The Neverending Story Getting Reboot, Multiple Films Incoming (1 Viewer)

[Alex...]

Children’s fantasy classic The Neverending Story is headed for a big screen reboot via a series of live-action features to be developed and produced by Michael Ende Productions and Oscar-winning See-Saw Films. The partners were granted the rights to Ende’s enduring novel by the author’s executor, Wolf-Dieter von Gronau.

‘The Neverending Story’ To Be Adapted As Series Of Live-Action Films From See-Saw & Michael Ende Productions

The Neverending Story is headed for a big screen reboot via a series of live-action films to be produced by Michael Ende Productions & See-Saw Films

deadline.com

 

[Jeff Cooper]

Oh, so they're gonna follow through on the title this time?

 

[Jake Lipson]

It seems...ambitious to announce multiple films at once without knowing how the first one will be received.

 

[Malcolm R]

Agreed. There were three films in the first attempt at a franchise, and only the first brought in any significant audience and I think most of that was in Europe (US gross was around $20 million, but it reportedly made around $100 million worldwide). The second and third films bombed.

 

[Jake Lipson]

Dune is a hit now despite the 1984 version not working. Denis Villeneuve clearly wanted to make multiple Dune films, but he took them one at a time. He believed strongly in what he was doing and trusted audiences would show up to support it so that he could make the rest. Fortunately, that approach has worked out. But I did not feel that Part One existed solely to sell me another ticket for Part Two. Part One was a great movie, so naturally I wanted to see the rest.

I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with trying to make The Neverending Story again. If they have a take that they think will be exciting for audiences, why not? But they should just focus on making the first movie in the reboot as good as possible, and then worry about possible franchise extensions after that.

 

[Joe Wong]

I haven't seen the sequels to the original Neverending Story film. But that film ended roughly halfway through the book. While that was a natural point to end the film given the constraints of runtime, etc. the 2nd half of the book was where I found some of the more thematically rich (and dark!) material.

So, if they can get the whole story on film, Id be interested.

 

[Malcolm R]

I think the second film was supposed to be the second half of the book. The third film was an original story.

 

[Alex...]

The first one will forever be the best
Hopefully they can recapture that magic again.