Latest news with #Dreamworks
Chicago Tribune
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Elgin News Digest: Gail Borden, Fox River library districts receive state grants; ECC awarded $295,000 grant to expand EV technician training
The Illinois Secretary of State's office has awarded in $221,112 grant money to the Gail Borden Public Library District in Elgin and $105,506 to the Fox River Valley Library District in East Dundee. Both per-capita grants are based on population and part of nearly $20 million in funding provided to library districts across the state, according to a news release. 'These funds are not designated to a specific project, but are helpful in enabling us to continue to provide the community with literacy resources, Internet access and many of our services and programs,' Gail Borden spokeswoman Natalie Kiburg said. 'We are so appreciative of this funding as it is essential to our community's vital resources.' News of the state's grants comes amid federal cuts to library budgets nationwide. In March, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to eliminate and defund the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which issues $180 million annually to libraries nationwide. Illinois receives nearly $6 million annually, the sixth highest amount of any state, according to the release. Elgin Community College's Sustainability, Business and Career Technology division has been awarded a $295,794 RevUp EV Community College Initiative Grant. The money will be used to expand existing programs and develop new coursework to support technician training in electric vehicle systems, including components of EV advanced manufacturing, according to a news release. 'This grant will help Elgin Community College stay ahead of the curve as the electric vehicle industry continues to grow,' ECC President Peggy Heinrich said in the release. The initiative is part of a statewide effort to accelerate the development of EV infrastructure and workforce capacity in Illinois. It is administered by the Illinois Community College Board and funded by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Elgin Community College Musical Theatre production's of 'Shrek The Musical' will be staged the weekends of July 25-28 and Aug. 1-3 at the school's Second Space Theatre in the ECC Arts Center. The Tony Award-winning musical is based on the 2001 animated Dreamworks movie. ECC's production is directed by Cale Haupert with musical directors Marc Beth and Douglas Orlyk, according to a news release. 'At the heart of 'Shrek The Musical' is a truly beautiful love story,' Haupert said in the release. 'Shrek thinks there is no one in the world who would care for him, but he slowly discovers that he can find true friendship and more when he is brave enough to show the world his true self.' Show times are 7:30 p.m. July 25 and Aug. 1; 7:30 p.m. July 26 and Aug. 2; and 3 p.m. July 27 and Aug. 3. Tickets are $22 for adults, $20 for seniors and free for ECC students. Elgin Township Senior Access Passes cannot be used to obtain tickets. For purchase tickets, go online at call 847-622-0300 or go to the Arts Center box office.
Gizmodo
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
‘How to Train Your Dragon' is Another Hit Remake at the Box Office
A second live-action remake has hit theaters with Universal's How to Train Your Dragon, and shocker, it's taking off big. Per Variety, the film has opened to $197.8 million worldwide. Of that, $114 million came from the international market, with Mexico, the UK and Ireland, and China listed as big contributors. Critic and audience reactions to the movie have been pretty solid, and it likely helps the larger How to Train Your Dragon franchise has never really went away: along with the three animated films, there's been numerous TV shows continuing Hiccup and Toothless' adventures over the years. Combined with trailers being in front of everything and this being the first Dreamworks movie to get a remake, it's no wonder families and young adults flocked to see the remake, or why Universal's already locked in a sequel for June 2027. As for our other big summer remake, Lilo & Stitch keeps on making money. The Disney movie added another $46.6 million global to its bag, making for a new take of $858 million. Like with Dragon, the heavy lifting came from its international aduience, where its made $31.3 million, while it earned $15.5 million domestic. If things keep going the way they are, Lilo could be the first movie of 2025 to hit the billion-dollar mark in the next couple of weeks. Dragon and Lilo will be joined by Pixar's Elio next week as the big kid movies for a while in theaters: the older-skewing M3GAN 2.0 and F1 close out the month on June 27, then July opens with Jurassic World Rebirth (July 2) before eventually giving us Superman (July 11) and Fantastic Four: First Steps (July 25). We're fully in the summer movie season now, folks!
Toronto Sun
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
'How to Train Your Dragon' soars in box office debut with $83 million, beating 'Lilo and Stitch'
Published Jun 15, 2025 • Last updated 6 minutes ago • 2 minute read Mason Thames as Hiccup in "How to Train Your Dragon." Photo by Dreamworks Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. LOS ANGELES — 'How to Train Your Dragon' took flight at the box office this weekend, proving that some remakes still have teeth. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The Universal live-action adaptation of the beloved animated franchise soared to a strong $83 million debut in North American theatres, according to Comscore estimates Sunday. The film, directed by franchise veteran Dean DeBlois, follows the unlikely friendship between a young Viking named Hiccup (Mason Thames) and a dragon called Toothless. The reboot easily outpaced 2019's 'How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World,' which opened with $55 million. It also claimed the No. 1 spot ahead of Disney's 'Lilo and Stitch,' which slipped to second place after topping the charts for three weekends. That hybrid live-action remake added another $15 million, pushing its domestic total past $386.3 million. 'Materialists,' a modern-day New York love story starring Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, and Chris Evans, rounded out the top three films of the week with a $12 million debut. The romantic dramedy features Johnson as a savvy matchmaker caught between two suitors: a broke, struggling actor who happens to be her ex, and a wealthy 'unicorn' who seems too good to be true. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning' slid to fourth place, taking in $10.3 million and avoiding a dip into single-digit territory. The John Wick spinoff 'Ballerina' fell to fifth place with $9.4 million, despite strong reviews from both critics and audiences. Directed by Len Wiseman, the action film stars Ana de Armas and features Keanu Reeves reprising his role in a supporting turn. In sixth place, 'Karate Kid: Legends' earned $5 million followed by 'Final Destination: Bloodlines' at seventh with $3.9 million. Wes Anderson's latest 'The Phoenician Scheme' brought in $3 million eighth place. 'The Life of Chuck,' based on a Stephen King story, placed ninth with $2.1 million. Rounding out the top 10 was 'Sinners.' The Ryan Coogler film starring Michael B. Jordan, drew $1.4 million. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Comscore: 1. 'How to Train Your Dragon,' $83.7 million 2. 'Lilo and Stitch,' $15.5 million. 3. 'Materialists,' $12 million. 4. 'Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,' $10.3 million. 5. 'From the World of John Wick: Ballerina,' $9.4 million. 6. 'Karate Kid: Legends,' $5 million. 7. 'Final Destination: Bloodlines,' $3.9 million. 8. 'The Phoenician Scheme,' $3 million. 9. 'The Life of Chuck,' $2.1 million. 10. 'Sinners,' $1.4 million. Read More Sports Editorial Cartoons Relationships Sunshine Girls Editorial Cartoons
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘How to Train Your Dragon' Used Bagpipes, Sheep Fur and the Faroe Islands to Bring the Remake to Life
When Dreamworks released the animated feature 'How to Train Your Dragon' in 2010, it seemed almost inevitable that a live-action feature would come along. Cinematographer Roger Deakins gave the feature a stunning cinematic style that felt almost live-action, and composer John Powell added a sweeping score to the narrative. More from Variety Box Office: 'How to Train Your Dragon' Lifts Off With Fourth-Biggest Opening Day of 2025, 'Materialists' Serving Third Place Debut 'How to Train Your Dragon' Director on the Big Changes Made and the Storylines He Expanded for Live-Action Remake 'How to Train Your Dragon' Star Nico Parker Says Astrid Is a 'Boss Bitch' in New Live-Action Film Director Dean DeBlois heard a live-action movie was in the works, and he called Powell. The animated feature was not only beloved, but it had also become part of pop culture history. His first call asked Powell, 'Should we do a live-action?' Powell says, DeBlois next said, 'Well, if I do it, would you do it?' Powell said yes. After spending over a decade scoring all three films in the animated feature trilogy, Powell felt a sense of responsibility to the music of the franchise. And who better to do it than he to breathe new life into a beloved score? The new film follows Hiccup (Mason Thames), a young and scrawny Viking boy who refuses to follow his tribe's tradition of hunting dragons. This is much to the chagrin of his proudly traditional father, Stoick (Gerard Butler), who happens to be the village leader and a legendary dragon slayer. The film also stars Nico Parker as Astrid, Julian Dennison as Fishlegs, Gabriel Howell as Snotlout, Bronwyn James as Ruffnut, Harry Trevaldwyn as Tuffnut and Nick Frost as Gobber. In his approach to breathing new life into the live-action score, Powell looked to make subtle changes in tempo, density and clarity. He says, 'There's some stuff that was made to be very much the same, and there are not many changes for 20-30 seconds, and then suddenly you might see something shift.' One noticeable change in scoring the live-action was the use of bagpipes. This time around, Powell was able to use a real bagpipe player, Lorne MacDougall, founder of the Red Hot Chili Pipers. With DeBlois expanding the story, Powell relied on the familiar, but he also found room to expand his score. In the father-son relationship between Stoick and Hiccup, Powell says that the theme did a lot of the heavy lifting. 'We called it 'He's Not That Boy,' which is funny because Marc Platt also produced this and 'Wicked.' During the end title, we have a song that is sung by a choir, and I said to Dean, 'Do you want to write some words?' and he did. It became this whole tune that threads through the movie.' Costume designer Lindsay Pugh wanted to keep the essence of the characters that had been established through the animation and be respectful of that. Still, she also needed to find a characterization that would work in real life. Says Pugh, 'It was trying to find that balance, but being respectful to what everybody wants to see.' Pugh maintained Hiccup's calmness from the original. 'I didn't want him to be very colorful,' she says behind her decision to anchor his palette in natural tones and green. 'It's very calming and a very gentle color.' However, she wanted to give his outfit texture, and so she took a dive into historical references of embroidery, needlework and weaving techniques. 'We found all of these different textures that we could use, and we wove all of the embroidery. So it gives us visual interest in what, from a distance, would be quite a simple garment,' but on closer inspection, that fine detail would reveal itself. Pugh also paid attention to Viking culture. Since DeBlois was extending this universe, Pugh's designs were 'specifically Viking, as we would automatically imagine, because that's sort of what the world was.' She draped them in sheepskin and explained, 'One of the very first scenes in the movie was the dragons going down and stealing or trying to steal these poor decoy sheep, so it's a really perfect setup of having that.' The film has environmental goals, and aside from using sustainable materials where possible, any fur was made from sheepskin. She adds, 'They have great fur, great wool and skins on that. Ecologically, they were not something that is as detrimental to the planet.' Butler has previously joked that his outfit weighed over 90 pounds. Pugh's response is, 'I just want to say Gerry, it was with the helmet, the cape, the sword and the shield.' She notes she wanted to give him weight and a foundation so he could push against it. 'We have Gerry on the inside, and then all of these layers. We have leather and layer upon layer of natural fabrics,' explains Pugh, who used 3D printing wherever she could; it wasn't always possible. 'The intricacy of the work in everything adds a little bit of weight.' Production designer Dominic Watkins wanted to make the world of dragons feel plausible. Watkins says, the world building was 'very challenging and we wanted to make it feel real so that people believed that these were characters involved with dragons.' During a location scout, Watkins felt the geography of the Faroe Islands lent itself how Berk should look. 'There was one island on the Faroe Islands that we decided we were going to mold the village on, and that was going to be the epicenter of all the action,' Watkins explains. That became the center point of where the dragons and the rest of the world were. He saw the colors of the building and was inspired by what palette to choose from. 'The rust, corn colors and greens were very specific, and we took that palette from there and brought that to the village.' He adds, 'A lot of the medieval stuff in reality was quite grim, so we wanted to make it more colorful.' Other real-world locations included Ireland and Scotland. Watkins also utilized the Belfast Titanic studios where he built out the rest of Berk on backlots and sounstages. 'We built the center of Berk, but it was extended from ther. We built 16 houses around the center square.' Elsewhere, he wanted to give the Vikings believability. Their purpose was to slay dragons, so Watkins carried that lore into his designs. 'We had lots of carvings of dragons and motifs on the pinnacles of the and the eaves of the houses to just show there was a hatred of them.' As for the film's dragon arena, Watkins built a chain dome, but needed beams to hold it upright. 'We found these ironwood beams that had sunk in Belfast harbor over 100 years ago, and coincidentally, they were pulling these 3040 foot beams out of Belfast Harbor. Our construction manager knew about them, and somehow he managed to get his hands on them.' The beams had become fossilized after being in the water for so long and needed heavy cranes to be moved. 'We were now repurposing them and putting in the arena, and it was pretty incredible.' Watkins adds, 'We used them in a few other places, but that was predominantly where all the spiked beams were in the set. They were beautifully aged, beautifully tarnished, and they worked out.' Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? 25 Hollywood Legends Who Deserve an Honorary Oscar
Perth Now
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
How to Train Your Dragon director Dean DeBlois eyeing Cate Blanchett for live-action sequel
How to Train Your Dragon director Dean DeBlois wants Cate Blanchett to appear in the sequel. The 56-year-old actress voiced Hiccup's mother Valka Haddock in the original animated Dreamworks trilogy, and DeBlois - who helmed the first three films, as well as the 2025 live-action remake - wants to bring Blanchett back for his upcoming live-action take on How to Train Your Dragon 2. Speaking about Blanchett's possible involvement with How to Train Your Dragon 2 with the 55-year-old filmmaker said: 'Well, I'm wishful as well. It's still early days. 'I think she is probably waiting for a script, but I've been knocking on that door. I wrote the character of Valka for her, so I told her it'll always be hers to turn down first.' DeBlois added Valka wouldn't be the only character to take on a slightly different look in How to Train Your Dragon 2 if Blanchett doesn't portray the warrior in the movie, as Toothless the dragon will also have matured by the second instalment. He explained: 'We knew we were going to go there. The idea is that Toothless is roughly Hiccup's age in dragon years, so he is a juvenile, an adolescent, as well, ageing into adulthood. 'That is going to alter his design in subtle ways, but mostly it's going to alter his mentality because he's a very sentient dragon. 'He has his own opinions about everything, and he'll also start to come into his own as a leader of his kind.' While the sequel is still in the writing stage at the moment, DeBlois teased he was paying particular attention to translating How to Train Your Dragon 2's heavier scenes to the live-action adaptation. He said: 'Certainly in the second movie, tackling the whole idea of Toothless being weaponised and turned against Hiccup and Stoic intervening like that, that's a pretty heavy moment. It was heavy for animation. 'I think it'll get even weightier in live-action, so I look forward to that, too, because there's something about the second movie. 'That, for most fans, is their favourite because it tackles tougher subject matter. It's a little bit darker and more expansive, so I'm looking forward to it. I'm only writing right now, but I'll get there. I'll definitely get there.' How to Train Your Dragon - which stars Mason Thames, Nico Parker, Gerard Butler and Nick Frost - follows Hiccup the Viking who befriends the dragon Toothless and challenges his village's fears of the big beasts. Recently, Parker addressed the online backlash to her casting as Astrid, with some saying the 20-year-old actress was a bad fit for the dragonslayer as she doesn't have blonde hair and blue eyes like the character seen in the original animated trilogy. Speaking with The Times of London, she said: 'There's some people that really love the animated movies and really want to see an exact play-by-play of that film, and I hope that you can watch [the new version] and find something that you love about it, regardless. 'But for the people that just hate inclusivity, hate change — when it comes to that side of things, I just don't care.' 'If I wouldn't value your opinion on most things in life, I can't value your opinion on my hair. If I did, I would go mad.'
