How to Train Your Dragon Director Justifies the Live-Action Film’s Existence

Yesterday, Universal Pictures released the archetypal authoritative teaser trailer for the live-action How to Train Your Dragon film. Although the trailer deed each the referential precocious marks moviegoers person travel to expect of Hollywood’s inclination of making live-action remakes of beloved animated classics, a precise vocal bulk of folks online rebuffed the film’s full existence. Now, a afloat 24 hours aft the trailer’s release, the animated movie and live-action film’s manager has breached his silence, justifying the upcoming movie arsenic a worthwhile adventure.

In a YouTube first-look featurette, manager Dean DeBlois—adorned successful the world’s astir comfortable-looking sweater—cuts consecutive to the chase, addressing wherefore helium was helming a live-action remake of the beloved DreamWorks animated film.

“I decided to revisit How to Train Your Dragon due to the fact that it felt similar an astonishing accidental to not lone nonstop a live-action movie but to beryllium jumping backmost into a satellite that I frankly miss,” DeBlois said.

The three-time Oscar nominee and Golden Globe award-winning manager continued to explicit his fondness for the series, noting his appreciation for films that weave a poignant connection into their captivating adventures.

“My anticipation is that those who had seen and loved the How to Train Your Dragon films volition beryllium keen to spot what we’ve done due to the fact that it comes from a spot of emotion and it comes from a spot of respect,” helium continued. “This full happening is conscionable 1 large elephantine escapade and I aftermath up each time feeling truthful thankful that I get to bash it.”

In tandem with DeBlois’ justification for the live-action film’s beingness was a heartwarming infinitesimal capturing the infinitesimal helium revealed actors Mason Thames and Nico Parker got the roles of Hiccup and Astrid.

“When it comes to Nico and Mason, these 2 conscionable benignant of came live successful the country and abruptly I felt that they some embodied the halfway characters of Hiccup and Astrid unrecorded successful a mode that cipher other could,” DeBlois said. DeBlois’s co-signing of the 2 young leads couldn’t person travel astatine a amended time, considering societal media has already spawned racist hatred campaigns against Parker for being formed successful a movie astir flying dragons portion being Black.

The archetypal animated How to Train Your Dragon movie, based connected Cressida Cowell’s best-selling book, was released successful 2010. It follows a young Viking named Hiccup who befriends a dragon named Toothless. Together, they embark connected a clandestine journey, deepening their relationship portion hiding their recently forged enslaved from Hiccup’s tribe—known for dragon slaying. The bid past received two sequel films, 5 abbreviated films, and two TV series. Time volition archer if the live-action movie volition measurement up to the archetypal animated film’s precocious barroom oregon if it volition go yet different driblet successful the bucket of Hollywood’s obsession with making live-action films.

How to Train Your Dragon releases successful theaters June 13, 2025.

Want much io9 news? Check retired erstwhile to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s adjacent for the DC Universe connected movie and TV, and everything you request to cognize astir the aboriginal of Doctor Who.