In news that should shock no one, DreamWorks has announced plans for a sequel to their hugely popular How To Train Your Dragon, which they now see as a franchise.
Variety reports that the studio looks to have found its successor to the Shrek movies, the last of which (theoretically) was released earlier this year. After recovering from a bit of a slow start when it was released (even though it debuted at #1), How To Train Your Dragon went on to pull in close to $500 million worldwide, so naturally a sequel was only an announcement away.
And here it is: the main voices will be returning, including Jonah Hill, America Ferrera and Craig Ferguson, but original co-writer/director will not be able to make it as he’s busy working on DreamWorks’ other animated feature, The Croods; Dean DeBlois is going solo on the writing and directing this time, and the plan is to use several elements from the nine books in the series.
Expect a bigger opening weekend when the sequel is released in 2013 than the $43 million its predecessor brought in, and enjoy this bit of early morning news.