‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Flies Over Nicolas Cage’s $130 Million Blockbuster Sequel at Global Box Office

It’s always been an interesting time to be Jerry Bruckheimer, but the super-producer’s recent run has been quite spectacular. A few years ago, he collaborated with star Tom Cruise and director Joseph Kosinski on Top Gun: Maverick, which grossed nearly $1.5 billion worldwide. More recently, he produced Kosinski’s F1, starring Brad Pitt. The movie had an excellent debut last week, and has received massive acclaim from audiences. But a couple of decades ago, in the second phase of his career, Bruckheimer was working quite frequently with Nicolas Cage. Among the most successful of their collaborations is the cult hit National Treasure: Book of Secrets, which was recently overtaken at the worldwide box office by How to Train Your Dragon.

Universal’s live-action remake of the 2010 animated hit has generated $459 million globally so far, overtaking National Treasure 2‘s $457 million lifetime haul. In doing so, How to Train Your Dragon has become one of the 300 highest-grossing movies of all time. It debuted a few weeks ago to mostly positive reviews, and incredible audience support. In fact, it holds a near-perfect 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, against a solid 77% critics’ score. Produced on a reported budget of $150 million, it’s the first live-action remake of any DreamWorks Animation property, and is all set to get a sequel in a couple of years.

Directed by Dean DeBlois, the movie is projected to overtake the original by this weekend, after which it’ll set its sights on passing the franchise’s high watermark, How to Train Your Dragon 2‘s $600 million-plus haul from 2014. Live-action remakes of animated hits are a common kind of tent pole these days, with Disney’s Lilo & Stitch grossing over $950 million worldwide so far. However, there have been some misfires as well. Earlier this year, Snow White tanked at just around $200 million globally, against a reported budget of over $250 million.

A Streaming Spin-Off to ‘National Treasure’ Was Canceled After One Season

Also distributed by Disney, National Treasure 2 was produced on a reported budget of $130 million. Like its predecessor, it was directed by Jon Turteltaub, who has since gone on to make The Meg, which grossed over half-a-billion globally. Surprisingly, a third installment in the National Treasure franchise was never produced. After years of speculation, Disney chose to go with a streaming spin-off instead, but the show was canceled following one season. Meanwhile, Cage has been attempting his own comeback, having recently starred in the hit horror film Longlegs. You can watch How to Train Your Dragon in theaters, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.