In an exclusive interview, Gerard Butler reveals that he feels How To Train Your Dragon 3 franchise from Dreamworks is the best yet. How To Train Your Dragon 3 will continue the story started in 2010, in a magical world where humans and dragons live together, and where a young boy named Hiccup taught his village how to work with their dragon friends, not against them. The original How To Train Your Dragon was a massive success, and that success continued with the sequel (How To Train Your Dragon 2), which raked in $100 million more than the original at the box office.

It shouldn't be too surprising that with the first two How To Train Your Dragon movies doing so well, a third installment was planned, and although How To Train Your Dragon 3 has had its release date pushed back multiple times before landing on its current March 2019 spot, that's not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, star Jay Baruchel (who voices Hiccup), has already said that he believes it is the strongest in the franchise, and now it seems that Gerard Butler (who voices Stoick) agrees with him.

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In an exclusive interview with Screen Rant for his upcoming action film Den Of Thieves Butler mentioned his recent work recording for How To Train Your Dragon 3, and called it "beautiful":

So I have How to Train Your Dragon, which I just did my bit on and it's so beautiful I think it might be the best of the lot.

Butler has been voicing Stoick the Vast since the first film in the franchise. Stoick sacrificed himself to save Hiccup in How To Train Your Dragon 2, which means that his appearance in How To Train Your Dragon 3 should be entirely in flashbacks. Presumably, he could also appear in dreams, as a ghost, or as a vision - all the usual ways that major characters who have passed on are able to return to a franchise after their death.

Butler's comment means that now two of the biggest stars in the franchise have called How To Train Your Dragon 3 the best of the bunch, which is high praise indeed. It's common for franchises to start to worsen over time, especially if the films are not originally devised as a series, but How To Train Your Dragon seems like it will buck this trend. It also looks like this will be the 'culmination' of Hiccup's story, meaning that a fourth How To Train Your Dragon may not be in the cards, or may be something very different.

Of course, it's always possible that the stars of the film are simply talking it up, especially with the release date having been pushed back so many times. Nevertheless, we're hoping for a third How To Train Your Dragon installment that lives up to the hype.

MORE: How To Train Your Dragon 3 Is The 'Strongest'

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