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The Neverending Story (film)

The NeverEnding Story
Neverendingstoryposter.jpg
American theatrical release poster
Directed by Wolfgang Petersen
Produced by
Screenplay by
Based on The Neverending Story
by Michael Ende
Starring
Narrated by Alan Oppenheimer
Music by
Cinematography Jost Vacano
Edited by Jane Seitz
Production
company
Distributed by
Release date
  • 6 April 1984 (1984-04-06) (West Germany)
  • 20 July 1984 (1984-07-20) (United States)
Running time
93 minutes
Country
  • West Germany
  • United States
  • United Kingdom
Language English
Budget DM 60 million (~US$27 million)
Box office US$100 million

The NeverEnding Story (German: Die unendliche Geschichte) is a 1984 West German-produced English language epic fantasy film based on the novel of the same name by Michael Ende, about a boy who reads a magical book that tells a story of a young warrior whose task is to stop a dark storm called the Nothing from engulfing a fantasy world.

The film was produced by Bernd Eichinger and Dieter Giessler and directed and co-written by Wolfgang Petersen (his first English-language film) and starred Barret Oliver, Noah Hathaway, Tami Stronach, Moses Gunn, Thomas Hill; and Alan Oppenheimer as the voices of both Falkor and Gmork (as well as other characters). At the time of its release, it was the most expensive film produced outside the United States or the Soviet Union. The film was the first in The NeverEnding Story film series and later followed by two sequels.

Ende felt that this adaptation's content deviated so far from the spirit of his book that he requested that production either be halted or the film's title be changed; when the producers did neither, he sued them and subsequently lost the case. Ende called the film a "gigantic melodrama of kitsch, commerce, plush and plastic". The film only adapts the first half of the book, and consequently does not convey the message of the title as it was portrayed in the novel. The second half of the book would subsequently be used as the rough basis for the second film, The Next Chapter. The third film, Escape from Fantasia, features a completely original plot.


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