15 Film Adaptations Completely Different From The Book

3. The Never-ending Story

Wanted poster
Warner Bros.

In The Neverending Story, a boy called Bastian finds a magical book about an enchanted world called Phantasia. As reality starts being consumed by a dark force called The Nothing, Phantasia's hero, Atreyu, learns that his world can only be saved by the person reading the book. Bastian is then transported into Phantasia and returns the world to normal using his imagination.

Even though the film adaption is faithful to the source material, it only details the first half of the book. Fans of the movie are astonished to learn that Bastian, becomes the villain in the second-half of the story!

As he rebuilds Phantasia (which is a slow process in the book), he realises that he can create anything with his mind and so, becomes consumed by his own power. He conjures monsters to defeat to showcase his might to his followers and imprisons those who question him. He becomes so power-hungry, he attempts to overthrow the Empress but is ultimately defeated by Atreyu before being cast back to Earth.

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James Egan has been with Whatculture for five years and prominently works on Horror, Film, and Video Games. He's written over 80 books including 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts About James Bond 1000 Facts About TV Shows