Gerard Butler Will Reprise How to Train Your Dragon Role

Movies

Deadline exclusively reports that Gerard Butler is reprising his role as Chief Stoick in the live-action remake of the DreamWorks animated film How to Train Your Dragon. Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and Astrid (America Ferrera) have been recast with Mason Thames and Nico Parker (daughter of Thandiwe Newton) due to the original actors’ ages, but Butler can still portray Hiccup’s father. Universal is brewing up the remake with Marc Platt under his banner, Mark Platt Productions; Dean DeBlois, the co-writer and co-director of the original, will write and direct the live-action version as well.

This reminds me of the Lion King remake, wherein they also kept only one actor the same: James Earl Jones as Mufasa. I think remaking How to Train Your Dragon is a terrible idea, especially in live-action. I don’t know why these studios think beloved animated films need live-action versions, but I’m hoping we’ve turned a corner and the audience won’t keep rewarding them for it. I like Gerard Butler fine, but I’m not interested in this. I love How to Train Your Dragon the way it is and find it highly unlikely they’ll improve on it with a remake.