"Neverending Story" Remake Looks Likely

When Hollywood runs out of ideas for new films, what do they do? Why they remake old ones, and often times, ruin some of our beloved favorites. Next up for a hack job is the childhood favorite, "The Neverending Story."

The Kennedy/Marshall Co. and Leonardo DiCaprio's Appian Way are in discussions with Warner Brothers about reviving the now 25-year-old franchise with a new modern twist. WB recently acquired rights to the property.

The film is based off of a German-language novel by Michael Ende. The original film focused on a boy named Bastian Balthazar Bux who discovers a parallel world in a book. As he delves deeper into the book, he finds his own life increasingly intertwined with the novel's plot. In the book, a hero in the land of Fantasia must save the universe on behalf of an empress.

Dieter Geissler, producer of the original film, will also produce this modern remake. Sarah Schechter and Jesse Ehrman will oversee for Warners. The new incarnation of the film will take a look at more of the nuanced details of the book that had been glossed over in the original.

The original was released in 1984, and earned $20 million at the box office. A sequel came out in 1990 and earned $17 million, and in 1996 a third film followed but went almost straight to video.