Plans for a live-action remake ofHow to Train Your Dragon were announced in February 2023, with DeBlois returning to write, direct, and produce after previously spearheading the animated trilogy.John Powell, who also worked on the trilogy, additionally returned to compose the score for the film. Thames and Parker joined the cast in May 2023,[7] with additional casting announced in January 2024. Filming began later that month inBelfast,Northern Ireland andwrapped in May. It is DreamWorks Animation's first live-action film.[8]
Dragons frequently attack theViking village of Berk, stealing livestock and endangering villagers. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the 16-year-old outcast son of chieftain Stoick the Vast, attempts to create mechanical devices to overcome his physical weaknesses. During a dragon raid, Hiccup shoots down a rare dragon called a Night Fury with abolas huge bow, but is disbelieved. Vowing to prove himself, Hiccup searches for the dragon to kill it. Upon seeing the dragon helpless and wounded, he compassionately releases him. To Hiccup's surprise, the angered dragon spares his life.
Meanwhile, Stoick rallies his fleet to destroy the dragons' nest. Before leaving, Stoick heeds the advice of his best friend and Hiccup's mentor, local blacksmith Gobber the Belch, and enrolls Hiccup in a dragon-fighting class with other local teens: Fishlegs Ingerman, Snotlout Jorgenson, the Thorston twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and Hiccup's crush, Astrid Hofferson. Hiccup is mocked by his peers and struggles in class. Returning to the forest, he finds the Night Fury trapped in a cove, unable to fly because Hiccup's bolas severed half of his tail fin. Hiccup befriends the dragon, naming him "Toothless" for his retractable teeth; he builds a harness, saddle, and prosthetic fin, allowing Toothless to fly with Hiccup riding on his back to guide him. Hiccup also learns about dragon behavior from Toothless, which allows him to subdue the captive training dragons, impressing the villagers, but arousing Astrid's suspicions.
Meanwhile, Stoick's fleet is damaged while searching for the nest, and returns to Berk. Upon learning he must kill a dragon for his final exam, Hiccup attempts to flee with Toothless, but Astrid discovers them. Hiccup takes her on a flight to show her Toothless' friendliness. During the flight, Toothless is drawn to a dragon's nest, where a giganticKaiju-sized dragon, the Red Death, commands smaller dragons to feed it to avoid being eaten themselves. Realizing the dragons attack Berk for survival, Astrid wants to inform the villagers, but Hiccup advises against it to protect Toothless. In his final exam, Hiccup faces a captive Monstrous Nightmare dragon called Hookfang. Rather than killing it, he attempts to publicly prove dragons can be peaceful, but Stoick inadvertently enrages Hookfang, causing Toothless to emerge from hiding to protect Hiccup. Stoick captures Toothless and disowns Hiccup after discovering the truth. Stoick bounds Toothless to his ship and forces him to lead his fleet to the nest despite Hiccup's warnings. After reminding a distraught Hiccup he spared Toothless out of compassion, not cowardice, Astrid has Hiccup rally the other teens to tame the training dragons. Together, they pursue Stoick's fleet to the nest.
Stoick and his fleet locate and break open the nest, but the Red Death awakens and overpowers them. The dragon riders arrive to distract the Red Death while Hiccup attempts to free Toothless from a sinking ship. Stoick, realizing his horrible mistake, rescues both Hiccup and Toothless from drowning and apologizes to them. Hiccup and Toothless lure the Red Death into the air, damage its wing membranes, and set its insides alight, causing it to crash and explode. The dying Red Death's tail hits Hiccup off Toothless, and he falls into the explosion's fireball. Toothless saves Hiccup from the explosion and they both survive, although Hiccup loses his left foot.
With the Red Death's threat over, the Berk villagers co-exist peacefully with the dragons. Gobber replaces Hiccup's foot and Toothless's fin with prosthetics, and Hiccup, now admired by his fellow villagers, begins a relationship with Astrid.
Mason Thames as Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the awkward 16-year-old son of Stoick the Vast[10]
Nico Parker as Astrid Hofferson, Hiccup's love interest and fellow student in dragon-fighting training[10]
Gerard Butler as Stoick the Vast, Berk's chieftain and Hiccup's father. Butler reprises his role from the animated films.[11]
Nick Frost as Gobber the Belch, Berk's blacksmith, Stoick's best friend and advisor, and teacher of the tribe's young dragon fighting recruits with customizable prosthetics that go over where his right hand used to be[12]
Gabriel Howell as Snotlout Jorgenson, dragon-fighting student who sees himself as Hiccup's rival[13]
Julian Dennison as Fishlegs Ingerman, dragon-fighting student and Hiccup's best friend who is obsessed with memorizing dragon statistics[13]
Bronwyn James as Ruffnut Thorston, dragon-fighting student and Tuffnut's twin sister[13]
Harry Trevaldwyn as Tuffnut Thorston, dragon-fighting student and Ruffnut's twin brother[13]
Peter Serafinowicz as Spitelout Jorgenson, Snotlout's father and Stoick's second-in-command
Ruth Codd as Phlegma the Fierce, a member of the Viking village who lost half her right leg during one of the dragon fights.[14]
In February 2023, it was reported that a live-action adaptation ofDreamWorks Animation's 2010How to Train Your Dragon film, which was loosely based onCressida Cowell'seponymous book series, was in development atUniversal Pictures, withDean DeBlois directing, writing and producing the film after previously writing and directing the animated entries, andMarc Platt and Adam Siegel joining as co-producers.[16] DeBlois only accepted to direct the adaptation on the condition that he had full creative control.[8] In November 2024, Forbes reported that Universal had spent over $50 million onpre-production for the film.[17]
Principal photography was originally scheduled to begin in July 2023 inBelfast,Northern Ireland, before it was postponed due to the2023 SAG-AFTRA strike.[19][20] After the strike concluded, screen tests were set for December 2023, with plans to begin production in mid-to-late January 2024.[20] Filming began on January 15, 2024, andwrapped on May 16.[21][22][23]Bill Pope served as the cinematographer. DeBlois originally contactedRoger Deakins, who served as a visual consultant on the animated films, about working on the live-action film, but when Deakins declined, he recommended Pope to DeBlois.[24][8] Production was done with heavy use of practical sets and was filmed with theIMAX format in mind. Many scenes from the original film were re-createdshot-for-shot in live-action form, notably Hiccup's first encounter with Toothless.[25] To play the role of Stoick the Vast, Butler wore a massive costume that weighed 90 pounds.[26]
To drive authentic performances between the cast and their dragons and to inform the work of thevisual effects teams animating the dragons in post-production, puppets were used on set. Tom Wilton led a team of puppeteers whose on set performances allowed the cameramen to frame where the dragon would be while the actors had something to act against.[30] The Framestorevisual effects animation team also programmed eight-axis gimbals which were saddled up for the actors to ride with each of the dragon's heads attached during flight scenes. The gimbals allowed each rider to give performances unique to their dragon's flight cycle.[30]
In February 2023,John Powell revealed he was set to compose the film's music, after he previously scored the original film trilogy.[34][35] The score was released throughBack Lot Music day-and-date with the film on June 13, 2025, and was preceded by the single "Test Driving Toothless", which was adapted from the demo of theoriginal film's soundtrack.[36][37]
The film was released theatrically by Universal in theUnited States on June 13, 2025,[43] including engagements inRealD 3D,IMAX,Dolby Cinema,4DX,ScreenX andD-Box. It was previously set for release on March 14, 2025,[16] but due to the2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, it was delayed to its June date.[43] The film was dedicated to the memory of Gerard Butler's mother, Margaret Coll, who died earlier that year in February at the age of 81.[44]
The first look at the film was revealed inEmpire's 2025 Preview on November 15, 2024, ahead of the release of the first teaser trailer in front of theatrical screenings ofWicked.[45] The trailer was later released online on November 19, 2024, followed by a featurette introducing Dean DeBlois's vision in translating the story to the live-action medium.[46] A new look at the film aired duringSuper Bowl LIX on February 9, 2025, ahead of the release of the official trailer on February 12, 2025, before being attached to showings ofCaptain America: Brave New World.[47][48] AnIMAX trailer was released on May 6, 2025.[49]
The film first streamed onPeacock on October 10, 2025.[51][52] Unlike Universal's other live-action films, which stream onAmazon Prime Video for the next ten months of the pay-TV window following their first four months on Peacock, this film will stream onNetflix starting on February 10, 2026, before returning to Peacock for the remaining four.[53]
How to Train Your Dragon was released for digital download on July 15, 2025, and on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray,Blu-ray andDVD on August 12.[54][55][56]
How to Train Your Dragon has grossed $263 million in the United States and Canada, and $373.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $636.4 million.[5][6]
In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongsideMaterialists and was projected to gross $65–80 million from 4,000 theaters in its opening weekend.[4][57] The film made $35.6 million on its first day, including $11.1 million from preview screenings. It went on to debut to $84.6 million, topping the box office and marking the best opening of the series.[58] The film had the fourth-highest opening weekend of 2025 up to that point, behindA Minecraft Movie,Lilo & Stitch andCaptain America: Brave New World.[59][60]How To Train Your Dragon remained at the top of the box office in its second weekend with $37 million (a drop of 56.8%), beating out new releases28 Years Later andElio.[61][62] In its third weekend, it was overtaken byF1 and grossed $19.6 million.[63][64]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 77% of 259 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Crafted with loving fidelity to the animated classic by original co-director Dean DeBlois,How to Train Your Dragon doesn't best the first iteration but still reaches enchanting heights on its own."[65]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 61 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[66] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, the same as the original animated film, while those surveyed byPostTrak gave it a 94% overall positive score, with 83% saying they would definitely recommend the film.[59]
Brandon Yu ofThe New York Times gave the film a positive review and said, "This live action remake of the 2010 animated film is faithful to the original. The result is exhilarating at times, if somewhat mechanical."[67] Dessi Gomez ofDeadline Hollywood also gave the film a positive review and said, "While certain details in specific scenes were modified and some dialogue subtly shifted to enhance the story, the new version follows the original plot’s three-act structure to a tee."[68]Helen O'Hara ofEmpire Magazine gave the film three stars out of five and said, "It's clearly made with real love and care, but shows far too much deference to its progenitor. Even in a remake, we need more originality and less playing the hits."[69]
Kyle Smith ofWall Street Journal stated that "Mr. DeBlois's film harks back to the pre-Star Wars style of children's moviemaking, when the condescension of oversimplification was a defining attribute."[70] Writing forConsequence, Liz Shannon Miller said, "To be clear,Dragon is not the worst live-action remake this year — congrats toSnow White on holding onto that prize. It's just a slightly distorted copy of what came before. Its best attributes are fully a credit to the original, while its worst qualities all come from the foolishness of adapting a movie that was just fine the way it was."[71] Eric Goldman ofIGN gave the film a 7 out of 10 and wrote, "The live-actionHow to Train Your Dragon can feel hemmed in by its faithfulness to the animated original, but it's re-creating that film's sense of heart and soul as well as its entire plot and most enduring images."[72]Bilge Ebiri ofVulture gave the film a positive review and said, "All in all, this live-action adaptation works remarkably well — a rare feat."[73]
Radheyan Simonpillai ofThe Guardian gave the film two stars out of five and said, "DreamWorks tries to find success with theDisney live-action remake template but falls short."[74] Brian Tallerico ofRogerEbert.com gave the film two stars out of four and wrote, "the new version ofHow to Train Your Dragon doesn't do a single thing better than the original. It's not quite as soulless as the worst of these live-action remakes."[75]
On April 2, 2025, atCinemaCon, Universal Pictures announced that a live-action remake of the second film of the original animated trilogy,How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), was in development. The sequel was officially announced and scheduled for release on June 11, 2027.[84] Filming began on January 26, 2026 inLondon.[85]
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