Universal Breathes Life into Dragon Program

Universal Brand Development has announced a multi-category licensing and merchandising program for its upcoming film DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.

The program includes:

• Master toy partner Spin Master with new toys inspired by the film, including glow-in-the-dark, dragon-glow effects and color-changing technology, and more.

• Playmobile, a partner since 2017, will develop a line with key story arcs from across the DreamWorks Dragons franchise and film.

• Ravensburger will debut a range of games and puzzles, and

• Funko will release a line featuring Toothless and Light Fury worldwide.

Returning publishing partners include Bendon, Simon & Schuster and Readerlink in North America; Hachette in the U.K. and France; Editorial Planeta in Spain; Fabbri Editori in Italy; Panini Verlags and Blue Ocean in Germany; Scholastic in Australia; and AST License in Russia.

The publishing program will consist of storybooks, activity books and early readers, as well as a hardcover art book from Dark Horse, Art of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, and a How to Train Your Dragon pop-up book from Insight Editions.

Fashion and apparel partners for girls, boys and toddlers with international deals include Aykroyd & Sons and H&M, as well as Hybrid, Bentex and SG Footwear in North America and DesignWorks in Australia.

A new mobile game, dubbed “DreamWorks Dragons: Titan Uprising,” will launch next year in Google Play and App Store.

The game, developed by Ludia, invites players to a Dragon-inspired match-3-puzzle-role-playing game. Fans can visit Dragonstitanuprising.com to preregister for tokens.

Outright Games will release a new console game, “DreamWorks Dragons Dawn of New Riders,” which introduces new characters into and a new storyline within the DreamWorks Dragons universe. The game will be available in early 2019 on PlayStation4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch.

“As we head into the theatrical release of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, we’re thrilled to expand the DreamWorks Dragons franchise by engaging audiences of all ages with high-quality consumer products, innovative retail partnerships and compelling fan experiences,” says Vince Klaseus, president, Universal Brand Development. “This curated global consumer-products program highlights hero Dragons and extends the storytelling, delivering a full range of products for boys, girls and adults.”

DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World will be released Feb.22 in North America.