After the film’s world premiere at the Cannes Festival in May, the cast of ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2’ has hit the red carpet in Los Angeles.

The second chapter of the epic trilogy brings back the magical world of Hiccup and Toothless five years on.

The film’s director Dean DeBlois is very upfront about the fact that this is the middle chapter in a larger saga – a trilogy expected to end in 2016.

“I think I was inspired a little bit by how the ‘Harry Potter’ movies grew up with the audience and this is a story that takes place in a world that has believable stakes. Even in the first movie a character could lose his leg. You don’t come out of conflicts unscathed and if you fall from a height you might die or if you get in the way of dragon fire might you might die and I think we built upon that idea. If it has believable stakes then let’s really push it and see how far we could go without being gratuitous,” said DeBlois in Los Angeles.

The main cast is returning to voice characters from the first film including America Ferrera who plays Astrid, Hiccup’s girlfriend: “It’s just a good story. It’s a miraculous vision,” she said. “The 3-D is amazing, the music, the sound. But at the end of the day it’s this beautiful character-driven emotional journey that Dean (DeBlois) taps into that I think brings along the young audience and the older audience.”

The sequel has opened to critical acclaim and looks set to meet the same success as the first ‘How to Train your Dragon’ movie which made nearly 500 million dollars worldwide.

‘How To Train Your Dragon 2’ is on global release from now.