Universal Pictures seems to have dropped the ball on How to Train Your Dragon's marketing campaign. For whatever reason, the teaser trailer started playing in select theaters this past weekend, resulting in our first look at the movie coming in the form of blurry social media screenshots.
Snippets of footage have since found their way online, but the trailer has now leaked in its entirety...in HD! We're not sure how this happened, but it presumably means the official version is mere hours away.
There's not too much to discuss here as the focus is primarily on early scenes from the movie as Hiccup's father, Stoick, encourages him to kill dragons like the rest of his fellow Vikings. However, when he encounters Toothless, a bond is formed during a moment that recreates an iconic scene from the 2010 animated feature.
As cool as it is to see this come to life, there are concerns that How to Train Your Dragon will be little more than a shot-for-shot remake. Considering the fact nearly a decade and a half will have passed since the original was released by the time 2025 rolls around, that may not matter too much to moviegoers.
Jay Baruchel voiced Hiccup in the DreamWorks franchise and now passes the reins to The Black Phone star Mason Thames. "Oh, boy. Well, my friend Dean [DeBlois] wrote and is directing that movie, and I'm just proud of and psyched for him," the actor previously said of this live-action adaptation. "He's been sending me cell phone pictures of the crazy set they built in Ireland."
"I'm just thrilled because he's got big ideas, and he hasn't made enough s--t yet. So, I'm really proud that Dean gets to do his thing."
"It's crazy, because I don't feel part of a different generation — well, that's not true, I do all the time. But, I guess, all the kids that were kids when the first one came out are grown-up now, which is f---ed. [Laughs] So, there's a whole bunch of little kids behind them who need their thing, and I hope maybe they find it here," Baruchel concluded.
You can watch the full trailer for How to Train Your Dragon in the player below (via Toonado.com).
Universal Pictures has assembled an impressive cast for How to Train Your Dragon that includes Mason Thames, Nico Parker, Gerard Butler, Nick Frost, Julian Dennison, Gabriel Howell, Bronwyn James, Harry Trevaldwyn, and Ruth Codd.
Dean DeBlois, who wrote and directed Lilo & Stitch and the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy alongside Chris Sanders helms this remake, possibly explaining reports that it's been described as a Lion King-style shot-for-shot adaptation following test screenings.
In the animated How to Train Your Dragon, Hiccup, a young Viking who dreams of being a brave dragon killer, strikes up an unlikely friendship with one of the flying beasts after wounding it in battle. Together, Hiccup and his new friend - whom he dubs Toothless - must unite their cultures in a fight against a giant evil dragon known as the Red Death.
How to Train Your Dragon is set to be released in theaters on June 13, 2025.