- “The legend is real.”
- ―Tagline
How to Train Your Dragon is a 2025 live-action remake of the animated film of the same name that was remake to the original animated franchise. The film was announced to be in development. It is produced by Marc Platt Productions and distributed by Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures, with Dean DeBlois set to return to write and direct. It is scheduled for release theatrically on June 13, 2025.
Synopsis[]
On the rugged isle of Berk, where Vikings and dragons have been bitter enemies for generations, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the inventive yet overlooked son of Chief Stoick the Vast, defies centuries of traditional dragon-fighting practice 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.
Plot[]
Dragons frequently attack the Viking village of Berk, stealing livestock and endangering villagers. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the 16-year-old misfit son of chieftain Stoick the Vast, is apprenticed to the local blacksmith Gobber, and attempts to create mechanical devices to overcome his physical weaknesses. During one dragon raid, Hiccup shoots down a rare dragon called a Night Fury with a bolas launcher, but no one believes his story. Wanting to prove himself, Hiccup sets out to find and kill the downed dragon; however, when he sees the dragon helpless and wounded, he compassionately sets him free. Though angered, the dragon spares Hiccup; this surprises Hiccup, as Vikings believe dragons always go for the kill.
Meanwhile, Stoick gathers his fleet to find and destroy the dragons' nest. Before leaving, Stoick heeds Gobber's advice and enrolls Hiccup in a dragon-fighting class with other local teens: Fishlegs, Snotlout, twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and Hiccup's "crush" Astrid. Hiccup is mocked by his peers and struggles in class; he returns to the forest and finds the Night Fury trapped in a cove, unable to fly because Hiccup's bolas tore off 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; this impresses the village, but sparks Astrid's suspicions.
Meanwhile, Stoick's fleet is damaged while attempting to find 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 that Toothless is friendly; during the flight, Toothless is drawn to a dragon's nest, where a massive 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 village, but Hiccup advises against it to protect Toothless.
In his final exam, Hiccup faces a captive Monstrous Nightmare dragon; instead of killing it, he attempts to publicly prove dragons can be tamed. An impatient Stoick inadvertently enrages the Monstrous Nightmare, causing Toothless to emerge from hiding to protect Hiccup. The Vikings capture Toothless; when Stoick learns the truth of the situation, he rashly disowns Hiccup for 'siding with the dragons' and keeping the dragons' nest a secret. Using Toothless as a captive guide, Stoick's fleet sets out to find the nest in spite of Hiccup's warnings. Astrid reminds a depressed Hiccup that he spared Toothless out of sympathy, not cowardice, and challenges Hiccup to take action. Hiccup gathers the other teens and tames the training dragons; riding on the dragons' backs, the teens set out after the fleet.
Stoick and his Vikings locate and break open the dragon's nest, awakening the Red Death, which easily overpowers them. The dragon riders arrive and distract the Red Death; in the chaos, Stoick rescues both Hiccup and Toothless from drowning and reconciles with his son. 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 knocks Hiccup unconscious, and he falls into the explosion's fireball; Toothless manages to save him, but Hiccup loses one of his legs.
Later, Hiccup wakes in Berk and sees dragons living peacefully in the village. Gobber constructs new prosthetics for Hiccup and Toothless, and Hiccup, now admired by all, starts a relationship with Astrid.
Cast[]
- Mason Thames as Hiccup Haddock
- Nico Parker as Astrid Hofferson
- Gerard Butler as Stoick the Vast
- Nick Frost as Gobber the Belch
- Julian Dennison as Fishlegs Ingerman
- Gabriel Howell as Snotlout Jorgenson
- Bronwyn James as Ruffnut Thorston
- Harry Trevaldwyn as Tuffnut Thorston
- Naomi Wirthner as Gothi
- Ruth Codd as Phlegma the Fierce
- Peter Serafinowicz as Spitelout Jorgenson
- Murray McArthur as Hoark
Gallery[]
Releases[]
Differences from the 2010 film[]
- There's a lot more diversity among the cast and background extras, which is explained as Stoick states that members of the tribe hail from different regions of the world.
- The cast tend to wear different clothes throughout the film instead of one particular look.
- Hiccup is shown to also wear blue tunics.
- Astrid and Snotlout are shown to also wear red tunics.
- The Twins have been shown to also wear purple tunics.
- The designs for some of the dragons have been slightly modified:
- Terrible Terror eyes are more similar to a Chameleon's eyes.
- Gronckles have crown spikes on their heads instead of fin ears. Its face looks more broader, like a bulldog's.
- Deadly Nadder heads are thinner. And their talons are very short.
- Hideous Zipplebacks have thicker necks, as well as their eyes being smaller and red instead of yellow. Their legs are more positioned underneath their bodies. Given larger wings with 5 digits instead of 8, 9 if the claw on the wing joint is counted.
- Monstrous Nightmare eyes are small and are on the side of their heads, instead of being larger and next to each other on top of their heads. The shape of their snouts is more narrow, similar in appearance of a crocodile's. And they have 3 fingers on the wing joint instead of 2, their necks are thicker in girth like the Zippleback. It has 7 digits in its wings.
- The Red Death is portrayed as chunkier with a shorter neck, a larger frill and is significantly larger. Also, instead of grey, it is black with its head being mostly red. It is given new roars and other vocalization, one of them was reused from a Mammoth trumpet in Ice Age: The Meltdown.
- The Night Fury's wings have 5 digits points instead of 6, with the second digit being longer than the first.
- This film also adds the Skrill and the Rumblehorn as dragons that have been known to raid the village, which they also have been modified:
- Skrills have more of a frill around their head spikes like a ceratopsian dinosaur.
- Rumblehorns' side horns are shorter and more closer to their nasal horn.
- Certain characters are physically different from their animated counterparts as opposed to their actors' physical appearance:
- Hiccup is taller instead of shorter than the other teens. His small scar is positioned just behind the right corner of his lip. He has brown eyes instead of green.
- Astrid is brunette with brown eyes and slightly darker skin.
- Snotlout is shorter than everyone else.
- Fishlegs has tanned skin and a trace of a New Zealand accent. He is black haired instead of blonde and has brown eyes instead of green.
- Ruffnut and Tuffnut are both redheads, as well as Tuffnut being taller and skinner compared to Ruffnut.
- In addition, they are much older than the rest of the Viking Trainees, with the explanation that they failed Dragon Training four times.
- Stoick has a scar beside his left eye.
- Gobber's right arm and left leg are missing, instead of his left arm and right leg. This change was made at the request of the actor Nick Frost, who had knee surgery on his left leg.
- In addition, Gobber speaks with more of a British accent than a Scottish one.
- Phlegma has a prosthetic leg to replace a limb that she lost in a battle with a Hideous Zippleback.
- There's also a shift in the characters' personalities:
- Hiccup seems a little more confident whenever someone insults him, as when the Twins mock him, he calls their stupidity for being held back. And when Snotlout mocks him for his name, Hiccup calls out Snotlout for having an even more stupid name.
- Astrid is shown to be a little more rude and aggressive as, in the Great Hall, she stares down Hiccup, making him fear for his life, also saying she's worked hard but didn't have everything handed down to her. She also gloats, saying that the big house Hiccup lives in will belong to her, knowing she'll become chief instead of him. Also after Nadder Training, instead of yelling at just Hiccup, she gets angry at the other teens as well for not taking their training seriously.
- Fishlegs is portrayed as very friendly throughout the whole film as he never did mock Hiccup once and was even the only one very impressed with how well he was doing in training.
- Ruffnut is mostly the same but she constantly keeps trying to get on Astrid's good side, defending her from insults and saying how being girls they must stick together.
- Snotlout and Tuffnut are also mostly the same. But during training when Hiccup progresses, along with Ruffnut, they're not so impressed but more off confused and in disbelief but eventually are proud of him.
- Starkard and Ack aren't featured in this film, while eight new characters have now been introduced.
- Gothi's hut isn't perched on top of the mountain but is on the ground in the village.
- Snotlout and Spitelout's relationship is featured many times, despite the two not interacting in the original film.
- Dragon Nip isn't featured in the film. Dandelions are used in its place, which dragons have an allergy to.
- Hiccup's opening narration is different from the animated film.
- In the beginning of the animated version Hiccup opened the door and a Monstrous Nightmare shoots fire towards him while he closes it and stays behind it. In the remake, he stands next to the door after closing and not behind it.
- Stoic throws a wooden object at a deadly nadder. In the remake they changed it to him throwing a shield towards a gronckle instead.
- In the opening scene before the raid begins, the animated film had a Dragon steal a live sheep. However, in this version the sheep the dragon steals is a decoy that is connected to a string and pulley system, activating an alarm bell for the villagers.
- Instead of 3 Nadders cornering some sheep like in the animated film, one was stalking sheep when Stoick fights it and holds it down.
- In the animated film, Stoick convinced the Vikings to search for the nest by threatening them to look after Hiccup if they refuse. In the remake, he gives a speech to encourage them to keep searching.
- Gothi came at the meeting and used bones to tell the future. This wasn’t present in the animated film.
- Unlike the animated film, Valka was mentioned more than once.
- When Stoick and Gobber are talking about whether Hiccup should take part in the Trial of Flames, unlike the animated film, Stoick and Gobber don't talk about Hiccup looking for trolls and Gobber protesting they are real.
- As Stoick and his search party travel into the fogbank of Helheim's gate, in the animated film it simply shows silhouettes of dragons attacking in the fog, whereas in the remake, it has a whole scene showing various dragons attacking the boats.
- When Hiccup went home he went to ravens point through the front door. In the animated film he used the back door.
- After releasing Toothless Hiccup is pinned against a rock by his paw. In the remake Toothless doesn’t use his paw to pin him.
- Hiccup didn't faint after Toothless flies off like in the animated film.
- In the Forbidden Friendship scene, Toothless vomits up the fish’s head onto Hiccup’s lap instead of the tail.
- The scene where Hiccup and Toothless encounter the Terrible Terrors after their first flight is removed from the film. The reason is because, although it was animated and the set was built, Dean believed that it didn’t help with the film’s pacing, and Hiccup was already learning that his village was wrong about what they knew about dragons
- In addition, the scene where Hiccup and Toothless sneak into the village to fix the saddle, and Astrid comes to confront him is also taken out.
- Hiccup makes a music box-like Toothless figurine that he keeps in his workshop, while this does not happen in the original as Hiccup plays with a pencil out of boredom.
- On the second day of dragon training Hiccup gets attacked by deadly nadder fire. In the remake they changed it with the dragon breaking through the wall with its face.
- When Hiccup is announced as the top slayer, in the animated film, the Viking teens (barring Astrid) cheer for him, in the remake, Fishlegs is the only one of them to do so.
- Astrid trains in the woods with one ax and then runs into Hiccup she decides to follow him, but loses him shortly after. In the remake Astrid trains with small axes instead of a big one. She also starts to follow Hiccup after noticing him, instead of randomly running into him like in the animated film.
- In the animated film, when Hiccup and Toothless kidnap Astrid, they take her to the top of a tree. In the remake, they take her to the top of a sea stack.
- During Romantic Flight, in the original Hiccup and Astrid eventually fly over Berk which Astrid rests her head on Hiccup's shoulder while smiling, but in the remake they don't do that which Astrid instead gently places her hand on Toothless.
- After the Romantic Flight, in the animated film, Astrid's views on dragons changed completely. In the remake, she was still a little hesitant due to the raids on the village and completely changed her mind after their encounter with the Red Death.
- In the animated film when Hiccup, Astrid and Toothless were in the nest, the Red Death notices their presence and tries to kill them as they narrowly escape. In the remake, the Red Death does not notice and Hiccup, Astrid and Toothless escape by flying through the crowd of dragons to evade being noticed by the Red Death.
- In the animated film, before Hiccup enters the ring for his final exam, he asks Astrid to make sure no one finds Toothless in case something goes wrong. In the remake, he tells her not to get involved in case she gets shunned, though Astrid claims that she'll stand by his side.
- When Hookfang goes berserk after Stoick hits the bars, instead of snapping his jaws and breathing fire at Hiccup, he simply lets out a loud roar.
- When trying to escape the arena, Hiccup tries to climb the wall and grab Fishlegs' hand to escape but Hookfang stops him. This doesn't happen in the animated film.
- When Stoick lifts the gate open so Hiccup and Astrid can escape, in the animated film he lifts it up with ease and it stays open. In the remake, he's struggling to keep it open long enough for the two to escape.
- In the animated film, Stoick says, "You're not a Viking. You're not my son." In the remake, the "You're not a Viking" line was changed to "You're not one of us."
- When the Vikings leave to destroy the nest, Hiccup stays near the dock as they leave. In the remake, once Stoick spots him, he leaves and Astrid finds him near one of the cliffs.
- When Hiccup introduces Snotlout to Hookfang he was gonna grab a small spear, but was stopped by Astrid. In the remake it was Hiccup who stopped Snotlout from getting the weapon rather than Astrid, also the weapon was a hammer instead of a spear. Hookfang snarled at Snotlout for attempting to grab the weapon. In the remake this scene took place at night instead of the day like in the animated film.
- As the Vikings break open the volcano to fight the dragons, Stoick is holding an axe whereas in the animated version he has a hammer.
- In the animated film, it's unknown whether some of the Vikings died in the Red Death's wake. In the remake, some of them were crushed as she emerged from the volcano and some were burned alive when she set fire to the ships.
- In the animated film, when Stoick and Gobber go to distract the Red Death, they split up and Stoick got its attention by throwing a stake at it. In the remake. they stuck together and got its attention by launching boulders at it via a catapult.
- When flying into battle to the Red Death Hiccup gave everyone their orders while in the remake it’s was Astrid instead of Hiccup who gave their commands.
- In the remake Tuffnut said ''that's our specialty''. In the animated film Ruffnut said ''that’s my specialty'' while her brother argued that he’s more irritating.
- During the battle with the Red Death, Fishlegs refers to Meatlug as a girl, although in the animation he mistakes her for being male at first before discovering she laid eggs in Gift of the Night Fury.
- In the animated film Fishlegs and Snotlout make noise to the Red Death and believe that it’s affecting it, but they failed to notice it affected their dragons. In the remake Snotlout insisted that they keep hammering, but Fishlegs noticed that the noise was also affecting their dragons.
- Hiccup and Stoick's apology in the remake is slightly different from their apology in the animated film.
- In the battle with the Red Death, instead of inhaling Astrid and Stormfly, she uses her telepathic Alpha power to control Stormfly to fly into her mouth.
- In addition, instead of Toothless shooting the Red Death, Astrid goes directly into her mouth and chops off the Red Death’s teeth to save Stormfly.
- When Toothless fired a blast at the Red Death's face, she wasn't knocked off her feet like in the animated film.
- The Red Death's fatal explosive crash near the end of the final battle has her crash into the volcano in the remake while the animated film had her crashing into the ground, while Stoick, Astrid and the rest of the onlooking Vikings were at a farther and safer distance instead of being closer like in the animated.
- In the animated film, Astrid and the other Vikings walk towards Toothless and Stoick before the latter apologizes to the former. In the remake, they walk towards them after the apology.
- When Stoick was mourning Hiccup's apparent death, Astrid comforts him. This doesn't happen in the animated film, as she just stays in the crowd.
- After Hiccup wakes up, Stoick reveals that he and the other Vikings flew back to Berk on dragons since the Red Death destroyed all their ships, while it can be assumed they flew back in the animated film, it's never specifically mentioned.
- In the animated film, when Hiccup wakes up, he is greeted by some of the villagers. In the remake, he is only greeted by Stoick, Astrid and Gobber.
- After kissing Hiccup on the lips, Astrid says, "That's for everything else." She didn't say the same line at the end of the animated film.
- Stoick admitting that Hiccup's ways were what they needed all along and Gobber talking about Hiccup's prosthetic leg occurs after Astrid kissed him instead of before.
- In Hiccup's ending narration, in the animated film after he says "This is Berk", he says "It snows nine months of the year and hails the three". In the remake, he says "You'd have to be crazy to move here, even crazier to stay. It's not for the faint of heart."
- In the remake the twins are seen bathing their dragon, this didn’t occur in the animated film.
- The dragon classification symbols are different from the animated film and the remake.
- The animated film featured a dragon carrying Gloria the Hippo from the Madagascar movie as an easter egg, but in this film there was no hippo being taken back to the nest.
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- This is the first live-action remake of a DreamWorks Animation film and the first live-action/animated film to be made before Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie.
- Amblin Partners' first live-action remake film, this is also DreamWorks Pictures' first collaboration with its former animation division since 2005's Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
- Due to receiving a PG rating from the MPA like the original animated film, this is the sixth live-action adaptation of an animated film to be rated the same rating as its original counterpart, after Disney's live-action remakes of 101 Dalmatians and Lilo & Stitch, respectively.
- This film served as 15th anniversary of the original film.
- Gerard Butler previously portrayed Stoick in the animated trilogy, making him the only voice actor from the original movies to return for the live-action film.
- The way Gerard Butler reprised his role as Stoick the Vast in the film, is similar to how James Earl Jones reprised his role as Mufasa in The Lion King (2019).
External Links[]
References[]
[]
v - e - d  | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
