Bryan Alexander

USA TODAY

CANNES, France — While Godzilla stomps about on big screens around the world, the South of France is bracing for its own dragon sighting.

Toothless, the black Night Fury dragon from the animated How to Train Your Dragon 2 (out June 13), makes a live appearance Friday at the Cannes Film Festival. The cumbersome costume is well over 6 feet tall with a head so big it requires a cooling fan for the performer inside and can be worn for only 20 minutes at a time.

It's perhaps the most elaborate costume ever prepared by DreamWorks Animation, which is saying something, because the company has cornered the animation market on Cannes stunts.

"There's the cinema of Cannes, and there's the circus of Cannes," says Jeffrey Katzenberg, DreamWorks CEO. "Hundreds of journalists are here, photographers with every publication. With that has come showmanship. One of the things DreamWorks has loved doing is bringing showmanship to the South of France."

DreamWorks did not invent the Cannes photo stunt: Film stars have long frolicked on the beach right outside the festival venues, including Sacha Baron Cohen in a neon-green thong man-kini in 2006 for Borat. He also invaded the festival in 2012 on a camel for The Dictator before pretending to kill a bikini-clad actress aboard a yacht in front of paparazzi.

This year, the stars of The Expendables 3 (Aug. 15), including Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson and Harrison Ford, will rumble into town in armored cars.

But when it comes to showmanship consistency, DreamWorks owns this international market. In 2007, Jerry Seinfeld was hoisted through the air in a giant bumblebee suit for BeeMovie;Angelina Jolie, Will Smith and Jack Black pulled up to the beach on a giant inflatable shark in 2004 for Shark Tale; and Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek posed in front of three-story-tall boots for 2011's unveiling of Puss in Boots.

"DreamWorks gets the world's attention," says Pete Hammond, columnist for the industry website Deadline.com. "The organizers realize this festival is a commercial proposition as well, and this is a way to promote the glamour of Cannes."

Before 2001, the festival had featured only two animated films, both from Disney. Shrek's high-profile placement in the competition that year established DreamWorks in the festival power seat for animation. Festival director Thierry Frémaux even made a point of saying the selection of How to Train Your Dragon 2 for 2014 was a thank-you for the special relationship with the studio. The premiere will be not be part of the film competition.

The benefits to the company are clear. The stunts and then the glamorous walk up the red carpet for the official premiere are priceless worldwide public relations opportunities. This will be key for the box office hopes for Dragon 2, which could turn around the studio's fortunes after losses from films such as 2013's Turbo and this year's Mr. Peabody & Sherman.

"The Cannes film festival is such a big splashy way to have a world premiere," says Dragon 2 director Dean DeBlois. "It creates kind of a buzz everywhere. It has that kind of prestige to it."