Netflix has acquired the worldwide rights to the animated movie Dragon Rider and it will be distributed underneath the title ‘Firedrake: The Silver Dragon’ on the streaming platform.
Directed by Tomer Eshed, the movie is adapted from the book by Cornelia Funke. The plot follows a young silver dragon who teams up with a mountain spirit and a young boy who is searching for the rim of heaven where dragons can live safe and free.
Dragon Rider began production back in June 2017 as a co-production between German production company Constantin Film and animation from two studios including Belgium studio (mostly known for video games) Cyborn and Rise FX South Studios headquartered in Munich. Rise FX South Studios is a VFX studio that has worked with Netflix on a large array of projects including the upcoming Midnight Mass, Biohackers, Stowaway, Stranger Things and the Fear Street Trilogy.
Among the voice cast for the movie for English language speakers are Freddie Highmore (whose recent film The Vault released on Netflix), Felicity Jones, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Nonso Anzozie (Sweet Tooth) and Patrick Stewart.
Firedrake: the Silver Dragon will carry Netflix Original branding and will release on the OTT platform in multiple regions including the United States, the United Kingdom and many others. It did get a theatrical release under the name of Dragon Rider earlier, but the film was plagued with issues, including being delayed due to Covid-19.
Firedrake: the Silver Dragon drops on Netflix on 10 September 2021.