Warner Brothers has acquired the rights to Wolfgang Petersen‘s 1984 fantastical nostalgia piece, The Neverending Story. The plan is to take the cherished property, and give it a modernized treatment while looking deeper into the German novel for which the original was based.
Currently, parties interested in teaming with WB to bring the re-imagining to life include: Leonard DiCaprio‘s Appian Way Productions and The Kennedy/Marshall Co. — who showed their immense talent with the recent Best Picture nominee, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
The Neverending Story follows a young boy named Bastian, your average, everyday kid who doesn’t really fit in and gets picked on a lot. One day Bastian finds a very special book called The Neverending Story which follows the hero Atreyu and his adventures through the land of Fantasia. Shockingly, while being swept away into this amazing world, Bastian realizes he himself is greatly intertwined in the story and that only he can save Fantasia and its people from complete devastation.
As movie fans, we all feel pain when these remakes are announced. Usually, I just remind myself that the original will always be there to love, no matter how many terrible attempts to recreate it happen, but this particular one is a little harder to swallow. While many 80s movies have nostalgic importance to me, three really stand out above the rest: The Princess Bride, Labyrinth, and The Neverending Story.
We can always hope that they do a great job and create a good movie for a new generation. For example, Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was stepping on some insanely sacred ground, and while is was nowhere near the 1971 Gene Wilder classic, it was still a fun and entertaining remake.
Let’s just pray it doesn’t turn into The Wiz.
[Source: THR]
This scares me. I mean, the original was so good (Corny by today’s standards, but good.), and I’m afraid they’ll ruin it by trying to do a remake. Could surprise me though too, I guess, and turn out really well. I dunno though. I have my doubts.
And why the crap can’t producers and writers start coming up with some NEW movies for a change. That’d be novel. I’m so sick of remakes. Get a creative strike of genius, and actually come out with something that hasn’t already been done.
Comment by RebekahC — February 27, 2009 @ 9:41 am
For fuck’s sake, what is it with Hollywood? Have all the screenwriters suddenly turned crap, or are the execs too stupid or risk-averse (which in the long term amounts to the same thing) to buy them?
MAKE A FUCKING ORIGINAL MOVIE.
Comment by 1-900-HEY-NICK — February 27, 2009 @ 9:56 am
I think my childhood just ran screaming into the night.
Comment by Ang D. — February 27, 2009 @ 2:48 pm
The three movies you pointed out (The Princess Bride, Labyrinth, and The Neverending Story.) all show vision. They came across as something unique and new. It is unsurprising that a studio would want to try and steal some of that glory for themselves. The truth of it is, they’ll make money from this. The vast majority of people just seek entertainment, not satisfaction. Sadly, there is little that the discriminating consumer can do but cry as these gems are hacked apart over the Altar of Profit. Or my favorite thing to do, which is continue paying innovative film makers my money, supporting good scripts and creating good art.
Comment by Eriq Nelson — February 27, 2009 @ 4:47 pm