How to Train Your Dragon, the animated movie, was released in 2010 and was one of those ‘yes’ movies from DreamWorks Studios. It did everything right, from the story beats to the soundtrack to that gorgeous sequence of Hiccup flying with Toothless when he loses his cheat sheet and is stuck amidst those needle-like rock formations. A live-action remake with the same director, therefore, is sure to be a winning recipe, and the early screening reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are painting a bright future for this enterprise.
Set to release originally in March 2025, the film experienced a few delays and is now scheduled for release on 13th June 2025 to much hype. But what sorts of issues could plague a film as huge as this? With the backing of DreamWorks Studios and the natural beauty of Northern Ireland, shouldn’t this be a straight, purple lightning-infused shot to victory?
Dragons Are Not a Problem
How to Train Your Dragon is an adaptation of a book by Cressida Cowell and follows the story of a young Viking boy living in the city of Berk which is constantly plagued by dragon attacks. In order to impress his friends and win his place in Viking society, Hiccup tries to become a dragon slayer but ultimately ends up befriending a Night Fury. Through this friendship and the dedication he shows for his dragon friend and vice versa, he is able to change the hearts and minds of his village about dragons.
Of course, animating dragons into an animated world is one thing, adapting that animation to a real-world setting is something entirely new altogether, and one that requires a lot more spatial consideration. David Cain, Producer of the new live-action adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon, explained in his BBC News NI Interview that:
‘When they animated, they would draw the dragon to just to the convenient size they needed it to be. But when you’re working in real spaces, a large dragon is a large dragon and it takes up the space it needs.’
With these new spatial discrepancies to work through, it may mean that the creators had to do quite a bit of jiggery-pokery to remain as true to the original animated movie as possible. David Cain elaborated on this concern as well, stating:
‘You’re trying to make something that was loved and cherished and pay homage to the original and keep the fans happy while, at the same time, bringing something fresh and new to the table.’
The Landscape of Berk
Do you think the live How to Train Your Dragon film will capture the same magic as the animation? Perhaps the answer to that can be seen in the film’s various stunning locations set across Northern Ireland. The movie was recorded in Belfast, Tollymore Forest and Dunseverick Castle, the footage manipulated to mimic the complexities of Berk’s iconic shoreline and forests.
Gerard Butler, also known as the beloved Stoick the Viking Chief in the live-action How to Train Your Dragon, mentioned that having the sets all lit up with candles and lanterns, seeing how authentic it looked with the jagged coastlines and what not, helped the cast to really get into the magic of it all. ‘People get caught up in that energy and they believe the story,’ he says. Quite a few sets were built outside to maximise on the natural boons of Northern Ireland, like the weather. The overcast skies with the watery breakthrough of sunshine really gives that Viking-like edge to the fictional Berk and makes for glorious colours to set up those peskily large dragons against.
Considering these filming locations are the same ones that dotted the successful HBO series, Game of Thrones, it’s no wonder that there’s an air of magic about the production. Cain explains that Northern Ireland is doing everything right to attract the bigger films, and How to Train Your Dragon is sure to garner even more attention.
We Have Stubbornness…Issues
Despite the setbacks, the live-action adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon has finally wrapped up, and the finished product is set to fly into our cinemas on 13th June 2025. We are sure to be enraptured by the correctly scaled dragons and the exquisite panoramas of the Northern Irish coast. Thank goodness the makers of this movie are just as stubborn as the Vikings they’re writing about!
