There is a strong argument to be made that Warner Bros. (Photo by Jean Baptiste Lacroix/Getty Images)Ī publicity trick that Hollywood studios have been implementing for decades is to slowly announce cast members for a new project so that their film keeps showing up in every news cycle for weeks and weeks.

CATHERINE KEENER IS FIFTH TO JOIN JOKER: FOLIE A DEUX The End We Start From will be directed by British TV director Mahalia Belo from a screenplay by screenwriter Alice Birch ( Lady MacBeth and the upcoming The Wonder) from the novel by author Megan Hunter.Ģ. Other members of the ensemble will include Mark Strong ( Kingsman: The Secret Service), Katharine Waterston ( Inherent Vice), Gina McKee ( Notting Hill), Joel Fry, and Nina Sosanya. Cumberbatch joins the already cast Jodie Comer ( Free Guy, The Last Duel), who will play a young mother trying to escape London. Benedict Cumberbatch is now attached to co-star in the survival drama The End We Start From, set in a near future when flood waters submerge the city of London. Rising waters are obviously of concern to low-lying cities like Amsterdam, Miami, Shanghai, and most relevantly to this story, London. Just two weeks ago, the news broke that melting ice from Greenland is expected to raise ocean levels by nearly a foot (August 29th was also the day Taylor Swift announced her new album, which probably inspired more Tweets). BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH JOINS SURVIVAL DRAMA THE END WE START FROM It’s not known if any of these are currently among those pursuing The NeverEnding Story.ġ. (which distributed the original film in the U.S.), Star Wars franchise producer Kathleen Kennedy, and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way. In the past, a reboot of has reportedly been considered by Warner Bros. The 1984 film only adapted the first half of the book, with the second half being adapted six years later as The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter (Rotten at 14%), so the rights to Ende’s novel could easily be expanded to at least two films, if not more (it is, after all, neverending). The rights being sought are for the original 1979 fantasy novel by German author Michael Ende, which in its original publication was titled Die Unendliche Geschichte.

The nostalgia for The NeverEnding Story appears to be culminating in a bidding war among several unnamed studios and streamers in both the USA and Europe. The 1980s continues to be the most “nostalgized” of the 20th century, and one source for much of this ’80s nostalgia has been the hit Netflix show Stranger Things (Fresh at 91%), which ended its third season in 2019 with a stirring cover of the theme song from the 1984 fantasy film The NeverEnding Story (Certified Fresh at 82%). This WEEK’S TOP STORY A REBOOT OF THE NEVERENDING STORY MAY BE ON ITS WAY

The neverending story novel