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.
Toothless and Stitch both got the same live-action treatment of "make it look the same but in higher definition."
— Andrew J. Salazar (@AndrewJ626) November 19, 2024
Literally, they changed *nothing* about their designs to look more "realistic" besides their respective scales and fur looking more HD. pic.twitter.com/S3vTiIvnZl
seriously what is the point of these "live action" films anymore, toothless looks exactly the same the shots are exactly the same. what are next https://t.co/VSVw8CR5fE
— Diana Huh (@Dihuh) November 19, 2024
THIS CASTING IS SO ICONIC MASON THAMES THANK YOU pic.twitter.com/vO1HrRrAAv
— daily hiccstrid (@dailyhiccstrid) November 19, 2024
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.
You should not be Astrid. pic.twitter.com/JInJlRw4yk
— Mally Mouse (@MallymkunMousey) November 17, 2024
Just saw someone ranting on TikTok about how one of the live action characters in How to Train your Dragon is going to have a New Zealand accent “and Vikings didn’t have NZ accents” SO true fam why can’t they stick to the Vikings all having American accents, as per history
— Sophie Gonzales (@sgonzalesauthor) November 20, 2024
that girl screaming on tiktok about nico parker playing astrid in the live-action adaptation of how to train your dragon is sending me. this is a movie based on a children’s book about DRAGONS wtf do you mean it’s “historically inaccurate” 😭
— zoë rose bryant (@zoerosebryant) November 19, 2024
Instead of casting an actual dragon to play Toothless, they just HAD to cast a CGI model to play a fictional, mythical animal for absolutely no reason 🤦🏻♂️
— dale i guess (@misterlavine) November 19, 2024
(This is how ridiculous you mfs sound) https://t.co/yeCnUyZfDV
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.
