See-Saw Films, known for producing acclaimed movies like The Power of the Dog and The King’s Speech, has just announced that it has secured the rights to adapt beloved children’s novel, The Neverending Story, into a series of live-action feature films.
Written by German author Michael Ende in the late 1970’s, The Neverending Story is a fantasy novel which centres around a boy named Bastian. Bullied and withdrawn, Bastian is is lonely child seeking connection. One day, he finds a mysterious book which magically transports him into a different mystical land where adventures ensue, and he discovers his inner hero.
The book was first published under the title, Die unendliche Geschichte, in 1979 by West German publisher, Thienemann Verlag. In 1983, it was translated to English by Ralph Manheim, and published in both the United States and United Kingdom. This hugely popular book was translated into 36 languages, sold more than eight million copies worldwide, and was previously turned into three feature films.
New Film Series
Michael Ende Productions and See-Saw Films are teaming up to create a series of new films to speak to today’s generation. Spokesperson and producer, Iain Canning recently told Variety, “The story is both timely and timeless, and really has an opportunity to be told in a fresh way. 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,” Canning continued, “We just believe that every generation deserves their own journey into Fantastica.”
More Source Materials to Explore
It is not widely known that there were six more follow up books to the original novel. Continuing with the original theme and characters, although with new storylines, in the early 2000’s German publishing house, AVAinternational, put out a half dozen more books.
However, it should noted that these books are written by different authors, and it is not known if they will be considered in the creation of the new film series.
The book series is called Legends of Fantastica and its titles are; King of Fools, The Secret Library of Thaddaeus, The Soul of the Night, The Angels’ Plot, Empress of the Words and The City of Forgotten Dream.
An avid book reader and proud library card holder, Angela is new to the world of e-Readers. She has a background in education, emergency response, fitness, loves to be in nature, traveling and exploring. With an honours science degree in anthropology, Angela also studied writing after graduation. She has contributed work to The London Free Press, The Gazette, The Londoner, Best Version Media, Lifeliner, and Citymedia.ca.