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I'm with you - I have a natural distrust for adaptations from one medium to another. Live-action adaptations of cartoons have a particularly high fail rate, but after seeing the first official still for Universal Pictures' live-action How to Train Your Dragon I'm... optimistic.

Take a look at that still here.

That is The Black Phone's Mason Thames as HIccup (originally voiced by Jay Baruchel in the How to Train Your Dragon animated movie) in the arena used by the biking village of Berk. You have to admit, its better than you thought. It's accurate, not only in the visuals of the movie (See our image from the movie above) but also in the spirit above it.

And you have to give them credit - Universal hired the director of all three of the How to Train Your Dragon animated movies to direct the live-action version, Dean DeBlois. If you made a list of who would have the capacity to best bring what we loved about the How to Train Your Dragon cartoon to live-action, he'd be #1... wouldn't he?

While we wait for more stills and a trailer, lets give it some hope - and maybe not pay attention to the spurious 'leaked' set photos with purported images of Toothless. Don't believe everything you see on social media. I know, I know - the fail rate on cartoons-to-live-action isn't great, but Marvel succeeded by a reverence to the source material coupled with working with creative individuals, and hiring someone like DeBlois seems like a similar formula. Let's just give them time to cook - the smell so far is amazing.

The live-action How to Train Your Dragon movie is scheduled to open in theaters June 13, 2025.

 Here is how to watch How to Train Your Dragon movies & TV series in order.