How to Train Your Dragon Live-Action Remake Premiers at CinemaCon
Live-action remakes do not have a good reputation since Disney has been churning out one after the other but
Live-action remakes do not have a good reputation since Disney has been churning out one after the other but hasn’t been able to get right on track with it. It seriously needs to reconsider its strategy for live-action remakes after Snow White, which was a fiasco at the box office, especially when two other big ones are lined up- Lilo and Stitch and Moana.
Universal and Dreamworks Pictures’ How to Train Your Dragon live-action remake is the remake of the same 2010 animated film. It was loosely based on the 2003 novel by Cressida Cowell.
Is there a trailer for How to Train Your Dragon live-action remake?
The story revolves around the same as the 2010 animated film where Hiccup (played by Mason Thames), a young Viking boy, does not comply with his tribe’s tradition of hunting dragons in Berk. This is a place where men and dragons have been enemies for years.
It was entirely against his proud father, Chief Stoick (played by Gerard Butler), who is the village leader and legendary dragon dominator. Hiccup stands apart and befriends a dragon named Toothless. He is one of the feared Night Fury dragons.
Their bond demonstrates the true nature of friendship and helps to steer the decades-long enmity between the two worlds in another direction. The fears and misunderstandings between the two parties slowly vanish, which initially contested the foundations of the Vikings society’s haughtiness.
Hiccup and Toothless redefined the path to peace as Hiccup excitedly tells Astrid in the trailer that he would be the first one to befriend and ride a dragon. Watch it in the trailer here:
How to Train Your Dragon Live-action soared at CinemaCon
The first reactions to How to Train Your Dragon live-action remake are fantastic. According to Variety, CinemaCon attendees were told that this was an unfinished version of the film. Still, the film gained wholehearted applause.
The scene where Hiccup rides the dragon for the first time received enthusiastic applause again while the film was running. One of the journalists who attended the screening posted on X,
“A visually stunning and emotionally engaging retelling of the animated classic. Director Dean DeBlois recreates the magic of the original with lots of action, humor, and heart.” [Source]
There have been other numerous positive reviews from innumerable sources, such as “The Movie Podcast” producer and host Daniel Bapista, film critic Tessa Smith, Gizmodo senior reporter Germain Lussier, and press member Emmanuel Gomez, etc.
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It is predicted to be one of the greatest live-action remakes since How to Train Your Dragon trilogy has gained more than $1.6 billion worldwide. It has been a consistent earner for DreamWorks, and people are already raving about it.
Has DreamWorks done a live-action remake before?
No, DreamWorks hasn’t done a live-action remake before. In fact, How to Train Your Dragon is the first with which it has debuted in the world of live-action remakes.
Dean DeBlois on making How to Train Your Dragon live-action
DeBlois has been with the franchise since its beginning. He discussed the live-action adaptation of the film with The Hollywood Reporter and told it was a rushed production. Some of the characters from the animated version needed depth and “immersive action”, which they made possible in this live-action remake. He explained,
“It’s a reimagining that holds quite faithful to the story and yet finds moments where we could enrich character relationships, give a bit of depth, give a little bit of mythology that might have been lacking in that original.” [Source]
DeBlois was of the view that Astrid, the female lead character, now played by Nico Parker in this movie, was “a little underserved” in the animated version. She is part of the Hooligan tribe and comes from a different culture. She dreams of becoming the chief of her tribe one day. She is fierce, brave, and ambitious.
Also, he opened up a bit about the animation tricks that the remake’s team had to go through. It was a challenge for them to do “exactly what the DreamWorks animators had to do” because the same feeling of the animal emotions, features, and behavior needed to be portrayed in the live-action adaptation. The director confessed that some of them appeared “cartoonier than the others”.
How to Train Your Dragon 2 already has a release date
Yes, it’s true. DreamWorks and Universal Pictures have already decided on a date for How to Train Your Dragon 2’s release date, which is expected to be June 11, 2027. It will be a theatrical release.
Will DreamWorks’ entry into the live-action remake world be better than Disney’s?
From what we have learned from CinemaCon attendees about the live-action adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon, it is exactly the same as the animated one, as per Comic Book. In some instances, Disney has tried to change this formula to instill some new additions to the live-action remakes to present the films with some freshness.
However, either way, Disney did not meet box office expectations, be it Snow White or Lion King remakes, that didn’t do well at the box office. Mufasa did get some form of love as it was a different angle from the original Lion King animated film. Similarly, Cruella also did well compared to the live-action remake of 101 Dalmatians.
This might suggest that shot-to-shot remakes could work if How to Train Your Dragon‘s live-action becomes successful, as the initial reviews from CinemaCon have cited. Disney might want to learn some tactics for its next upcoming major releases, Lilo and Stich and Moana, since it has paused its progress for the next possible live-action of Tangled after Snow White’s disaster at the box office, per Entertainment Weekly.
Genre: Sword and sorcery, teen adventure, fantasy, action, drama, family
Cast: Mason Thames, Nico Parker, Gerard Butler, Nick Frost, Julian Dennison
Director: Dean DeBlois
Writer: Dean DeBlois
Producers: Marc Platt, Dean DeBlois, Adan Siegel
Release date: June 13, 2025
Movie runtime: 1 hour 56 minutes
How excited are you for How to Train Your Dragon’s theatrical release? Let us know in the comments.
