“There are certain characters and situations that come into play in the second film that will becomes much more crucial to the story by the third. Other threads from the first will begin to pay themselves off in the second,” DeBlois said. “It's my way of guaranteeing that it is not another adventure that we throw the same five or six characters into, that it feels like part of a larger story.”

Speaking at the dedication of USC’s new Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Center for Animation, DeBlois said that several drafts of the script have been completed and the storyboarding process has begun. “It is nice that we have an excited crew and a lot of confidence in the project. It is really ambitious. It's all fun stuff, it's really challenging,” he said.

Earlier this year, DeBlois and producer Bonnie Arnold revealed details about the sequel to THR. The story will move beyond the small, North Sea island that was the setting of the original film as it traces the further adventures of Hiccup as he grows toward becoming the leader of his Viking clan. "It's going to be quite epic,” DeBlois said.

DeBlois was co-director and Arnold producer of the original Dragon movie, which was released last year. Dragon co-director Chris Sanders is exec producing the sequel. Sanders is next co-writing and co-directing DWA's The Croods, a 2012 release.

The first Dragon was nominated for two Academy Awards including best animated feature. It was one of the top 10 highest-grossing movies in the 2010 North American box office, and the film has grossed nearly $500 million worldwide.