The mega-popular animated How To Train Your Dragon series, which has spawned three mainline films and cartoon adaptations, has finally confirmed a live-action version.
The next step in mainline animated cinema, with the Disney formula in mind, is to move animated shows to the big screen in the form of a live-action film or series. Like the Disney creations Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King before, it is now DreamWorks’ time to readapt one of their most popular series into a live-action film. What better fits this mould than the How To Train Your Dragon animated series of films and cartoons? To add fuel to the dragon fire, DreamWorks has also announced longtime Director Dean DeBlois, who is responsible for all three How To Train Your Dragon films, will return as film runner and writer.
The story of the film series is based on the books penned by Cressida Cowell, which focuses on a society of Viking warriors that hunt and slay dragons simply because that’s how their society continues to raise each other. The main character, Hiccup breaks this mould by befriending a dragon and naming him Toothless, and he embarks on a big adventure that also doubles as a coming-of-age story.
Although it seems difficult to imagine the main role of Hiccup ‘Horrendous’ Haddock III going to any actor besides Jay Baruchel, the actor may come on board as a narrator of sorts, considering the age gap is huge between the actor and character now. The original cast is composed of America Ferrera as Astrid, Jonah Hill as Snotlout, Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Fishlegs, T.J. Miller as Tuffnut and Kristen Wiig as Ruffnut, all of whom have grown significantly out of their highly touted vocal roles.
John Powell, the highly touted composer from the films, has also announced on his Instagram that he will be returning with “Sometimes it’s very hard to keep a secret, but I’m sorry, I had to” on his announcement.
How To Train Your Dragon, the live-action film, is not due for release until 2025, so fans have a bit of a wait ahead of them.
