The NeverEnding Story is a 1984 fantasy film co-written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, and based on the 1979 novel The Neverending Story by Michael Ende. It follows ten-year-old Bastian, a boy who finds a magical book. The book describes the fantasy world of Fantasia slowly being devoured by a malevolent force called “The Nothing”. The Childlike Empress, who rules Fantasia, has fallen ill, and the young warrior Atreyu is tasked to discover a cure, believing that once the Empress is well, the Nothing will no longer be a threat.