How to Train Your Dragon Live-Action Remake Starts Filming, First Set Photo Revealed

The live-action reimagining of How to Train Your Dragon now has cameras rolling with production underway.

After directing the three animated movies in the How to Train Your Dragon franchise, filmmaker Dean DeBlois is back in the director's chair for the upcoming live-action adaptation. On Monday, DeBlois shared the first image from the set to Instagram to reveal that filming has officially begun on the project. The picture reveals DeBlois with a clapboard with a smile on his face and a sweater that has a How to Train Your Dragon feel to it. Behind him is a part of the set that teases the movie's medieval setting. The post, which can be viewed below, included the caption, "First day of the shoot! We're all excited to get underway!"

DeBlois wrote the screenplay for the live-action remake along with serving as director. He's also producing the feature film alongside Marc Platt and Adam Siegel. Also returning from the movie series is actor Gerard Butler, who voiced Stoick the Vast in the animated films. He's reprising his role in the remake, playing a live-action version of the character. Other cast members include Mason Thames (The Black Phone) as Hiccup, Nico Parker (The Last of Us) as Astrid, and Nick Frost (Fighting with my Family) as Gobber the Belch. Original trilogy composer John Powell is also back to score the remake.

Dean DeBlois Changed His Mind on Live-Action Remakes

For a while, it had seemed that How to Train Your Dragon may avoid the live-action remake trend, as DeBlois had been outspoken in the paste about his distaste for these kinds of reimaginings. In 2020, he told Variety that remakes "seem to suggest that the animated version is a lesser form than the expensive glossy live-action movie." DeBlois obviously changed his mind between then and when it was announced in 2023 that he'd be writing and directing a How to Train Your Dragon remake.

Collectively, the three animated movies have earned more than $1.6 billion at the worldwide box office. The franchise began with the release of the original film in 2010, which surpassed $494 million. That was followed by the successful releases of How to Train Your Dragon 2 in 2014 ($621 million) and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World in 2019 ($519 million).

The How to Train Your Dragon remake is dated for a theatrical release on June 13, 2025.

Source: Dean DeBlois on Instagram