The last major film to be released on VHS in the United States before the format was discontinued.
Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart were offered the role of Brom, but turned it down because of their commitment to X-Men: The Last Stand (2006).
The film was advertised as "The First Chapter in the Inheritance Trilogy," a slogan also printed on the posters. At the time of release, the second novel, "Eldest" had been published, but the third novel was neither published nor named. The October after this film was released in theaters, author of the series Christopher Paolini announced that the final novel would be split in two, making the Inheritance Trilogy the "Inheritance Cycle." (The final two books were named Brisingr and Inheritance.) According to Paolini himself, the story was too complex to fit into a single novel so it had to be spread out into two instead.
Many fans of the book were upset at Stefen Fangmeier's decisions to take out crucial characters and plot lines, which according to him, were done for pacing reasons and to condense the 500+ page book into a 100 minute film.
Alex Pettyfer was offered the role of Eragon, prior to the casting of Ed Speleers. Pettyfer said he had turned down the role partly because Eragon was filmed in Budapest and he's afraid of flying.