Toothless stuns in new photo.
Photo: Universal Pictures
Apparently, learning how to train an animated one wasn’t enough. How to Train Your Dragon is once again headed to our screens, this time as a live-action film for Universal Pictures. Dean DeBlois, who wrote and directed the HTTYD trilogy in the 2010s, has returned to helm the project. While some fans have questioned whether a new adaptation is necessary, DeBlois insisted to Empire that the story of a young Viking befriending a dragon will hit different in the flesh. “It’s so dialed-up in terms of stakes — having a fully credible, photo-real dragon stomping around trying to kill him,” he said. (Toothless still looks pretty cute to us in the first trailer, but we digress.)
Cressida Cowell, the author of the book series that the animated movies were based on, previously co-signed the upcoming HTTYD in a glowing Instagram post about visiting the set in Northern Ireland this year. Will people like it as much as the original franchise, though? The (mostly) new cast of Vikings will undoubtedly be compared to their animated counterparts, who made more than $1.6 billion at the global box office. Here’s what we know ahead of the summer release. Whether we need a live-action remake of a film that debuted the same year as Instagram is up for debate. At least the new merch will be adorable!
Everyone can relax now: Toothless is cute! And not in an “Oh, how cute” kind of way you might politely eke out when your co-worker shoves a photo of their weird-looking baby in your face. I mean he’s a real stinkin’ cutie patootie — like, “hug and squeeze him until his eyes pop out” cute. In the first trailer for Universal’s live-action reimagining of Dreamworks’ 2010 film How to Train Your Dragon, there’s no hint that the CGI is going in the gritty, overly lifelike direction that has afflicted other live-action remakes of years past. Toothless the dragon’s scales are shined, his wings are perky, and his eyes are big and green and expressive. A win for cinephiles and Toothless Truthers everywhere!
The new version stars Gerard Butler (reprising his voice role from the animated franchise), Mason Thames, Nick Frost, Nico Parker, Ruth Codd, Julian Dennison, and Bronwyn James. It is written and directed by Dean DeBlois, who co-directed and wrote Dreamworks’ Oscar-nominated original. The story of that one, based on the eponymous book series by Cressida Cowell, centers on a sensitive young Viking who befriends one of the winged beasts his ilk have naturally opposed for years. Based on the 75-second trailer, it looks like the live-action version will echo a similar narrative arc: We already get a glimpse of the first meeting between Hiccup (Thames) and Toothless, as well as some sweeping Nordic vistas and familiar tough love from Hiccup’s father, Chief Stoick the Vast (Butler).
How to Train Your Dragon is currently set to arrive in theaters on June 13, 2025, so the wait won’t drag on for too long.
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