Fans react to Toothless in trailer for live-action remake of How To Train Your Dragon
Film meant to be shot-for-shot remake of 2010 original
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Your support makes all the difference.The first teaser trailer for Universal’s highly anticipated live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon dropped on Tuesday, sparking mixed reaction from fans.
Writer-director Dean DeBlois, who was behind the animated How to Train Your Dragon trilogy, is returning for the live-action feature.
The film is meant to be a shot-for-shot remake of the 2010 original, which was based on a children’s book series of the same title by Cressida Cowell.
The trailer for the live-action version shows several older characters returning, along with new faces. Mason Thames stars as Hiccup while Nico Parker plays Astrid. They are joined by Gerard Butler, who plays Hiccup’s father Stoick the Vast, Nick Frost, Julian Dennison, Gabriel Howell, Bronwyn James, Harry Trevaldwyn, Ruth Codd, Peter Serafinowicz, and Murray McArthur.
“On the rugged isle of Berk, where Vikings and dragons have been bitter enemies for generations, Hiccup stands apart,” the film’s synopsis reads. “The inventive yet overlooked son of Chief Stoick the Vast, Hiccup defies centuries of tradition 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.”
Reactions to the trailer have been mixed. Many fans have been overjoyed that Toothless in the live-action reimagining looks almost the same as the dragon from the animated films, but some have questioned the point of the remake if every shot is identical.
Nico Parker’s casting as Astrid led to a Tiktoker questioning the “race-swapping” since Astrid is meant to be a Viking in the original animated film, and Parker is biracial, which is “distorting history”.
People have mostly reacted to the TikTok video with reminders that the film is based on a children’s book about dragons, and not a real, historical event.
The How to Train Your Dragon films earned four Oscar nominations and grossed over $1.6 bn at the box office globally. After the first instalment in 2010, sequels How to Train Your Dragon 2 and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World were released in 2014 and 2019, respectively.
The live-action version is set to be released in theatres on 13 June 2025.
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