How To Train Your Dragon Live-Action Movie Loses Release Date, Is It Getting Cancelled?
Like so many other highly-anticipated productions that have faced slowdowns due to the now-resolved writers’ strike and the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike, the release of the live-action adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon has been pushed. According to Deadline, the film, which was initially expected to take flight on March 14, 2025, will now be bumped to June 13, 2025. Thankfully, this isn’t a massive change, as other fandoms are facing much longer wait times.
The Live-Action How To Train Your Dragon Pushes Its Release Date Back A Few Months
The studios backing How to Train Your Dragon, Universal and DreamWorks Animation, broke the news to future audiences over the weekend- giving them a full weekend to recover emotionally and mentally from the blow. With just a slight shift, though, we don’t anticipate anyone will be completely having a meltdown over this one.
Dean DeBlois Returns To Direct The Live-Action Film
Piggybacking off the uber-popular animated film series of the same name, the live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon is being penned and directed by Dean DeBlois. Already having a handle on the animated films, which themselves are adaptations of the bestselling book series by Cressida Cowell, DeBlois has previously written and helmed the complete How to Train Your Dragon franchise.
Outside of the Dragon movies, DeBlois has been attached to a slew of other recognizable titles including Mulan and Lilo & Stitch, the latter of which made him an Academy Award nominee.
The Franchise Follows Hiccup And Toothless
In the original set of How to Train Your Dragon movies, audiences meet a young Viking named Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) who dreams of becoming his village’s top dragon slayer. Unfortunately (or rather, fortunately) for him, Hiccup has a huge heart so when he injures a dragon he doesn’t have it in him to put the creature out of its misery. Pouring his soul and love into bringing the dragon back from the edge of death, Hiccup makes lifelong friends with the dragon, and together, the pair change their world for the better.
Gerard Butler Voices Hiccup’s Father, Stoick The Vast
Along with Jay Baruchel (This Is the End), How to Train Your Dragon also features vocal performances from America Ferrera (Barbie), Gerard Butler (the Has Fallen franchise), David Tennant (Doctor Who), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad), Jonah Hill (Get Him to the Greek), Craig Ferguson (The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson), Kristen Wiig (Wonder Woman 1984), and T.J. Miller (Ready Player One).
A Last of Us Star Joins The Live-Action Movie
The news of How to Train Your Dragon’s live-action adaptation receiving a later release date comes hot on the heels of the announcement of the film’s two leading stars. As we recently learned, Mason Thames has been cast to play Hiccup while Nico Parker will be playing Astrid. Horror audiences will recognize Thames for his work alongside Ethan Hawke in The Black Phone, while fans of HBO’s series The Last of Us will remember Parker from her performance as Joel’s (Pedro Pascal) daughter, Sarah Miller.
Universal Studios Reports Another Mystery Film Dropping During The Summer Of 2025
As of right now, no other cast members have been announced but with Parker and Thames’s involvement, things are off to a great start. And, while Universal may have been bummed to push the release of How to Train Your Dragon, the studio revealed that they plan on dropping another film on July 2, 2025, but declined further comment. Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.
