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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

Shahana Yasmin
Wednesday 20 November 2024 05:58 EST
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How To Train Your Dragon 2 trailer

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The first teaser trailer for Universalā€™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 childrenā€™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 Hiccupā€™s father Stoick the Vast, Nick Frost, Julian Dennison, Gabriel Howell, Bronwyn James, Harry Trevaldwyn, Ruth Codd, Peter Serafinowicz, and Murray McArthur.

ā€œOn the rugged isle of Berk, where Vikings and dragons have been bitter enemies for generations, Hiccup stands apart,ā€ the filmā€™s synopsis reads. ā€œThe 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.ā€

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 Parkerā€™s casting as Astrid led to a Tiktoker questioning the ā€œrace-swappingā€ since Astrid is meant to be a Viking in the original animated film, and Parker is biracial, which is ā€œdistorting historyā€.

People have mostly reacted to the TikTok video with reminders that the film is based on a childrenā€™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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