two months later.
Come what may, How To Train Your Dragon 2 opens June 13th, 2014. As always, we'll see.
