The idea of animated features getting live-action remakes is nothing new, but the production of live-action remakes has obviously shifted into overdrive in recent years, with Disney bringing us the likes of Cinderella, The Jungle Book (again), Beauty and the Beast, Dumbo, Aladdin, The Lion King, The Lady and the Tramp, Mulan, Pinocchio, The Little Mermaid… the list goes on. And it seems like DreamWorks has been impressed by that animation-to-live-action business model, as they’re teaming up with Universal Pictures to bring a live-action remake of their 2010 animated feature How to Train Your Dragon to theatres on June 13, 2025. In anticipation of this release, we here at JoBlo have decided to put together a list of Everything We Know About the live-action How to Train Your Dragon… and here we go:
STORY
It all started with a novel by Cressida Cowell. Published in 2003, the novel How to Train Your Dragon introduced readers to a young Viking named Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third as he sets out on the journey of “becoming a hero, the hard way” – starting by capturing a dragon as a rite of passage and attempting to train him. Readers were so enthralled by the story of Hiccup, Cowell was able to launch a franchise. How to Train Your Dragon was followed by How to Be a Pirate (2004), How to Speak Dragonese (2005), How to Cheat a Dragon’s Curse (2006), How to Twist a Dragon’s Tale (2007), A Hero’s Guide to Deadly Dragons (2008), How to Ride a Dragon’s Storm (2008), How to Break a Dragon’s Heart (2009), How to Steal a Dragon’s Sword (2011), How to Seize a Dragon’s Jewel (2012), How to Betray a Dragon’s Hero (2013), and How to Fight a Dragon’s Fury (2015), with Hiccup at the heart of each one.
DreamWorks’ animated adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon, said to be a loose adaptation of the novel, came along in 2010 – and, of course, the live-action remake is expected to tell the same story audiences saw in animated form 15 years ago. Here’s the official synopsis: On the rugged isle of Berk, where Vikings and dragons have been bitter enemies for generations, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the inventive yet overlooked son of Chief Stoick the Vast, defies centuries of traditional dragon-fighting practice when he befriends Toothless, a feared Night Fury dragon. Their unlikely bond reveals the true nature of dragons, challenging the very foundations of Viking society.
CAST
When looking to cast the young characters in the story, the filmmakers were said to be looking for “actors who could grow into the roles as much as the characters themselves grew into maturity in the (animated) movie franchise.” As a result, they ended up choosing Mason Thames (The Black Phone) to play Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, with Nico Parker (Dumbo) as Hiccup’s love interest and fellow student in dragon-fighting training, Astrid Hofferson.
Julian Dennison (Deadpool 2) plays Hiccup’s best friend Fishlegs Ingerman. Gabriel Howell (Nightsleeper) is his rival Snotlout Jorgenson. Harry Trevaldwyn (The Bubble) and Bronwyn James (Wicked) play twins Tuffnut and Ruffnut. Ruth Codd (The Midnight Club) is Phlegma, with Murray McArthur (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power) as Hoark, Nick Cornwall (Sky Sharks) as Hürl, and Outer Banks stunt performer Samuel Johnson as Skaldor. Peter Serafinowicz (Guardians of the Galaxy) has an unspecified role. Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead) is playing blacksmith Gobber the Belch – and, in a very cool turn of events, Gerard Butler, who provided the voice of Hiccup’s father Stoick the Vast in the animated films, is back to bring his character to life in live-action.
Speaking with The Direct, Butler said, “I made three of those movies over many years, and I always wondered, I love the animated movies, but I always wondered, ‘God, what if this was real? What if we were really there, real people, real dragons?’ And we had a chance to do that, to make it real. And I think that is one of the main differences. When a dragon is breathing fire over a bunch of actual Viking men and women running, it feels a lot more scary than when it was animated. You have a little more you can distance yourself, but this feels much more involved and just immersive…“
CREATIVE TEAM
The animated How to Train Your Dragon was directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois from a screenplay they wrote with Will Davies. DeBlois returned to write and direct the sequels How to Train Your Dragon 2 and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World on his own – and he is at the helm of the live-action remake as well, directing the film from his own screenplay. So the new movie comes from the same person who brought us the previous movies.
DeBlois, who also directed the animated classic Lilo & Stitch (another movie that’s now getting the live-action remake treatment) said, “I decided to revisit How to Train Your Dragon because it felt like an amazing opportunity to not only direct a live-action movie but to be jumping back into a world that I frankly miss. I miss these characters. I miss this world, and I love movies that have a really poignant message buried deep within a moving spectacle. Adventure, wonder. That’s what this movie really packs. It’s about a regular kid who gets to bond with a powerful animal and there is something that’s universally wish fulfilling about that.” This is his live-action feature directorial debut.
DeBlois is producing the film alongside Marc Platt, who is producing through his Universal-based Marc Platt Productions, and that company’s president, Adam Siegel. VP of production Lexi Barta is overseeing the project for Universal Pictures. Filming took place in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
John Powell, who also worked on the animated trilogy, is composing the score for the film. Framestore is providing the visual effects, with Christian Manz serving as the production VFX supervisor. It has been said that many scenes from the original film have been re-created shot-for-shot for the live-action remake, including Hiccup’s first encounter with the dragon Toothless.
TRAILERS
So far, we have seen three trailers for How to Train Your Dragon: a teaser, a first look trailer, and one called the “Warrior” trailer. Here they are:
FRANCHISE
As mentioned, not only did Cressida Cowell launch a franchise with her book How to Train Your Dragon, but the animated movie launched a franchise of its own, which went in a different direction than Cowell’s stories did. The film franchise centers on the special friendship between a young and unheroic Viking boy named Hiccup, and Toothless, an injured dragon he nurses back to health. The movies chronicled Hiccup and Toothless’ quest to combat humanity’s prejudice against dragons, the ache of overcoming the loss of a parent, and first love.
Released in 2010, How to Train Your Dragon was followed by two-feature-length sequels (How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014) and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)) and five short films: Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon (2010), Book of Dragons (2010), Gift of the Night Fury (2011), Dawn of the Dragon Racers (2014), and How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019). There have also been some animated TV shows that are set in this universe: DreamWorks Dragons (2012–2018), DreamWorks Dragons: Rescue Riders (2019–2022), and DreamWorks Dragons: The Nine Realms (2021–2023). So there are plenty of options for sequel stories if the live-action remake proves popular enough to get follow-ups of its own. Based on the fact that the filmmakers were searching for actors who could grow and mature with the characters, it sounds like they are hoping for sequels.
The three animated features in this franchise made over $1.6 billion at the global box office, and each one of the movies were nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World was meant to bring the entire franchise to a solid conclusion… but now that it’s shifting from animation to live-action, they can start all over again.
And that’s everything we know about the live-action How to Train Your Dragon so far. Are you looking forward to this movie? Let us know by leaving a comment below – and take a look at this poster while you’re scrolling down:
