''Dragon Hunters'' (French: ''Chasseurs de dragons'') is a 2008 animated

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually Magic (paranormal), magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The Film genre, genre is considered a form of speculative fic ...

telling the adventures of two dragon hunters, written by Frédéric Engel-Lenoir, directed by creator Arthur Qwak and Guillaume Ivernel with music by

Klaus Badelt Klaus Badelt (born 12 June 1967) is a German composer, producer, and arranger of film scores. He is known for his collaborations with Hans Zimmer, helping to write scores for dozens of critically acclaimed films including '' The Thin Red Line'' ...

and produced by Philippe Delarue and Tilo Seiffert. It features the voices of

Vincent Lindon Vincent Lindon (; born 15 July 1959) is a French actor and filmmaker. For his role in the film '' The Measure of a Man'' (2015), Lindon won Best Actor at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, Best Actor at the 41st César Awards and the IFFI Best ...

Patrick Timsit Patrick Timsit () is a French comedian, writer and film director. He has been nominated for four César Awards – three times as an actor and once as a writer. He is best known for the French comedy ''Un indien dans la ville''. In 2006, he pa ...

, Marie Drion in the French version and

Forest Whitaker Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor, filmmaker, and activist. His accolades include an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Best Actor Award at the ...

Rob Paulsen Robert Frederick Paulsen III (born March 11, 1956) is an American voice actor and voice director, known for his roles in numerous animated television series and films. He received a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Pro ...

and

Mary Mouser Mary Matilyn Mouser (born May 9, 1996) is an American actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Sam LaRusso, daughter of the original Karate Kid Daniel LaRusso, in the Netflix series ''Cobra Kai.'' She was also the voice of Eloise in '' ...

in the English version. The film was produced by

Futurikon Futurikon is a French animation and production studio based in Paris. It specializes in the production and distribution of animated and live action television series, feature films and documentaries, including the Minuscule franchise. Works Feat ...

, and co-produced by

LuxAnimation LuxAnimation was a Luxembourgish animation studio based in Doncols, Luxembourg. The company was founded in 2000 by Lilian Eche and Ariane Payen. The company often partnered with other companies to produce animated programs and movies. In 2006, Lu ...

Mac Guff Ligne Mac Guff (also known as Mac Guff Ligne) is a French visual effects company based in Los Angeles, United States, Brussels, Belgium and Paris, France, where it is headquartered. Mac Guff specializes in the creation of computer graphics for commerci ...

and

Trixter Trixter is an American glam metal band formed in 1983 in Paramus, New Jersey. The band gained popularity in the early 1990s with hits like "Give It To Me Good" that peaked at sixty-five on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1990 and "One In A Million". ...

. It shares the same creative universe as the ''

Dragon Hunters ''Dragon Hunters'' ( French: ''Chasseurs de dragons'') is an animated fantasy comedy television series created by Arthur Qwak and produced by the French company Futurikon in co-production with France 3, Super RTL, RTL-TVI (season 1) and Your Fam ...

'' TV series. It was released on March 26, 2008, in France and on March 20, 2008, in Russia and New Zealand. It was also distributed by

Icon Productions Icon Productions, also formerly referred to as Icon Entertainment International, is a production company founded in August 1989 by actor/director Mel Gibson and Australian producing partner Bruce Davey. Icon Productions LLC's headquarters were ...

and Bac Films. The film received a Cristal Award nomination for Best Feature and it earned $12,235,843 on a €12,000,000 budget. ''Dragon Hunters'' was released on DVD on April 5, 2008, in the United States by Peace Arch Entertainment, and on November 5, 2008, in France by

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment, Inc. (doing business as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment; formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the American home video distribution ...

Plot

The world has become a vast arrangement of floating islands of varying sizes and shapes. This dizzy universe is populated with rogues, peasants, and petty lords. Their main concerns are for survival, for this world has become plagued with hungry creatures, who are wreaking havoc, known as dragons. Lian-Chu and Gwizdo are two dragon hunters, but they are a long way from being among the best. Lian Chu is a hulking brute with the heart of gold, and Gwizdo is an avaricious, high-strung young man with a talent for scams. Their private dream is to own a farm where they can relax and raise sheep. A few floating islands away, there is a fortress owned by Lord Arnold. The lord has a problem. He has been living in fear of the return of the World Gobbler, a monstrous dragon that rises every twenty seasons to spread terror and destruction. Nobody has been able to conquer him. And nobody has ever returned alive or sane enough to tell the tale. Lord Arnold's niece Zoe has decided to take matters into her own hands, and she finds Lian-Chu and Gwizdo to help her. She is convinced that they are the heroes of her dreams, and she goes with them to the end of the earth for a fantastic and dangerous adventure.

Cast

Production

On 14 October 2007, it was announced that Arthur Qwak and Guillaume Ivernel were hired and set to direct ''Dragon Hunters'' based on the TV series of the same name by Arthur Qwak. Frédéric Engel-Lenoir and Qwak wrote the script for the film. Philippe Delarue and Tilo Seiffert produced the film with the budget of €12,000,000 for release in 2008. On 19 October, it was announced that

Nick Jameson Nick Jameson (born December 5, 1948) is an American actor, comedian, musician, and producer, known for his portrayal of Russian president Yuri Suvarov over three seasons on the show '' 24''. He currently resides in Reykjavík, doing live comedy, ...

Jess Harnell Jess Harnell (born December 23, 1963) is an American voice actor. His roles include Wakko Warner in ''Animaniacs'', Captain Hero in '' Drawn Together'', Jerry in the first two seasons of '' Totally Spies!'', Ironhide in the first three ''Tr ...

and

Dave Wittenberg Dave Wittenberg is a South African-born American voice actor and scriptwriter. Early life Wittenberg was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was raised in the Boston area. Career Wittenberg voices Kakashi Hatake, the 6th Hokage in ''Naruto ...

from the English dubbed version joined the film. On 10 December 2007, it was announced that

would compose the music for the film. Development and storyboarding of the film was completed in

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. Production then moved to

Berlin, Germany Berlin ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the highest population within its city limits of any city in the European Union. The city is also one of the states of ...

and Luxembourg City, Luxembourg for the final phases of animation, lighting, color and production in order to maximize tax credits offered to foreign film projects in Germany and Luxembourg. On 12 December,

BAC Films BAC Films is a French film production and distribution company. Based in Paris, the company was founded in 1986 by Jean Labadie, Éric Heumann, and Stéphane Sorlat. Capital shares of the company were re-allocated in 1988 when Vivendi took 10% ...

and

Universum Film Leonine Holding GmbH, also known as LEONINE Studios and formerly known Tele München Group, LLC (German: Tele München Gruppe; TMG), is a German media production and distribution company that is based in Munich and since 2024 its owned by French ...

(UFA) acquired distribution rights to the film. ''Dragon Hunters'' was filmed at France, Germany and Luxembourg in January 2008. Jalan Jalan's single, "Lotus", from his 1999 album Bali, was featured in the film.

Release

An English dubbed version starring the voices of

and

was released in the United States on 5 April 2008.

Home media

''Dragon Hunters'' was released on DVD on November 5, 2008, in France by

. About 1 Million DVDs (French and English version) were sold in the US.

Reception

Box office

''Dragon Hunters'' grossed €34,068 in France for a worldwide total of $12,235,843. In Brazil, the film opened to number four in its first weekend, behind ''

Horton Hears a Who! ''Horton Hears a Who!'' is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss. It was published in 1954 by Random House. This book tells the story of Horton the Elephant and his adventures saving Who ...

'', ''

Doomsday Doomsday may refer to: * Eschatology, a time period described in the eschatological writings in Abrahamic religions and in doomsday scenarios of non-Abrahamic religions. * Global catastrophic risk, a hypothetical event explored in science and fict ...

'' and ''

Never Back Down ''Never Back Down'' is a 2008 American drama film directed by Jeff Wadlow and starring Sean Faris and Cam Gigandet. It tells the story of a frustrated and conflicted teenager who arrives at a new high school and discovers an underground fight ...

''. In its second weekend, the film moved up to number three. In its third weekend, the film dropped to number four. In its fourth weekend, the film dropped to number five, grossing $61,167.

Critical reception

The review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

surveyed 9 reviews and found 67% of them to be positive, with an average rating of 5.8/10.

Awards

Soundtrack

''Dragon Hunters: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack'' is the film's soundtrack album and film score made by

and released on April 5, 2008, by Skylark Sound Studios. Klaus Badelt scored the music for the film and on its soundtrack. The soundtrack also contains "Lotus" performed by Jalan Jalan. ;Songs and music * Lotus - Performed by Jalan Jalan * All Music - Composed by

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dragon Hunters (film) 2008 films 2008 3D films 2008 drama films 2008 fantasy films 2008 computer-animated films 2000s French animated films 2000s German animated films 2000s children's drama films 2000s children's fantasy films 2000s children's animated films 2000s French-language films 2000s German-language films French 3D films French drama films French children's films French animated fantasy films French computer-animated films German 3D films German drama films German children's films German animated fantasy films German computer-animated films Luxembourgian drama films Luxembourgian animated fantasy films 3D animated films Animated films about dragons Films scored by Klaus Badelt Warner Bros. films Warner Bros. animated films Icon Productions films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films 2000s German films BAC Films films English-language fantasy films