Dragon Rider | |
---|---|
![]() German theatrical film poster. | |
German | Drachenreiter |
Directed by | Tomer Eshed |
Screenplay by | John R. Smith |
Based on | Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke |
Produced by |
|
Starring | |
Cinematography | Olaf Aue |
Edited by | Rikke Malena Nielsen |
Music by | Stefan Maria Schneider |
Production companies |
|
Distributed by | Constantin Film |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 93 minutes |
Countries | Germany Belgium |
Languages | German English |
Box office | €6.4 million [1] |
Dragon Rider (German : Drachenreiter), also known as Firedrake the Silver Dragon by Netflix, is a 2020 animated fantasy film; while officially based on the 1997 novel of the same name by Cornelia Funke, the film takes influence from the How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell, with its visuals and marketing based on that of the DreamWorks franchise.[ citation needed ] The film was due to be released in theatres on 6 August 2020, [2] but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film release was postponed until 1 October 2020. [3]
Netflix acquired global distribution rights to the film, and it was released on the streaming platform on 10 September 2021. [4]
Firedrake is a young silver dragon, who has had enough of constantly having to hide in a wooded valley. He wants to show the older generations of dragons that he is a real dragon. When humans are about to destroy his family's very last refuge, Firedrake secretly sets off on an adventurous journey with Sorrel a bad-tempered cat-like forest brownie. He wants to find the "Rim of Heaven", the dragons' mysterious haven. On their quest, Firedrake and Sorrel encounter Ben, an orphanned teenager who claims to be a dragon rider. While Ben and Firedrake make friends quickly, Sorrel becomes increasingly distrustful and tries her best to get rid of the orphan at every opportunity. But the unlikely trio have to learn to pull together, because they are being hunted by Nettlebrand, a monster created by an alchemist with the aim of tracking down and destroying every dragon on Earth.
It was announced in June 2017 that production had begun on an animated adaptation of Cornelia Funke's novel. [5] [6] [7] The film is a German-Belgian co-production. The animation was handled by Spain's Able & Baker and Cyborn Studios, while additional parts of the lighting and compositing took place at Rise FX and Big Hug FX. [8] The production work took place in Berlin, Munich and Antwerp. [9]
In May 2018, the castings of Felicity Jones, Patrick Stewart, Freddie Highmore, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Nonso Anozie, Meera Syal and Sanjeev Bhaskar were announced. [10]
Dragon Rider has earned $6,385,553 at the global box office. [1] [11]
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 71% based on 14 reviews with an average rating of 5.5/10. [12]
Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph gave it 3 out of 5. Collin said the film borrows heavily from other recent films and wrote: "Dragon Rider is unlikely to spawn many imitators of its own—even if it did, how could anyone tell?—but as a half-term diversion, it ticks every box." [13] Cath Clarke of The Guardian gave it 3 out of 5 and called it a "bland but entertaining family film". [14]
Cornelia Maria Funke is a German author of children's fiction. Born in Dorsten, North Rhine-Westphalia, she began her career as a social worker before becoming a book illustrator. She began writing novels in the late 1980s and focused primarily on fantasy-oriented stories that depict the lives of children faced with adversity. Funke has since become Germany's "bestselling author for children". Her work has been translated into several languages and, as of 2012, Funke has sold over 20 million copies of her books worldwide.
Dragon Rider is a 1997 German children's novel by Cornelia Funke. Originally translated by Oliver Latsch, Dragon Rider was published in English in 2004 by The Chicken House in the United Kingdom and Scholastic Inc. in the US, using a translation by Anthea Bell. Dragon Rider follows the exploits of a silver dragon named Firedrake, a cat-like brownie named Sorrel, and Ben, an orphaned human boy, in their search for the mythical part of the Himalayas mountain range called the Rim of Heaven to find a safe place for Firedrake's kin to live when the dragon finds out that humans intend to flood the valley where he and his fellow dragons live.
The Inkheartseries is a succession of four fantasy novels written by German author Cornelia Funke, comprising Inkheart (2003), Inkspell (2005), Inkdeath (2007), and The Colour of Revenge (2024). The books chronicle the adventures of teen Meggie Folchart whose life changes dramatically when she realizes that she and her father, a bookbinder named Mo, have the unusual ability to bring characters from books into the real world when reading aloud. Mostly set in Northern Italy and the parallel world of the fictional Inkheart book, the central story arc concerns the magic of books, their characters and creatures, and the art of reading.
Inkheart is a 2008 fantasy adventure film directed by Iain Softley, produced by Cornelia Funke, Dylan Cuva, Sarah Wang, Ute Leonhardt, Toby Emmerich, Mark Ordesky, Ileen Maisel and Andrew Licht, written by David Lindsay-Abaire, music composed by Javier Navarrete and starring Brendan Fraser, Paul Bettany, Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent, Andy Serkis, and Eliza Bennett. It is based on Cornelia Funke's 2003 novel of the same name.
Constantin Film AG is a German film production company based in Munich. The company, which belongs to Swiss media conglomerate Highlight Communications AG, is a large independent German maker and distributor of productions.
Films have been made in Lithuania since the early twentieth century.
The Last Legion is a 2007 historical action adventure film directed by Doug Lefler and produced by Dino De Laurentiis. It is based on the 2002 novel of the same name by Valerio Massimo Manfredi. It stars Colin Firth, Ben Kingsley, Aishwarya Rai, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Peter Mullan, Kevin McKidd, John Hannah, and Iain Glen. It premiered in Abu Dhabi on 6 April 2007.
Nonso Anozie is a British actor. On television, he is known for his roles as Xaro Xhoan Daxos in the HBO series Game of Thrones (2012), R.M. Renfield on the Sky series Dracula (2013), Abraham Kenyatta on the CBS series Zoo (2015–2017), and Tommy Jepperd on the Netflix series Sweet Tooth (2021–2024). For the latter, he won a Children's and Family Emmy Award and was nominated for a BAFTA.
Paul Kalkbrenner is a German musician and producer of electronic music. Because he breaks down his tracks into elements that are reassembled onstage, Kalkbrenner is considered a live act, as opposed to a DJ. He is most known for his single "Sky and Sand", which sold over 200,000 copies, went platinum, and was highly charted in countries such as Belgium and Germany. He is also known for portraying the main character Ickarus in the movie Berlin Calling, written and directed by Hannes Stöhr, which ran for several years at Kino Central in Berlin.
How to Train Your Dragon is a British/American media franchise from DreamWorks Animation and loosely based on the eponymous book series of the same name by British author Cressida Cowell. It consists of three feature films: How to Train Your Dragon (2010), How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014), and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019). The franchise also contains five short films: Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon (2010), Book of Dragons (2011), Gift of the Night Fury (2011), Dawn of the Dragon Racers (2014), and How to Train Your Dragon: Homecoming (2019). A live-action remake of the first film is scheduled for release by Universal Pictures in June 2025.
The Treasure of the Silver Lake is a 1962 Western film directed by Harald Reinl, loosely based on German author Karl May's 1891 novel of the same name. It was the first in a highly-successful series of films based on May's works by the West German studios Rialto and Constantin Film, starring American actor Lex Barker as the frontiersman Old Shatterhand and French actor Pierre Brice as the Apache warrior Winnetou.
Artemis Fowl is a 2020 American science fantasy film based on the 2001 novel by Irish author Eoin Colfer. Directed by Kenneth Branagh, from a screenplay co-written by Conor McPherson and Hamish McColl, the film stars Ferdia Shaw, Lara McDonnell, Josh Gad, Tamara Smart, Nonso Anozie, Colin Farrell, and Judi Dench. It details the adventures of Artemis Fowl II, a twelve-year-old Irish prodigy who teams up with his faithful servant, as well as a dwarf and a fairy, to rescue his father, Artemis Fowl I, who has been kidnapped by another fairy looking to reclaim an item the Fowl family has stolen.
Rise FX is a German visual effects company with offices in Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Cologne, and London.
The Laundromat is a 2019 American comedy-drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh with a screenplay by Scott Z. Burns. It is based on the book Secrecy World about the Panama Papers scandal by author Jake Bernstein. The film stars Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, Antonio Banderas, Robert Patrick, Jeffrey Wright, David Schwimmer, Matthias Schoenaerts, James Cromwell, and Sharon Stone.
Dracula is a horror drama television serial developed by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat, loosely based on the 1897 novel of the same name by Bram Stoker. The series, consisting of three episodes, premiered on 1 January 2020 and was broadcast over three consecutive days on BBC One before releasing on Netflix. Claes Bang stars as the title character.
How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) is a German coming-of-age dark humor crime television series co-created by Philipp Käßbohrer and Matthias Murmann. The first season, consisting of six episodes, was released on 31 May 2019, on Netflix. The series stars Maximilian Mundt, Lena Klenke, Danilo Kamperidis, Damian Hardung, Luna Baptiste Schaller, Leonie Wesselow and Bjarne Mädel. The second season premiered on Netflix on 21 July 2020. On 28 July 2020, Netflix renewed the series for a third season. It premiered on July 27, 2021. On 12 August 2022, for dwdl.de, creators Matthias Murmann and Philipp Käßbohrer said in an interview that Netflix gave the green light for a fourth season.
Department Q is a series of ten Danish Nordic noir crime novels by author Jussi Adler-Olsen which have been adapted in an ongoing series of highly successful Danish films and a forthcoming English language TV adaptation for Netflix which changes the setting from Denmark to Scotland.
Sweet Tooth is an American fantasy drama television series developed by Jim Mickle. It is based on the comic book series created by Jeff Lemire and published by DC Comics' Vertigo imprint. The series premiered on Netflix in June 2021, with a second season released in April 2023, and a third and final season announced the following month. The third season premiered on June 6, 2024.
Secret Magic Control Agency is a 2021 English-language Russian animated comedy film directed by Aleksey Tsitsilin and written by Analisa LaBianco, Vladimir Nikolaev, Jeffery Spencer, Tsitsilin, and Alexey Zamyslov. Produced by Wizart Animation, CTB Film Company, and QED International, the film is a loose adaptation of the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel by the Brothers Grimm.