The NeverEnding Story (German: Die unendliche Geschichte) is a West German-produced English language epic fantasy film series based on the 1979 novel of the same name by Michael Ende. The original 1984 film, The NeverEnding Story, was directed and co-written by Wolfgang Petersen and was later followed by two sequels. The first film adapted the first half of the original novel, while the second half of the novel was used as the rough basis for the second film, The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter. The third film in the series, The NeverEnding Story III, has an original plot.