Hollywood Minute: “How to Train Your Dragon” soars at the global box office, new music and films

The live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon is proving to be a global box office success.

(CNN)- The live-action version of How to Train Your Dragon is proving to be a global box office success. While writer-director Dean DeBlois created the original animated trilogy, this marks his first live-action feature. He says he personally pushed to direct the adaptation, telling the studio:

“I know this world, I know where the heart is. So if you’re going to do it, please consider me as the director and the writer. Even though I hadn’t made a live-action film, I could guarantee that we would translate all of the wonder and the feeling from that animated movie onto the live-action screen.”

Meanwhile, U2 fans have something new to celebrate. Bono has released a new vinyl EP tied to his one-man stage show, Stories of Surrender. The record includes new live versions of “Desire,” “The Showman,” and “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” A digital version is also available for download, and the full show is currently streaming on Apple TV+.

In film news, Dakota Johnson stars in Materialists, a romantic dramedy where she plays a matchmaker caught between the charms of “Mr. Perfect” and an old flame. Writer-director Celine Song drew from her own past for inspiration: “I worked as a matchmaker in my 20s for about six months, and I think that I learned more about people and what everybody desires in their hearts than I did in any other part of my life.”