Just a few years ago, cinema in Saudi Arabia didn’t exist, not publicly, not legally. Fast forward to 2025, and Gerard Butler is walking a red carpet in Riyadh, meeting fans, and watching animated dragons soar across the Kingdom Tower. The Scottish actor, known for 300 and Olympus Has Fallen, was in the Saudi capital for the regional premiere of the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy, which officially released in UAE cinemas on June 12, 2025. But this wasn’t just another stop on a global press tour. “I’d always wanted to come to Saudi Arabia,” Butler said in an exclusive video interview with Gulf News. “It had always been this kind of land that was very mystical and mysterious, you know, and now I think that it’s being opened up to the world.”
A Kingdom in Transition
Saudi Arabia lifted its 35-year cinema ban in 2018. Since then, what was once a film-free zone has rapidly evolved into a serious player in global entertainment. The transformation is part of Vision 2030, a national reform plan led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, aimed at diversifying the country’s economy and reshaping its cultural identity. Butler had already witnessed this shift while filming Kandahar, his 2023 action thriller, in the sandstone valleys of AlUla. “I loved my experience on Kandahar. I loved AlUla. It was maybe my favourite location that I filmed on,” he said. But it wasn’t just the backdrop that left an impression. “I just found the people so incredibly hospitable and warm,” he added. “And a lot of young, talented filmmakers that were also on our set, these young students. I think it’s great that it’s opening up to the world.”
A Country Falling in Love with the Big Screen
Before 2018, Saudi film lovers had to leave the country to watch a movie. Now, the appetite is growing, and fast. Cinemas are packed, premieres are turning into city-wide events, and stars like Butler are taking notice. “I love that people are really into cinema here,” he said. “It’s new, it’s fresh, it’s exciting. I kind of wish we still had that more around the rest of the world, because that’s the way it should be. Going to see a movie with a crowd of people on the big screen, you can’t beat that.” The Riyadh premiere of How to Train Your Dragon, held at Roshn Front Cinemas, was a spectacle. Fans lined the red carpet. The Kingdom Tower lit up with animated dragons. For a country that once had no theatres, it was a statement.
Stoick the Vast and the Weight of the Role
At the heart of the How to Train Your Dragon series is Stoick the Vast, a towering Viking chieftain and father figure voiced by Butler. It’s a role he’s played for over a decade, and one he feels personally connected to. “There’s a lot of my personality in Stoick,” he said. “I think the part of me that wasn’t in Stoick was probably in my beard. So maybe not so much me, because the beard, to me, is the bit that made him more like a granddad. You know, kind of brought him up even another generation.” Butler doesn’t see Stoick as just a cartoon character. When he steps into the costume, even for voice work, it changes something. “When I put on that costume, I became the chieftain of Berk,” he said. “That helmet, and the weight of that costume, and the size of it, it was both challenging. But to fit into it, you needed that power. And that power I grew to feel and understand and enjoy.” What makes Stoick memorable, Butler believes, is that blend of strength and vulnerability. “It felt great to be able to play a character that is so big and bombastic,” he said, “but also to let people into his heart and his soul and his grief and his pain and his joy.” “And yet not abandon the bigness, the goofiness, the fear, the offishness. He’s imposing. He’s powerful. But I always tried to bring in as many colours as I could. I never wanted it to feel like a generalised animated take.”
Why Dragon Still Resonates
There’s a reason How to Train Your Dragon has lasted this long, with fans ranging from kids to adults. It speaks to something deeper. “We’re maybe a different generation, I don’t know,” Butler said. “But when I grew up, I feel like there were some pretty deep, intense movies grappling with very challenging topics. And then I think it kind of disappeared. But I definitely think it’s coming back.”Dragon, he said, doesn’t shy away from those themes. “I think that’s what’s surprising and grown-up about How to Train Your Dragon. It works for, it’s eight to 80, as we say. Because I think it has the kind of complexity of those really interesting themes. And yet you can also just let go and be charmed and amazed and involved with the beauty and the fun of the journey.”