Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer’s Curse

Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer’s Curse is a 2015 direct-to-video fantasy adventure film directed by Colin Teague, a prequel in Universal’s Dragonheart series. It stars Julian Morris as the aspiring knight Gareth and Tamzin Merchant as Rhonu, with Ben Kingsley voicing the dragon Drago, whose bond with Gareth forces the pair to confront an evil sorcerer.

Everything in a dragon picture is measured against the dragon. Creature work of this kind runs from design and rigging through keyframe character animation and facial performance to scale, membrane and muscle detail, then on to flight cycles that must carry believable mass. Fire breath, smoke and the destruction it leaves behind arrive as FX simulation; the medieval world around the creature is assembled from CG environments, set extensions and matte painting; and each shot is finished with rotoscoping, cleanup and lighting-matched compositing so the animal genuinely occupies the plate. Terminal FX practises every one of those crafts, and contributed visual effects and animation to Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer’s Curse as part of its film, television and commercial work.