What Format Should You Choose For How To Train Your Dragon 2025?

The How to Train Your Dragon franchise has been a great success story for director Dean DeBlois in the animated world, but taking a leaf out of Disney’s playbook, it has now taken the leap into the realm of live action. It retains Gerard Butler as Stoick the Vast, with Mason Thames as Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III and Nico Parker as his love interest, Astrid Hofferson. Among the other cast members, we also get Nick Frost as Gobber the Belch, who was also recently announced as Hagrid in the upcoming TV remake of the Harry Potter franchise.

Resembling to my eyes, a child-friendly version of House of the Dragon, the new How to Train Your Dragon is big, bold family entertainment, so it’s no wonder that it is being released in a plethora of formats, so we’ll run through them here to help you decide which one to choose.

IMAX

With a behind-the-scenes trailer IMAX to accompany it, DeBlois says that the film has been made “specifically with IMAX in mind.” Captured using the Arri Alexa 35 and Arri Alexa LF IMAX, both of which are “Filmed For IMAX” certified, for over 50 minutes of its runtime, the film will expand to the 190:1 aspect ratio in all IMAX screens. This is likely to be for the big action sequences.

Note, though, that this isn’t the full-fat IMAX experience that you’ll get with films shot with IMAX film cameras with 1.43:1 aspect ratio sequences, but there’s no doubt that the flying sequences will be impressive on the extra-large IMAX screens. Also, note that not all IMAX screens are equal. The best ones will use laser projectors for a brighter picture, and most of these will also have 12-channel sound, which does better with overhead effects for more immersiveness.

The movie will also get an IMAX 3D release, but my local cinema only has two showings in this format, so you’ll have to hunt for this if you’re a fan of stereoscopy. Sadly, I found IMAX 3D to be disappointing for the recent Marvel Thunderbolts movie, but technologies such as TrueCut Motion can help with motion blur and perceived brightness, so unless it’s confirmed that this tech has been used for this release, I wouldn’t recommend 3D in this case.

HDR by Barco

What can be confirmed is that it has had an HDR by Barco grade ­—the projection technology that makes full use of the dynamic range that the digital cameras used are capable of capturing. As such, this will be the top choice for image quality. Sadly, the projectors are only available in six screens worldwide, and not all of them are showing the movie on their HDR-capable screens. This includes Cineworld London Leicester Square, which is instead showing the new Ballerina movie (which does have an HDR by Barco grade at least) and Mission: The Final Reckoning, which is top draw but doesn’t have an HDR grade.

Dolby Cinema

At least you’ll get more consistency if you choose to see it at a Dolby Cinema. Having seen the trailer in this format at the Dolby screening room in its London HQ (more on this coming soon), I can attest that the intense colors from the greenery and the dragon flames make it a delight for the eyes, while the Dolby Atmos audio is a great match for the swirling flight scenes.

Premium Large Format

If you can’t get to IMAX or Dolby screen but still want a large image and great audio, then seek out a premium large-format screen. Every chain has its own branding for these, so look out for Cinemark XD, Cineplex UltraAVX, Xtreme Xscape, Prime at AMC, Regal RPX, and in the UK, Odeon iSense and Cineworld Superscreen. These will all give you 4K laser projection, Dolby Atmos, and decent seats, so it’s worth the extra.

If you want something really fun, though, consider 4DX, which, for How to Train Your Dragon, is combined with 3D. As such, you might not mind the motion blur as you’ll be being thrown around by the moving seats in time with the on-screen action, with rumblers in the seats will make you feel every crash landing, which to me sounds like a ton of fun.

ScreenX

ScreenX is also available, which offers extra footage shown on screens that run down the sides of the auditorium. Save for Grand Turismo, where the side-screens were amazing for the cockpit scenes, I’ve yet to be convinced by ScreenX—though I could see how it could all to the immersiveness of the flying scenes.

RealD 3D

Aside from this, there’s regular RealD 3D in standard screens, but there’s a danger it will be an aging Xenon bulb, which could hurt the experience by delivering a dim picture. Personally, you know there’s a laser projector in play in your particular chosen screen; if you’re not going to choose one of the above formats, I’d avoid it and stick with regular 2D.

But with so many other, much more exciting ways of seeing How to Train Your Dragon, it would seem a shame not to take advantage and jump aboard one of them.