See-Saw and Michael Ende Productions have teamed to adapt the beloved 1979 fantasy novel, which follows a child, Bastian Balthasar Bux, who discovers a mysterious book that leads him on a journey through the realm of Fantastica; story last hit cinemas in 1984.
“Every real story is a never-ending story.” The beloved 1979 fantasy novel “The Neverending Story” by Michael Ende is set to be adapted into a franchise spanning multiple live-action films, according to Variety. See-Saw Films (The Power of the Dog, Heartstopper) will team with Michael Ende Productions to develop and produce the project, which will be the first big screen adaptation since the cult 1984 film.
The story follows the child Bastian Balthasar Bux, who discovers a mysterious book about the hero Atréyu and his mission to save the realm of Fantastica and its ruler the Childlike Empress from destruction. As he reads, Bastian finds himself transported into the book’s world.
“The story is both timely and timeless, and really has an opportunity to be told in a fresh way,” said See-Saw’s Iain Canning, speaking to 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. We just believe that every generation deserves their own journey into Fantastica.”
“We’ve been completely overwhelmed with interest from the television and film industry in recent years,” added Ralph Gassman, the AVA exec who works with Michael Ende Productions. “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. 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.”
Iain Canning and Emile Sherman will produce for See-Saw alongside Roman Hocke and Ralph Gassmann for Michael Ende Productions. The former Endeavor Content exec Lorenzo De Maio will executive produce alongside Ende’s executor Dr. Wolf-Dieter von Gronau (Ende died in 1995), See-Saw’s CEO Simon Gillis, and creative director Helen Gregory.
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