sekai The beloved '80s cult classic movie The NeverEnding Story, based on the German author Michael Ende's 1979 novel, is getting a 21st century remake, Variety exclusively reported. The film is set to return to the big screen through a joint venture between the Michael Ende Productions and See-Saw Films.
According to Variety, the late author's estate has been dealing with various offers around the world over the last few years, both from studios and streaming platforms. When the book was published in 1979 in Germany, it quickly became a bestseller and was translated into 45 languages. The story follows the young Bastian Balthasar Bux. As he tries to escape his bullies, he hides in a bookstore where he discovers the book called The Neverending Story. The bookseller tells him it's not a “safe” book to read.
The NeverEnding Story in the 21st century
And like any reasonable young person, he hears this as a challenge and takes the book secretly and leaves a note to say that he's bringing it back. He arrives to school late and hides up in the attic to read the book. Bastian reads the story of Atréyu and his quest to save the magical world of Fantastica with its dragons, giants, expansive kingdoms and dangerous swamps. He also reads about its ruler, the Childlike Empress, and the force called “The Nothing.”
Bastian then slowly realizes that as he reads about this world and this character, he also becomes part of the story and ends up going to Fantastica himself, astride the luckdragon Falkor.
It's the kind of story every bookworm growing up in the '80s and '90s dream of being a part of. I know it was mine. I've never read the book, but I had seen the movie several times.
“The story is both timely and timeless, and really has an opportunity to be told in a fresh way,” one of the See-Saw producers Iain Canning told the magazine.
“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. We just believe that every generation deserves their own journey into Fantastica,” he continued.
Isekai in the '80s
Ralph Gassman of Michael Ende Productions said, “We’ve been completely overwhelmed with interest from the television and film industry in recent years. But it was only about four to five years ago when we felt it was right to go back to Fantastica with new, fresher attention.”
He continued, “So then we looked at hundreds and hundreds of requests and 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. But we knew we had to do it right and find the right partner, and luckily See-Saw was amongst them.”
This remake of The NeverEnding Story is the biggest and most elaborate project for See-Saw. They production company became famous when The King's Speech won an Academy Award in 2011.
The studio is also known for adapting literature to the screen from films 2016's Lion and 2021's The Power of the Dog to recent streaming hits Heartstopper on Netflix and Slow Horses on Apple TV+.
When Canning was asked years ago about what property he would like to produce, he responded, “I said, do you know what, I'd really, really love to adapt ‘The NeverEnding Story.' 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.”
There are no details yet with regard to casting or directing, but as for the locations such as Ende's Ivory Tower, Goab the Desert of Colors, Silver Mountains, Spook City, Silver Lake and the Swamps of Sadness, this will most likely be an international production.
And since the book is of German origin, the film may also end up shooting in its home country. The original movie was shot in Munich's Bavaria studios. At the time, it was the most expensive movie ver made in the country.
Strangers Things… have happened
The seeds of remaking the movie actually came from Netflix's Stranger Things — now filming its fifth and final season — when two of the characters sang The NeverEnding Story theme song in season three, episode eight. That clip went viral and with it, the renewed interest in The NeverEnding Story.
With the '80s nostalgia taking a hold of Hollywood, I just hope this remake will do justice to the memory it holds for those who saw it when they were growing up. And by that, I mean me.
The idea of being part of the story one is reading isn't new, but for most of the people growing up in the '80s this was probably the first time we'd ever seen it come to life on screen. Even though the term isekai in anime is somehow commonplace now, it wasn't then. Isekai is a fantasy subgenre where the main character is transported to a new and unfamiliar world — which is exactly what happens to Bastian in the story.
I'm sure the millennials are rejoicing in this news. We can only hope that the remake will do justice to the story that's lived in us all these years.
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