The dragon sculpture will breathe fire and roar
Weighing in at 1.3 tonnes, the Hungarian Horntail sculpture will breathe fire(Image: Dan Wong Photography)
Harry Potter fans will get the chance to see a dragon used in one of the films when it comes to Liverpool. Weighing in at 1.3 tonnes, the Hungarian Horntail sculpture will breathe fire, roar and move with a wink of its eye when it arrives in Liverpool ONE.
Visitors will have a chance to interact with a piece of Harry Potter filmmaking history on Wednesday, May 28. The Hungarian Horntail will make a special appearance in Liverpool ONE, away from its usual home Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter.
Guests will be able to get up close and personal with the dragon, which fans will recognise from Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. The dragon was created to mark the launch of the new Triwizard Tournament – Making of Champions feature at the studio tour, running from May 15 to September 8.
‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’ dragon, Hungarian Horntail(Image: Dan Wong Photography)
The new feature celebrates the 20th anniversary of the cinematic release of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and invites visitors to go behind-the-scenes of the Triwizard Tournament to discover how filmmakers created the competition on-screen.
Fans seeing the dragon on tour will have the chance to win tickets to Triwizard Tournament – Making of Champions through an exclusive competition.
Harry Potter filmmaker and animatronic designer, Joe Scott, designed the dragon. The recreation was crafted over 750 hours, using materials that included 40 metres of fiberglass.
The team first created a series of detailed sketches and CGI mock-ups, before Sculptors, Carpenters and Scenic Artists built the dragon’s head, which was 3D printed using a scan of the original Hungarian Horntail from the film.
A total of 119 spikes were individually applied to garnish the dragon’s head and tail, taking 265 painstaking hours, whilst 38 razor-sharp teeth were 3D printed in resin to create bite in the creature’s animatronic mouth.
Fans can see the dragon in Liverpool ONE(Image: Dan Wong Photography)
Geoff Spooner, senior Vice President at Warner Bros. Studio Tour London said: “We’re excited to launch our brand-new summer feature, Triwizard Tournament – Making of Champions, where visitors can learn behind-the-scenes secrets of the fourth Harry Potter film.
“To celebrate and bring the magic of Warner Bros. Studio Tour London to fans across the UK we recreated the iconic moment of the escaped Hungarian Horntail dragon 20 years on from ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.”
Fans will be able to see the dragon in Liverpool ONE at 10am on Wednesday, May 28.