The wave of live-action remakes continues: "How to Train your Dragon" becomes a real film! With this, film distributor Paramount Pictures is following the footsteps of its competitor Disney and is trying to repeat the success of its popular film series. In our new original, we tell you everything about the production, the cast and the possible plot of the Viking adventure.

The "How to Train your Dragon" film series was an all-around success: The three films generated worldwide box-office takings of over 1.6 billion dollars and also received several Academy Award nominations. Alos, two series with the titles "DreamWorks Dragons" and "Dragons: The Nine Realms", followed. 15 years after the start of the film series, a live-action film adaptation of the first part, is now to follow in 2025.

The plot of "How to Train your Dragon"

Like the animated film, the live-action film adaptation will be based on the similar namend children's book by Cressida Cowell. Currently, it can be assumed that the live-action film will be based on Part 1 of the animated series. The adventure film, released in 2010, took us into the world of the Vikings and told the story of the weak but clever son of the chief Hiccup, who lives in the Viking village of Berk. This village is regularly attacked by dragons, which in the Viking world are considered as vermin and brutal monsters.

One day, Hiccup wants to prove to the village that he also has the potential to be a strong Viking and, as a result of another attack, he shoots down a Night Fury - this type of dragon is considered particularly dangerous. However, when he wants to check the success of his shooting, he finds out that the dragon Toothless is by no means a brutal monster, but an lovely creature. From this point onwards, an unusual friendship develops between the two, which Hiccup must keep secret from his family.

Cast and crew of the "How to Train your Dragon" remake

Hiccup will be played by 15-year-old actor Mason Thames, who reached his Hollywood breakthrough with the Apple TV+ series "For all Mankind" and most recently starred alongside Ethan Hawke in the Scott Derrickson-directed horror film "The Black Phone". At Thames' side will be Nico Parker. The daughter of well-known actress Thandiwe Newton was previously involved in the live-action adaptation of "Dumbo" and played the daughter of Pedro Pascal's character Joel in the acclaimed HBO series "The Last of Us". In the "How to Train your Dragon" remake, she will take on the role of Astrid, the girl Hiccup is in love with. Her casting caused some discussion online, as critical voices said the young actress was not "white" enough for the Viking role.

It is not yet known who will play the other popular roles, for example the role of Hiccups' father Stoick the Vast. However, we can assume that in the upcoming months we will steadily receive more information about the cast of the film.

Production

As in the original film, Dean DeBlois will be the director and write the script - so the remake should be in the very best hands, even if this is his very first live-action film adaptation. The camera will be handled by none other than Roger Deakins. He is considered one of the best-known cinematographers in Hollywood and received an Academy Award for his work on Denis Villeneuve's science fiction sequel "Blade Runner 2049" and the war film "1917".

The Filming was originally scheduled to begin this summer, but that is now likely to be delayed for a while. The past actors and writers strike for better working conditions, paralyzed all of Hollywood, and wass blocking numerous productions for months. Whether the announced U.S. start of "How to Train your Dragon" on March 14, 2025 can thus be kept will be reveiled in the future. If the film ultimately proves to be a success, we can very likely expect new adaptations of "How to Train your Dragon 2" and "How to Train your Dragon 3: The Hidden World".