How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) follows Hiccup, a year into his time as chief of Berk, as he tries to keep his village safe and his dragons free. Berk has become crowded with rescued dragons, and hunters keep raiding the island to capture more of them, so the old arrangement of humans and dragons sharing one small home is starting to strain.

Hiccup's answer is the Hidden World, a legendary dragon refuge that his late father once described, and he wants to lead his people there. Grimmel, a hunter given a captive female Light Fury by the warlords, uses her as bait to lure Toothless. When Toothless and the Light Fury meet, they are clearly drawn to each other, and Grimmel begins hunting the dragons of Berk.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) is rated PG in the US, UK and Australia.

In the full plot of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019), Hiccup leads Berk away from the hunter Grimmel, finds the dragon haven, and says goodbye to Toothless, with an epilogue a decade later. Hiccup wants to lead the village to the Hidden World, but the Light Fury, who was handed to Grimmel as bait, meets Toothless in the woods, where the two are plainly drawn to one another. She runs when she senses the humans nearby.

Grimmel then confronts Hiccup and demands Toothless. His Deathgrippers wreck much of Berk, so Hiccup leads the villagers and their dragons away by sea. They settle on an island they name New Berk, and Toothless leaves to join the Light Fury. Grimmel lays a trap for the group, though most of them escape it.

Hiccup and Astrid find the Hidden World, where Toothless is now the alpha and the Light Fury is his mate. Seeing it, Hiccup realizes that humans do not belong there. Grimmel has followed them, though, and he captures both dragons, then uses Toothless to take control of the dragons of Berk.

Hiccup and the riders strike back using wingsuits and free Toothless, but Grimmel drugs the Light Fury and flies off with her. In the chase that follows, Hiccup and Toothless beat the Deathgrippers, but Toothless is tranquilized and falls. The Light Fury rescues him, and Grimmel falls to his death.

Hiccup and Toothless accept that dragons are not safe among humans. Hiccup says goodbye, and the Berkians release their dragons. A decade later, Hiccup and Astrid, now married with children, visit Toothless and the Light Fury, who have three young hybrid dragons.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) premiered on February 9, 2019 in Los Angeles and reached US theaters on February 22, 2019. The premiere took place at the Regency Village Theatre in Westwood, and the US date was a week earlier than first planned, since Universal moved the film up from March 1 on September 27, 2018.

Outside the US, the release dates reported by TMDB are February 1, 2019 in the UK and January 3, 2019 in Australia. These two dates are reported by TMDB, not confirmed by a studio announcement.

At the box office, the film took $160.8 million domestically and $379.0 million internationally, for $539.8 million worldwide on a $129 million budget, according to Box Office Mojo. For the whole series, see the how to train your dragon box office page.

Where can you stream it now? As of November 2, 2026, TMDB, using JustWatch data, lists the film for rent or purchase in the US on services including Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube and Fandango At Home, with no subscription streaming service listed there. In Australia it is listed on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Paramount Plus, Stan and Foxtel Now, and in the UK it is listed for rent or purchase on Apple TV Store, Rakuten TV, Amazon Video, Sky Store and YouTube. For the full picture, see where to watch how to train your dragon.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) ends with Hiccup and Toothless agreeing that dragons will only be safe if humans stay away from them, so Hiccup says goodbye and the Berkians free their dragons to go to the Hidden World. Months later, Hiccup and Astrid marry and become chieftains of New Berk. Ten years on, Toothless and the Light Fury have three hybrid young, and Hiccup and Astrid visit with their children. Hiccup vows that dragons will stay hidden until the two species can live together in peace.

Why does Hiccup let Toothless go? The key moment comes earlier, when he stands in the Hidden World and realizes that humans do not belong there. That is the point where the film stops being a rescue story and becomes a story about letting go. Grimmel's hunt proves that the world outside cannot protect dragons, and the haven proves that dragons can thrive without people, so the choice is less a defeat than a hard kind of care.

It could be argued that the final scene softens the goodbye, because Hiccup and Toothless do see each other again, and the three hybrid young show that the dragons have a future. Perhaps the more telling detail is that Hiccup does not promise a reunion for everyone: he promises only that dragons will stay hidden until peace is possible.

Is this the end of the story? For the animated trilogy, yes, since it closes the arc that began in How to Train Your Dragon (2010) and continued in How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014). The series itself carries on in live action, with How to Train Your Dragon (2025) and the live action How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2027), which is dated for June 11, 2027. For how the animated and live action versions compare, see how to train your dragon live action vs animated.

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World was not filmed at any real location, because it is an animated feature and its settings were designed and drawn. No physical shooting locations are recorded for it.

The places on screen are built worlds: Berk, the island the villagers leave behind, New Berk, where they settle after the sea voyage, and the Hidden World itself. The Hidden World is the most carefully described of them, since production designer Pierre-Olivier Vincent created it from director Dean DeBlois's idea of a hole in the sea, with bioluminescent light, steam carved caverns, glowing coral and mushroom forests.

Roger Deakins, working as a visual consultant, also influenced how these places are lit. He suggested setting the courtship of Toothless and the Light Fury at dawn, with sunlight bouncing off distant rock faces.

Roger Deakins served as visual consultant on How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) and suggested setting the Toothless and Light Fury courtship at dawn.

• Universal moved the US release up a week, from March 1 to February 22, 2019, on September 27, 2018.
• Justin Rupple is credited as the voice of Tuffnut for this film.
• The film has no post credit scene, so there is no need to stay in your seat after the credits.