Date: Wed, 20 Mar 2024 22:36:00 -0400 Mime-Version: 1.0 User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird Subject: Re: [NEWS] "The Neverending Story" remake Content-Language: en-US Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.current-films References: From: moviePig In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Lines: 158 Path: ...!weretis.net!feeder6.news.weretis.net!usenet.blueworldhosting.com!diablo1.usenet.blueworldhosting.com!feeder.usenetexpress.com!tr2.iad1.usenetexpress.com!news.newsdemon.com!not-for-mail Nntp-Posting-Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2024 02:36:01 +0000 X-Received-Bytes: 9654 Organization: NewsDemon - www.newsdemon.com X-Complaints-To: abuse@newsdemon.com Message-Id: <17bea70824089db2$300664$2218499$46d50c60@news.newsdemon.com> Bytes: 10036 On 3/20/2024 7:58 PM, Your Name wrote: > > Hollyweird showing it is still talentless and lazy now does yet another > remake. > > >    'The Neverending Story' Getting New Film Series Adaptation >    From 'Slow Horses' Banner See-Saw >    ---------------------------------------------------------- >    Falkor flies again! > >    "The Neverending Story" - the beloved fantasy novel from late >    German author Michael Ende that was famously adapted into the >    cult 1984 film - is being revived for the big screen once >    more, with a new joint-venture partnership between Michael >    Ende Productions and prestige tastemakers See-Saw Films >    bringing the world of Fantastica back to cinemas over >     multiple live-action films. > >    The news brings to an end the race for one of the hottest >    fantasy properties yet to be tapped for modern audiences. >    Variety hears that Ende's estate had been fielding interest >    from across the globe over the last few years, including from >    studios and streamers. > >    See-Saw - no stranger to adapting well-known literature for >    screen having been behind features including "Lion" and >    "The Power of the Dog" and recent TV hits "Heartstopper" and >    "Slow Horses" - has now teamed with Michael Ende Productions >    to develop and produce the films. The new partnership has been >    granted "The Neverending Story" rights by Ende's executor >    Dr. Wolf-Dieter von Granau. Iain Canning and Emile Sherman >    will produce for See-Saw alongside Roman Hocke and Ralph >    Gassmann for Michael Ende Productions. > >    First published in 1979, "The Neverending Story" became a >    bestseller in Germany and would be translated into 45 >    languages, selling millions of copies worldwide. At the center >    of the story is the awkward but imaginative child Bastian >    Balthasar Bux who, while escaping from bullies, discovers the >    mysterious book "The Neverending Story," about the heroic >    Atréyu and his mission to save the magical realm of Fantastica >    - a world of dragons, giants, vast kingdoms and deadly swamps - >    and its ruler, the Childlike Empress, from being destroyed by >    force known as "The Nothing." But the more he reads, the more >    Bastian realizes he's not simply an uninvolved spectator and he >    soon finds himself transported into Fantastica himself, flying >    atop the luckdragon Falkor. > >    "The story is both timely and timeless, and really has an >    opportunity to be told in a fresh way," said Canning, speaking >    to Variety from the offices of "The Neverending Story" literary >    agent AVA in Munich, Germany. "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 Gassman, >    the AVA exec who works with Michael Ende Productions alongside >    Ende's longstanding editor and estate curator Hocke. "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." > >    For See-Saw, "The Neverending Story" - a much bigger and more >    elaborate piece of material than it's used to handling - marks >    the next step up for the London and Sydney-based company, first >    founded in 2008 and made famous in 2011 with its Oscar-winning >    "The King's Speech" (adapted by the late David Seidler from his >    own stage play). > >    "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," Canning said. "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." > >    "The Neverending Story" also brings Canning back to a conversation >    he had in See-Saw's very early days, before "The King's Speech," >    when he was asked which project he would most like to produce. >    "I said, do you know what, I'd really, really love to adapt >    'The Neverending Story,'" he explains. "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." > >    The next task for the newly-formed partnership of See-Saw and >    Michael Ende Productions will be to find the right creative team >    to bring the novel to life before packaging the project and >    seeking out distribution partners. > >    "The journey, in many ways, starts now," Canning said. "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." > >    Much of the details about the production - including the exact >    number of films to be made - will depend on the creatives >    assembled. But Canning said that the wildly colorful locations >    Ende described in "The Neverending Story" - including the >    so-called Ivory Tower, Goab the Desert of Colors, Silver >    Mountains, Spook City, Silver Lake and the Swamps of Sadness >    (where Atréyu's horse Artax famously drowns) - lend the shoot to >    being an "international global production." He added that they >    would also look to maintain a connection to the book's heritage by >    shooting some scenes in Germany (much of the 1984 film was >    actually shot in the Bavaria Studios in Munich). > >    Although producers may be looking for a modern day adaptation of >    "The Neverending Story," news of its return to screens lands >    during something of a renaissance for '80s nostalgia, led by shows >    such as "Stranger Things." It was actually "Stranger Things" that >    saw "The Neverending Story" recently back in the headlines, with >    Moroder's famed synth theme from the first feature adaptation - a >    film Ende famously disavowed for deviating too far from his >    original story - being performed on the show and subsequently >    going viral online. > >    Alongside both Michael Ende Productions and See-Saw, executive >    producers on the new films will include the L.A.-based former >    Endeavor Content exec Lorenzo De Maio and Ende's executor von >    Gronau as well as See-Saw's CEO Simon Gillis and creative director >    Helen Gregory. Gillis and De Maio will spearhead taking >    "The Neverending Story" back out to the market once packaged. The >     rights deal was negotiated by von Gronau on behalf of Michael >    Ende Productions and Gillis and attorney Stephen Saltzman of >    Fieldfisher, on behalf of See-Saw. > >    For Hocke, whose career began with Ende in the early 1980s and who >    worked closely with him for almost two decades until he died in >    1995, the new "The Neverending Story" adaption is not just the >    perfect opportunity to "make a new monument" for the author, but >    to celebrate the art and importance of storytelling. > >    "We need stories like we need the air to breathe and water to >    survive. They give our inner worlds quality and with this quality >    we make decisions of quality. Stories make the world better," he >    said. "And 'The Neverending Story' is the story of all stories." > > > I dunno, that's a good résumé of flicks from See-Saw...