How NBC Universal used AR to promote the launch of the new Jurassic World film
December 2022
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: Bring the Legend to Life
A sharable WebAR photo experience designed for fans across the globe, powered by Toothless.
Client
NBCUniversal
Role
Ideation, Strategy, UX & UI Design, 3D Modelling, Rigging & Animation, AR Development
Year
June, 2025
The brief
To support the global release of How to Train Your Dragon, NBCUniversal partnered with Studio Z to create a turnkey AR toolkit that local markets could easily activate. The goal was to streamline production, reduce duplication across regions, and deliver a consistent, high-quality experience that could bring Toothless to life in the real world. The objective was simple, create an interactive moment that families and fans could capture and share building buzz ahead of the theatrical premiere in June 2025.
The experience
Users scan a QR code or visit a short link to launch the experience, where they’re invited to take a photo or video with Toothless using either the front or back camera. In rear camera mode, Toothless swoops down from the sky and lands nearby, ready to pose. Switch to selfie mode, and Toothless appears beside the user, calmly breathing and shifting as if alive. At every step, users can snap a moment or record a short video, complete with a branded movie watermark. It’s quick, intuitive, and designed to be shared.
The DESIGN
From the first splash screen, the experience is built to feel cinematic and familiar. 2D art assets drawn from the film’s promotional kit were used to guide users into the AR moment, keeping the UI playful and easy to navigate. Careful attention was given to how Toothless would appear in varied indoor and outdoor environments, so the animations were balanced to feel fluid but lightweight, ensuring smooth performance on most smartphones. Every interaction, from landing the dragon to switching cameras, was designed to be simple enough for kids but satisfying for super fans.
THE TECHNOLOGY
Built with Mattercraft and powered by Zappar’s WebAR tech, the experience runs fully in-browser with no app download. We created a textured, rigged, and mobile-optimised 3D Toothless, animated with loopable cycles to give him unpredictable, personality-driven behavior. Real-time world tracking anchored him in users’ environments, while segmentation ensured correct scale and placement for selfies. Video and photo capture, social sharing, and a movie watermark were integrated. Analytics tagging and localisation support made the toolkit ready for global rollout.
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