The How to Train Your Dragon live-action movie has confirmed that Gerard Butler is returning.
The actor played Hiccup's father Stoick the Vast in the animated films, and Deadline states that Butler will reprise his role for Universal Pictures' adaptation.
He's not the only person who is returning for the franchise's leap into live-action. Dean DeBlois, who wrote and directed all three animated films (well, co-directed the first) is also helming this one.
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However, the main duo of Hiccup and Astrid (originally voiced by Jay Baruchel and America Ferrera) will be played by different actors. The Black Phone's Mason Thames will play Hiccup and The Last of Us' Nico Parker will star as Astrid.
The three animated films were released between 2010 and 2019, and has received TV spin-offs as well as a live show on ice.
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The live-action movie was announced last year and was originally set to release in March 2025, but was briefly delayed by the Hollywood strikes to June of next year instead.
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Meanwhile, DreamWorks Animation has three films planned for this year, including a fourth Kung Fu Panda movie, and something called The Wild Robot, directed by the first How to Train Your Dragon's co-director Chris Sanders.
The studio has three films pencilled in for 2025, one of which might be the recently confirmed fifth Shrek movie, which will see Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy return to voice their characters for the first time since 2010's Shrek Forever After.
How to Train Your Dragon 2 can be streamed for Netflix subscribers in the UK, the other two can be bought or rented from various digital storefronts.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.
