Summary
- Director DeBlois plans a faithful live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon, mirroring the original animation shot-for-shot.
- Fans are divided between those supportive of nostalgia and those advocating for fresh perspectives in the live-action adaptation.
- Despite skepticism, the How to Train Your Dragon remake is poised for financial success, as nostalgia is a profitable strategy in the industry.
Dreamworks‘ upcoming live-action adaptation — or more accurately, remake — of the beloved How to Train Your Dragon animation is still a long while away from release. But the recently-publicized teaser and trailer have been enough to get the hype train going.
What is likely on many fans’ minds is not whether the movie will be good. The original How to Train Your Dragon animated franchise is beloved, and long-time director Dean DeBlois is once more in charge. It’s whether the movie will be a similar but not identical adaptation of a cherished animation, or just another Disney-like desperate attempt at a cash grab from a Hollywood that’s out of original ideas. Deblois’ latest comments, though, suggest that it might be the former, and this has positive and negative consequences on fan interest.
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The Live-Action How to Train Your Dragon Script Differs From The Animation
…So Says Director Dean DeBlois
In an interview with Brandon Davis on the latter’s Phase Hero podcast on YouTube, Dean DeBlois revealed what many feared would be the case with the movie: that they barely changed the script of the original. These words corroborate DeBlois’ previous statements at a press conference at Universal Studios. Growing skepticism from a subset of fans about the How To Train Your Dragon remake apparently got to the filmmaker when he admitted that:
I’m not a huge fan of the animation-to-live-action trend. Universal wanted to revisit this story. […] If you’re going to get into this story, which is full of characters I love, in a world I feel attached to, then I want to be part of it.
He went on to describe how this influenced his approach to the remake:
There are key moments that people see as iconic to the original trilogy […] We very carefully tried, with the live-action crew on our set and our camera set-up, to mimic those scenes almost shot for shot.
Traces of DeBlois’ comments are evident in the first full-length trailer of How to Train Your Dragon. Scenes such as Hiccup and Toothless’ first flight scene, Hiccup and Toothless’ first interaction, and even the vengeful Red Death scene where the dreadful dragon emerges, breathing fire and threatening to destroy all of Berk, are almost shot-for-shot reflections of the original animation.
There is a Civil War Brewing Among The How To Train Your Dragon Faithful
“Don’t Fix What Isn’t Broken” Versus “Fresh Perspective”
So far, the reaction to DeBlois’ comments has been anything but one-sided. There’s a division between fans clinging to nostalgia and those tired of what they term “needless” live-action remakes of classics and long for “remixing.” For loyalist fans, Dean DeBlois’ “copy and paste” choice for the How to Train Your Dragon remake is sufficient for the simple reason of being faithful to the original story. However, the other side claims that most times, reboots of movies do not retell the stories but rather dilute the original. Call it a case of fixing what isn’t broken.
How to Train Your Dragon is Still Poised To Make Money
Disney Remakes Have Been Profitable Despite Apparent Distaste for Them
Regardless of the “on the fence” stance of some fans, history suggests that the How to Train Your Dragon live-action remake is still bound for financial success. The nostalgia bait is a tried and tested ploy in cinemas, raking in profits and immense viewership from both old and new fans. 2019’s The Lion King is the most recent example. An almost shot-for-shot remake of the original hand-drawn 1998 classic, the photo-realistic animation wasn’t that loved when it came out and ranks as the inferior of the two, but it reaped dividends at the box office. Its $1.65 billion is both the highest-grossing animation and remake of all time. The live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast yielded a whopping $1.3 billion.
Studios remake old animation movies for two obvious reasons: originality is expensive, and telling old stories from a fresh perspective is a risk, one that studios and investors are apparently not too eager to take. When the Ghostbusters remake veered away from the original, it was met with a wall of rejection from both ordinary moviegoers and the franchise’s cult following. Instead, they play it safe by betting on proven track records and tapping into existing audiences. In the end, filmmaking is part storytelling, part business. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
Guy Ritchie’s 2019 Aladdin remake stays true to its roots while inserting additional scenes and subplots — such as the Genie’s love interest and the wonderful puppet-Alaadin dance scene at the palace party — as does Bill Condon’s Beauty and the Beast. While not essentially a dedicated remake, Universal’s own Snow White and the Huntsman is based on the popular German fairy tale and stands as perhaps the most appropriate example of what a good “remixing” of an original tale should be. Sure, it doesn’t have the most solid of reviews, but it was considered successful enough on both fronts — critical and commercial — to spurn a sequel. Whether a faithful remaking of How to Train Your Dragon is the right choice or a missed opportunity for a newer take remains up for debate. However, one thing is clear: fans of the beloved animation are eager to see how it unfolds.
All Hope Isn’t Lost
When asked what he wants to do differently on the How to Train Your Dragon remake that he didn’t get to do on the original work, DeBlois says that he hopes to better explore the mythology of the warriors:
I wanted to explain where these warriors came from, why they were there on the island, what they were up to.
He also regrets not doing justice to certain characters like Astrid:
There were certain characters that were underserved, Astrid being one of them […] I would have given her a little more character depth and understand where she’s coming from and what she has to lose by siding with Hiccup. We’re really able to play into that.
Thus, for fans championing change, DeBlois’ comments on Astrid and the Norse mythology suggest that there would be a few at least.
How to Train Your Dragon
- Release Date
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June 13, 2025
- Director
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Dean DeBlois
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Mason Thames
Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III
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Nico Parker
Astrid Hofferson
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Gerard Butler
Stoick the Vast
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Nick Frost
Gobber the Belch
Source: Brandon Davis/YouTube
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