It sounds like Gerard Butler, who starred in the original How to Train Your Dragon series, is excited for the live-action remake.

Speaking to ClutchPoints about Den of Thieves 2: Pantera, Butler assured me that the live-action How to Train Your Dragon remake is not a cash grab. Like Mason Thames previously told us, a lot of “care” was put into the new movie.

“The approach that was taken to this remake, I wish people could see the love and care that went into this movie, and it being made for all the right reasons,” Butler claimed. “Our writer-director, Dean [DeBlois], who is just the loveliest soul and who knows how to tell a [story] and who cares so much about what he's teaching or relaying to an audience.”

What sold Gerard Butler on the remake

Gerard Butler at the Daytona 500 on February 21, 2016.
Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images.

According to Butler, the live-action remake brings the movies to a “new level.” He was blown away by seeing early footage. He called it one of the most exciting days of my career.”

“When I arrived in Belfast, [I] went to the studio, sat with special effects,” he recalled. “[I remember having] Dean show me how they were making up the dragons, how some of the world would look, doing a tour of the sets that we built, seeing the costumes, the swords and going, ‘Oh my God, I'm part of this,’ [laughs] like, I'd only ever been the voice!

“Just from that, I had a lot of attachment to the family. All of that has been really, really exciting,” he concluded.

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Praise for How to Train Your Dragon live-action remake star Mason Thames

Thames, best known for starring in The Black Phone, will lead the How to Train Your Dragon remake as Hiccup. Butler sees a star in Thames and seems to think this movie will make it known.

“And that Mason, by the way, he's going to be a big star,” Butler glowingly praised. “I've seen the film — it's out of this world. And I've seen it without the effects done. But Mason, a star is born.”

Early in his career, Thames made his acting debut in Apple TV+'s For All Mankind. He also starred in several episodes of Walker. His big break came when he starred in The Black Phone with Ethan Hawke.

Since then, he has starred in Monster Summer and Incoming. The latter is a high school comedy where a group of boys go to their first party.

How to Train Your Dragon will be released on June 13.