Jennifer Lopez Turns Wicked Premiere Into Family Outing With 16-Year-Old Emme
Get ready to roar with nostalgia.
Nearly 15 years after the release of How to Train Your Dragon—which featured voice acting from Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill and Kristen Wiig—the beloved animated tale is headed back to the big-screen as a reimagined live-action epic.
In the first teaser trailer released Nov. 19, Viking chief Stoick the Vast—portrayed by Butler, who reprises his role from the computer-animated franchise—urged his tepid son, Hiccup, to follow in his mighty footsteps.
“When you carry this axe, you carry all of us with you,” he told the boy, who nervously responded, “Dad, I can’t kill dragons.”
When the young misfit, played by Mason Thames, stumbled upon an injured dragon and struggled to kill the winged creature, the two instead formed an unlikely friendship.
“It’s OK,” he reassured the beast, “I won’t hurt you.”
The original 2010 animated film, based on the book series by Cressida Cowell, spawned a media franchise including two theatrical sequels, three television series and several televised short films.
And while audiences will surely welcome Butler’s return, his experience filming the remake in person was a far cry from the comforts of a voice-over booth.
“It was very cold and kind of miserable because we went at the worst time,” he told Collider of filming the project in Northern Ireland. “It was December, or really starting in January. I had a hotel room that had glass right down by my bath, and for some reason, I had decided I was going to take ice baths every morning.”
Universal Pictures
But after the 300 star completed his cold plunges, his on-set wardrobe called for a much more insulated costume.
“I had seven layers, thick layers, and a thick beard,” he noted, “and then I had a kind of bearskin or wolfskin over it. It was heavy as s--t. I was, in the middle of the coldest day, soaking wet from sweat inside because it was like a furnace in there.”
Universal Pictures
How to Train Your Dragon soars into theatres June 13, 2025. In the meantime, read on to see more upcoming movie releases.
(E! News and Universal Pictures are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
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