Composers
Composer John Powell Returns With A New Score For HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (2025)
Opening in theaters on June 13 is HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON. Inspired by CRESSIDA COWELL’s New York Times bestselling book series, DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon franchise has captivated global audiences, earning four Academy Award® nominations and grossing more than $1.6 billion at the global box-office. Now, through cutting-edge visual effects, director Dean DeBlois transforms his animated saga into a breathtaking live-action spectacle, bringing the epic adventures of Hiccup and Toothless to life with jaw-dropping realism as they discover the true meaning of friendship, courage and destiny.
The music is by two-time Academy Award® nominee John Powell (DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon franchise, Wicked)
Few film scores have left as profound a mark as Powell’s How to Train Your Dragon, a career-defining work that earned him his first Academy Award® nomination. Nearly 15 years later, he returns to revisit the music that shaped the world of Berk – this time for the live-action adaptation. Fresh off his second Oscar® nomination for Wicked, Powell approached the project not as a recreation, but as an evolution, shaping the score to match the film’s expanded scale and emotional depth. “When Dean first called me about directing the live-action adaptation, my answer was simple: ‘If you’re doing it, I’m in,’” Powell says. “The animated film was already cinematic in its approach to music—more live-action in its sensibilities than most animated scores. So, in many ways, this wasn’t about reinventing anything, but about realizing something that was always present beneath the surface. How to Train Your Dragon has always felt like a grand fantasy epic, even in animation. This adaptation allows it to reach the scale Dean always envisioned.”
Read WAMG’s interview with Powell for HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 here: https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2014/12/composer-john-powell-talks-train-dragon-2-oratorio-wamg/
Though the foundation of the score remains, Powell’s process wasn’t about direct translation. The rhythm of live-action demanded something more. “Some moments needed no adjustment, while others required substantial changes,” Powell says. “The transition from animation to live-action affects everything – timing, pacing, intensity. The performances bring a different weight, the storytelling has a new depth, and the music had to evolve alongside it. And once the visual effects began coming in, I saw what Dean had been crafting and it was extraordinary. The sheer scope of it required me to rework the music to match its scale and weight. My goal was for longtime fans to feel like nothing had changed, while in reality, a great deal had been subtly reworked to fit seamlessly.”
Powell also introduced new material to support the film’s emotional core. “All of the old themes are there, but I also wrote new material, including a theme that people might assume was always part of the original score,” Powell says. “There’s a new piece tied to Hiccup and Stoick’s relationship, which is explored more deeply in this film. The feeling of disappointing a parent carries a heavier weight here, and the performances really express that, so the music had to support that evolution.”
Listen to a sample of the score below.
Despite the changes, Powell approached the live-action score with the same methodology he used in 2010. “We recorded in the same place, using the same program we did in 2010,” Powell says. “Even then, the score was more tuneful than a typical animated film, which was very much at the encouragement of Chris Sanders and Dean. They wanted a rich, melodic approach – an overture of sorts that introduced every major theme right from the opening. That philosophy hasn’t changed. The tools have advanced, but the fundamental approach of writing orchestral music, whether on paper or digitally, remains the same.”
For Powell, the most striking part of the process was watching the film take shape as he scored it. “Watching the film evolve during the scoring process was extraordinary,” Powell says. “With animation, I was used to working from rough storyboards or unfinished renders, but even in live-action, a lot of what I was scoring early on wasn’t fully realized yet. As shots became more refined, the film took on this breathtaking intensity. And watching it all come together was one of those rare moments where you hope it will work, and then it exceeds your expectations.”
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