The enchanting world of Fantastica is about to return to the big screens, as deals have been made to adapt The NeverEnding Story for a slew of new live-action films. Heres everything we know about The NeverEnding Story Reboot.
Who's Making The Reboot?
See-Saw Films – the production banner behind films like The King’s Speech, The Power of the Dog, and Lion, as well as TV series Slow Horses and Heartstopper – has won the bidding war to bring the Michael Ende book series back to the cinema. The news brings to an end the race for one of the hottest fantasy properties yet to be tapped for modern audiences. According to a report by Variety, Ende’s estate had been fielding interest from across the globe over the last few years, including from studios and streamers. News of a bidding war for the books’ adaptations has been brewing since at least 2022.
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Iain Canning and Emile Sherman from See-Saw will produce the films alongside Roman Hocke and Ralph Gassmann for Michael Ende Productions.
“The story is both timely and timeless, and has an opportunity to be told freshly,” Canning told Variety. “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. So, how wonderful that we have this opportunity to do a fresh perspective that will have new layers and meanings.
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He added, “We just believe that every generation deserves their own journey into Fantastica.”
The journey to bring back the story of Atreyu and co to the screens was an arduous one in itself. Ende’s estate has been “completely overwhelmed with interest from the television and film industry in recent years.” Knowing the value of their property, however, the team at Michael Ende Productions chose to be careful. After all, so many beloved fantasy IPs fell flat when translated to screens (we don’t need to mention the multitude of casualties…). According to Gassman, it was only about four to five years ago when it felt right to go back to Fantastica with new, fresher attention. The team was fielding “hundreds and hundreds of requests” when See-Saw came along.
The NeverEnding Story Reboot
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“[We] just thought, let’s see if we find a potential partner amongst them that is so compelling that they make us jump into the boat with them and go on this crazy adventure,” Gassman explained. “But we knew we had to do it right and find the right partner, and luckily, See-Saw was amongst them.”
Why are they rebooting it?
“Emile and I have always been very clear that, if we were going to move forward on our journey, it had to be something really special that we were passionate about and connected to emotionally, so when this opportunity came about we just thought: this would be so magical,” said Canning, See-Saw’s main producer. “Over our 15 years, we’ve been very careful — whether it be for The King’s Speech and the audience that loved that, or Lion and the audience that loved that, or Heartstopper or Slow Horses — about making quality material and that audience responding to it. This is such an opportunity to bring all that skillset together and do a full quadrant spectacle of a film.”
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It is also a full circle moment for Canning, who recalled being asked about his dream property to adapt when The King’s Speech won the Oscars back in 2010. “I said, do you know what, I’d really, really love to adapt ‘The Neverending Story,'” he explained. “I was reminded of this recently, so it just feels in a way that the 15-year journey of See-Saw in terms of going from book to screen has led up to here.”
Now that See-Saw has secured the rights, the development process to adapt the beloved fantasy will begin in earnest. “There’s been a lot of anticipation from people who love this story about what the next steps would be. For us, we now need to speak to writers and directors and hear their passion for the material,” Canning said.
The NeverEnding Story Reboot
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In addition to Michael Ende Productions and See-Saw, the executive producers of the new films will include former Endeavor Content executive Lorenzo De Maio, based in Los Angeles, as well as Ende’s executor von Gronau. See-Saw’s CEO Simon Gillis, and creative director, Helen Gregory, will also serve as executive producers.
What will it be about?
Based on the 1979 fantasy novel of the same name by the late German author Ende, fantasy epic The NeverEnding Story became a critically-acclaimed box office hit in 1984. The original work was succeeded by two sequels, released in 1990 and 1994. The book itself was an instant bestseller when it was first published in Germany in 1979. To date, it has sold millions of copies worldwide and been translated into 45 languages.
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It tells "a classic tale of one boy and the book that magically comes to life."
"When Bastian happens upon an old book called The Neverending Story, he's swept into the magical world of Fantastica — so much that he finds he has actually become a character in the story!" the synopsis read. "And when he realizes that this mysteriously enchanted world is in great danger, he also discovers that he is the one chosen to save it."
The NeverEnding Story Reboot
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Bookish young boy Bastian (Barret Oliver) is the target of bullies at school. One day, while evading his bullies, he discovers a mysterious book called “The NeverEnding Story.” Bastian becomes enthralled by the magical realm of Fantastica and its young warrior Atréyu (Noah Hathaway), who sets out on a quest to save Fantastica from a sinister force known as The Nothing. Atréyu’s mission puts him face to face with dragons, giants, vast kingdoms, and deadly swamps. Accompanied by his trusty luckdragon Falkor, he must battle against all odds and save the realm’s ailing ruler, the Childlike Empress (Tami Stronach), before Fantastica is forever destroyed. As he reads further, Bastian realizes he’s about to play an important role in the story.
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The 1984 film (and its sequels, to a lesser degree) was a 1980s cult classic. In 2019, it saw a resurgence in popularity when its theme song, originally sung by British pop singer Limahl, appeared in a pivotal scene in Stranger Things season 3 finale. The scene quickly went viral, reigniting interest in the story to a whole new generation.
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The upcoming adaptation is undoubtedly set to reintroduce The NeverEnding Story to a whole new crowd in addition to those who grew up with it. Ende notoriously hated the 1984 film adaptation for straying too much from the source materials that he sued the production company. With the team behind his estate working closely with the producers this time around, it’s no make believe to think that they might be able to do much better this time around.
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