The popular children’s fantasy tale The Neverending Story, which was transformed into a cult great film by Warner Bros in 1984, is slated to get a new cinematic adaptation 40 years later.
First written and published in 1979 by German novelist Michael Ende, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Wolfgang Petersen co-wrote and directed one of the decade’s most acclaimed children’s films.
The Neverending Story, starring Noah Hathaway, Barret Oliver, Tami Stronach, Patricia Hayes, Sydney Bromley, and Gerald McRaney, follows 10-year-old Bastian Bux (Oliver) who discovers a magical book that tells how a young warrior, Atreyu (Hathaway), is tasked with preventing the Nothing, a dark force, from engulfing the wonderland world of Fantasia and its ruler, the Childlike Empress.
As he reads on, Bastian finds himself transported into a fantasy land replete with fabled beings such as horse Artax and dragon Falkor.
With the original film only covering the first half of the best-selling novel, a 1990 sequel, The Neverending Story II: The Next Chapter, followed, as did The Neverending Story III: Escape from Fantasia in 1994, which had nothing to do with the source material.
Given the tremendous cultural influence the first film had on millennials, there have been speculations for years about a new adaptation of the novel for cinema or television, with a bidding war beginning in September 2022.
The remake of The Neverending Story has finally found a new home, courtesy to a new joint venture between Michael Ende Productions and See-Saw Films, the production company behind The King’s Speech, The Power of the Dog, and TV sensations Heartstopper and Slow Horses.
Their suggested approach would bring Fantastica back to the cinema in many live-action flicks.
‘The story is both timely and timeless, and really has an opportunity to be told in a fresh way, and part of the specialness of the book is that you can go back to it at different ages in your life and find different levels of meaning,’ shared producer Iain Canning with Variety, who first reported the news.
‘So how wonderful that we have this opportunity to do a fresh perspective that will have new layers and meanings. We just believe that every generation deserves their own journey into Fantastica.’
However, the announcement has left admirers of the novel and its initial cinematic adaptation feeling a particular way, with some dread in their replies.
‘I knew this day was coming. I don’t know how I feel about this,’ admitted fan Rhea on X, while Dennis added: ‘No no no leave classic alone it’s a classic for a reason.’
‘Now we’re touching my childhood and I don’t like it,’ posted Ryan.
‘Yeah. No. I’ll pass on that, thanks for the heads up tho,’ wrote Xendria Jenkins and Lonell Fletcher complained: ‘All these remakes!!!!’
‘Just leave our classics alone!’ exclaimed Cortez too.
However, not everyone is closed off to the idea.
‘All I can think is how great this will look with all the developments in cgi….’ shared @LoAnne_87, while @dumurin enthused: ‘I want to see this new adaptation!’
Michael Ende Productions’ Ralph Gassman revealed that they had been ‘completely overwhelmed with interest from the television and film industry in recent years’, clamouring to do another adaption, but only seriously started considering it ‘about four of five years ago’.
In 2019, Stranger Things’ Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) duetted the earworm theme tune with his girlfriend Suzie (Gabriella Pizzolo), causing it to become viral.
Aside from a desire to film certain sequences in Germany to honour the author’s ancestry, all other specifics about locations, creatives, casting, and the number of films are still unknown.
