Completed in 2019, the Dragons trilogy left its mark and won over the public. Is a 4th opus in the works? We take stock.
Between 2010 and 2019, the Dragons saga enchanted young and old, attracting 9 million spectators in France over 3 films. Internationally, the Dreamworks trilogy grossed a whopping $1.6 billion.
IS A DRAGONS 4 PLANNED?
Despite this critical and commercial triumph, director Dean DeBlois has always insisted, there will be no 4th episode of Dragons in the cinema. “The franchise is over. The animated series is no longer broadcast, there are currently no plans for a feature film. If the studio decides to produce a new film, I hope they choose another era and new heroes”he confided to our microphone in June 2019.
“I deliberately tried to make a satisfactory ending to this trilogy so that it wouldn’t be touched again. And then, I always wanted to write this saga in three acts. Today, I accomplished my mission and I’m proud of these three films. But I don’t own the rights to the franchise so if they want to do something else with it, if they decide in the future to make another film, I hope they don’t won’t do it with my characters! The story is already complete”confirmed Dean DeBlois a year later in the columns of Télé Loisirs.
The director is therefore very clear, there is no question of giving a sequel to his trilogy. “I feel like I’ve reached the end of my ideas and I really want to start a new project, to do something completely different. Why not live-action cinema?”he told us during our interview in 2019.
A LIVE ACTION DRAGONS IN PREPARATION?
Dean DeBlois didn’t think he was saying that well when he talked about a live-action project. However, it won’t be so different from what he thought. Indeed, in February 2023, Deadline announces that a new Dragons is in preparation.
The film will be a live action adaptation of the original work and will be directed by Dean DeBlois himself. This will be his first live-action feature film. Until now, he had only directed animated films.
Dreamworks
“In terms of references, AND the extra-terrestrial is typically the kind of film I would like to sign. Maybe I would do something for a family audience with fantasy or supernatural elements… In the style of a Harry Potter ! I also really like films that explore memories and dreams. I’m a big fan ofEternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind of Michael Gondry“he emphasized in 2020.
Obviously, the director preferred to return to his original universe, due to not being able to bring a different project to fruition. We can nevertheless wonder if Dean DeBlois has not agreed to take the reins to guarantee that the spirit of his saga will be intact.
“I know that it is essential to work on several stories in parallel because projects can be abandoned overnight by studios; so I hope to be able to develop an animation project in parallel with several live-action scenarios. But what I’m looking for above all is an adventure story in an immersive world with supernatural elements.”he explained to us during our interview in 2019.
A RELEASE DATE FOR DRAGONS LIVE ACTION?
As soon as the project was announced, a release date was set by Dreamworks and Universal: March 12, 2025! Will this deadline be met despite the strike that is currently paralyzing Hollywood? Nothing is less sure.
Furthermore, is Dreamworks looking to follow in Disney’s footsteps with live-action remakes of its big animated hits (which could result in something strange if Shrek were entitled to this treatment)? A way to revive one of its most beloved and well-known brands? A bit of both perhaps?
DRAGONS LIVE ACTION, WHAT WILL IT TELL?
We do not yet know in which direction the plot of this Dragons live action will go. Dreamworks has not specified whether the feature film will return to the roots of the story inspired by Cressida Cowell’s novels.
Like the animated version, this one should, logically, take us back to the time of the Vikings. Harold, son of Stoik, chief of the village of Berk, befriends Toothless, a wounded dragon, and discovers many things about these mythical creatures.
We do not yet know to what extent this live remake will move away from its predecessor, nor the look that Toothless will have in the film, but this new Dragons will have a lot to do to pass after one of the best trilogies in cinema. ‘animation.
The studio also evokes a “new chapter” in the story of friendship between the Viking Hiccup and the dragon Toothless. Which does not completely rule out the possibility that this remake is actually a sequel.
An option which remains to be confirmed and would not immediately answer all the questions that we may ask about this film, which could just as easily give a result of the caliber of the live remake of Peter and Elliot the Dragon as be a new Eragon.
WHO WILL BE IN THE CAST OF THIS DRAGONS LIVE ACTION?
Currently, we only know the two actors who will play Harold and Astrid. Will Gerard Butler be back in the role of Stoik, the hero’s father, to whom he lent his voice? We do not know yet.
After Black Phone, in which he was the hero opposite the bogeyman played by Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames will play Harold, voiced by Jay Baruchel in the Dreamworks trilogy.
Seen in the first memorable sequences of season 1 of The Last of Us, in the guise of Joel’s daughter (Pedro Pascal), Nico Parker will be Astrid. America Ferrera offered her voice in animated feature films.