Dragons set to invade Auckland

How to Train Your Dragon Arena Spectacular
Vector Arena
April 18-22

Dragons are getting ready to prowl through the Vector Arena later this month following on from last year's popular Walking With Dinosaurs..

A new and more spectacular show, How to Train Your Dragon, has been created by Global Creatures, the technical masterminds behind the Walking With Dinosaurs, and DreamWorks Theatricals.

They are bringing high-flying, fire-breathing dragons to life in an unparalleled live entertainment event to a worldwide audience.

The How To Train Your Dragon Arena Spectacular is an epic adventure inspired by the Academy Award-nominated DreamWorks Animation film, How To Train Your Dragon.

The world tour of the How to Train Your Dragon Arena Spectacular comes to New Zealand from its Australian tour and this will be followed by the North American tour in June.

“In our film, audiences around the world were transported to the mythical world of Vikings and Dragon and now, we are excited to immerse them in a one-of-a-kind live event in the How To Train Your Dragon Arena Spectacular,” said Jeffrey Katzenberg, of DreamWorks Animation.

“The innovative team at Global Creatures and the creative storytellers at DreamWorks Animation have done an inspired job in every imaginable way to present this story on an unprecedented scale that will take audiences to unforgettable new heights.”

Global Creatures CEO Carmen Pavlovic explained: “Working with DreamWorks has brought us into a relationship with one of the world's leading entertainment companies.

"The collaboration fuses our own world-class technology with the vision and dedication of a company renowned for its cutting-edge creativity and storytelling skill.

"We are excited to expand the boundaries of public expectation by creating a show that combines dynamic creatures, world-class performers and incredible staging to not only thrill and intrigue, but to engage audiences on an emotional level as well.”

The successful film How To Train Your Dragon grossed nearly $US500 million at the worldwide box office in 2010 and was among the best-reviewed movies.

In the How to Train Your Dragon Arena Spectacular, audiences will have the opportunity to experience the world of How To Train Your Dragon in a live theatrical event that promises to break every rule of traditional arena entertainment.

The cast of characters features 24 Dragons, some with wingspans of up to 14 metres, Viking warriors and villagers as well as world-class circus and acrobatic performers.

The arena spectacular will feature amazing production values, projections, flying, stunts, circus performers, fire and pyrotechnics.

In one of the largest theatrical arena productions ever to go on tour, the show will require a phenomenal 40 semi-trailers to transport the production while on the road around the world.

The How To Train Your Dragon Arena Spectacular combines fire-breathing action, epic adventure and laughs into a captivating and original story that is set in the mythical world of burly Vikings and wild dragons, and is based on the book by Cressida Cowell.

It centres on Hiccup, a Viking teenager who doesn’t fit in with his tribe’s longstanding tradition of heroic dragon slayers.

Hiccup’s world is turned upside down when he encounters a dragon that challenges him and his fellow Vikings to see the world from an entirely different point of view.

The Dragons have been created by Sonny Tilders and his team at The Creature Technology Company (Melbourne), whose previous work brought to life the stunning, lifelike dinosaurs in Walking With Dinosaurs – the Arena Spectacular.

Included in the cast of dragons are reincarnations of all of the favourites from the DreamWorks Animation film: Nadder, Grackle, Nightmare, Toothless - the Night Fury and Red Death, which is the single largest animatronics creature ever made by The Creature Technology Company.

Creature Designer Tilders said: “The How To Train Your Dragon Arena Spectacular will incorporate everything we learned from Walking With Dinosaurs, taking the technology to a new level.

"Using state-of-the-art computer software we are able to make these creatures perform in ways that we previously thought unimaginable. Utilising computer-controlled flying systems we have created a show that inhabits the air above as well as the arena floor below.”

The creative team features the World’s best and includes: highly acclaimed theatre director and writer Nigel Jamieson, multiple award-winning Australian production designer Peter England, and leading theatre, film and opera designer Dan Potra, among others.

The stunning score features compositions from Icelandic singer-songwriter Jonsi from Sigur Ros and Oscar-nominated British film composer John Powell, who created the original score for How to Train Your Dragon.