Sneak peek at ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ live show

>>> back now at 8:38 with an exciting new live arena show based on the popular animated movie "trou to train your dragon dragon ." it's coming to the united states next month and we got a behind-the-scenes sneak peek at the fiery production. ey're ferocious and feisty. fire-breathi. and high-flying. they're the stars of dreamworks "how to train your dragon live spectacular," a new arena show featuring 23 life-like and life-size dragons that move and interact with the cast of vikings, acrobats, and martial arts performers. adapdrom the popular dreamworks animated film "how to trn your dragon " about a viking teenager who befriends a young dragon .

>> we were looking for other ways of being able to take our movies and actually have them live outside of movie thears. a couple of us had an opportunity to see this amazing show called "walking with dinosaurs." seemed like just a amazing opportunity to take the story of our movie, and actually be able toring it to le in a live show in a way that people have never seen before.

>> reporter: the show is four years in the making. and with a ct and cre of 85, it boasts the largest number of animatronics ever to tour the globe. the production is so large, i takes more than 30 18-wheeler trucks to move it and more tha 160 people to set up the production in each city. the live spectacular uses state-of-t- art wall -to-floor pro-section to transport the audience to dizzying heights on an epic journey.

>> dragons like dinosaurs on steroids. since we made the dinosaurs our technologyas adapted vastly, much more dynamic and can communicate with a voice onstage.

>> i can play with him like he's a real pet. not like a machine. like he's really there in front of me. my pet dragon . it's awesome.

>> reporter: the show's hero weigh morse than 7500 pounds and flies mor than 1.2 miles throughout the performance. each large dragon weighs more than 2 1/2 tons, and features blinking ey, a moving mouth, hand-painted skin, and a wingspan of up to 46 feet.

>> they've been created over two ars, and you know, when you start the design in 3-d and on computers and find the coloring.

>> reporter: some dragons require up to three people to operatethem.

>> there's a team up in the bleachers who are controlling the creature. all kind of remotely. they have a thing calle a voodoo arm so if they turn their wrist like that, that 3406s the head, that moves the body. so that it's not like a computer program . it's a performer up there, ppeteer, who's, you know, playing.

>> reporter: after premiering in australia, the production moves on to new zealand, where audience members of all ages immerse themselves in t world of dragons and vikings.

>> i've never something like this before.

>> they look really real. and i like the spikes.

>> you actually feel like you're there.

>> we wanted to do something the world has never seen before and feel they're pulling it off.

>> the multicity tour kicks off on jun 27th. and the