Was anyone really surprised when they created a sequel to Neverending Story.. twice? Seriously. The title says it all. Its Never Ending!! But what I honestly didn’t expect was that they might remake Neverending Story.
The irresistible Nerdy Bird tipped me off:
“The Kennedy/Marshall Co. (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”) and Leonard DiCaprio’s shingle Appian Way are in discussions with Warners about reviving the 25-year-old franchise with a modern spin,” said THR. No word on who would direct the new take but original producer Dieter Geissler is already on board.
I really don’t need them to remake this movie, but lets put it up to The Rules.
1) The original has to have a good story Wonderful story. Instant classic. Can’t say the same for the sequels or the two TV Series you didn’t know about that it spawned. But the movie was a fairy tale for the kid in all of us. Who didn’t want to ride a luck dragon and chase down bullies!
2) Majority of current audience hasn’t seen the original I don’t believe most of today’s audience will have seen this. My kids have because well.. they are MY kids. The failed sequels (Jack Black was in Part3) didn’t draw enough attention and the live action tv series only got 13 episodes.
3) Original has to be at least 20 years old Check.
4) The story would benefit from a modern telling The original has some dated 80s cheese in it, but frankly it holds up. I don’t think there would be a benefit in changing anything to make it modern.
Not that our rules will stop it from getting made, but it doesn’t need to by our standards. However, any movie can be remade and made better if its handled right. We don’t think it qualifies for a remake, but maybe someone will get in here and create an instant classic. I just don’t have hope that they can top the first.
If they do, I hope they cling to the idea that Bastion is reading a BOOK. I really don’t want to see an updated version where Bastion is playing a new fantastic online video game and finds out that he is affecting a fantasy world with his mouse.
