Ready Player One premiered atSouth by Southwest in Austin, Texas on March 11, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on March 29, by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film received positive reviews from critics, who praised Spielberg's direction, the visual effects, brisk pacing, and the performances of both Sheridan and Rylance.[10][11] It was also a commercial success, grossing over $607 million worldwide against a $155–175 million budget, and earned a nomination for Best Visual Effects at the91st Academy Awards,24th Critics' Choice Awards, and72nd British Academy Film Awards.Ready Player One was awarded the title of Best Science Fiction Film at the45th Saturn Awards, and a further two Outstanding Achievement Awards from theVisual Effects Society. A sequel is in development.
In a dystopian 2045, people seek to escape from reality through the OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation), avirtual reality entertainment universe created by James Halliday and Ogden Morrow of Gregarious Games. After Halliday's death, a pre-recorded message left by his avatar Anorak announces a contest, granting ownership of the OASIS to the first to find the goldenEaster egg within it, which gets locked behind a gate requiring three keys which players can obtain by accomplishing three challenges. The contest has lured several "Gunters", or egg hunters, and the interest of Nolan Sorrento, the CEO of Innovative Online Industries (IOI) who seeks to control the OASIS himself by inserting intrusive online advertising. IOI uses an army ofindentured servants, and employees called "Sixers" to find the egg.
Wade Watts, an avid orphanedColumbus, Ohio-based Gunter using the avatar Parzival, participates in the first challenge, an unbeatable race, along with his best friend Aech, and Art3mis, a female avatar whom Parzivalhas a crush on. Parzival regularly visits Halliday's Journals, a simulated archive of Halliday's life and hobbies, run by the Curator. Wade receives the Copper Key from Anorak after he wins by driving backward, while Art3mis, Aech, and his friends Daito and Sho, all win the race afterward, later being collectively named the High-5 on the OASIS'scoreboard.
Sorrento asks the mercenary i-R0k to learn Wade's true identity, intended of bribing him to win the contest on IOI's behalf. Wade and Art3mis discover from the Journals that Halliday once dated Morrow's wife Karen "Kira" Underwood. Wade and Art3mis visit the Distracted Globenight club to look for clues, where Wade confesses his love and true name to Art3mis. They survive an IOI raid in which Art3mis abandons Wade, explaining that her father died in debt to IOI. i-R0k, who was eavesdropping on their conversation, informs Sorrento of his findings. Sorrento contacts Wade with his offer. When rejected, Sorrento attempts to kill Wade by bombing his home, killing Wade's aunt Alice and her abusive boyfriend Rick among others.
Art3mis' player Samantha Cook takes Wade in. Together, they realize the second challenge relates to Halliday's regret of not pursuing a relationship with Kira. Along with Aech, Daito, and Sho, Parzival and Art3mis search for theOverlook Hotel's recreation. Art3mis asks Kira to dance and wins the Jade Key. Sorrento's subordinate F'Nale Zandor storms the Gunters' hideout, taking Samantha to an IOI Loyalty Center to pay off her father's debt. Wade escapes with the help of the other High-5 users, Helen Harris (Aech), Toshiro (Daito), and Zhou (Sho) in Helen's truck. Samantha escapes confinement after hacking Sorrento's OASIS rig.
The third challenge is found in Castle Anorak onPlanet Doom, where players must guess Halliday's favoriteAtari 2600 game to earn the Crystal Key. iR0k places a forcefield around the castle using the Orb of Osuvox, but Art3mis can disable it. The High-5 lead an army of OASIS players against the Sixers. Sorrento fights back but Aech, Daito, and Art3mis destroy his avatar. Parzival destroys Samantha's avatar, allowing her to flee IOI while the High-5 picks her up, and reaches the console, but Sorrento detonates theCataclyst bomb, wiping out every avatar on Planet Doom including himself.
Parzival survives using anextra life coin given to him earlier by the Curator in a bet. He plays the 1980 gameAdventure, winning the Crystal Key by locatingWarren Robinett'sEaster egg. He uses the three keys to enter a treasure room, where Anorak offers him a contract to sign. Parzival recognizes it as the one Morrow signed when Halliday forced him out of Gregarious Games and refuses to sign it. Anorak transforms into Halliday, who expresses his regrets in life, handing over the Easter egg. The bombing results in the arrests of Sorrento and F'Nale.
Ogden Morrow appears, revealing he is the Curator. Wade decides to run the OASIS with the High-5, inviting Morrow to join them as a consultant. As the IOI Loyalty Centers shut down, the High-5 make the controversial choice to close the OASIS every Tuesday and Thursday, so people can spend more time in the real world.
Tye Sheridan as Wade Watts / Parzival,[12] a Gunter who wishes to win the egg hunt so he can move out of his impoverished neighborhood of stacked trailers called "the Stacks". His avatar's name is derived fromPercival ofArthurian Legend.
Olivia Cooke as Samantha Cook / Art3mis,[13] a well-known Gunter who works with various allies to ensure the OASIS is kept free and out of the hands of IOI, both inside the game and in real life. Art3mis is Samantha's pink-skinned, pink-haired avatar, named forArtemis ofGreek mythology.
Ben Mendelsohn as Nolan Sorrento / IOI-655321,[14] theCEO of Innovative Online Industries who seeks full control over the OASIS. His avatar of IOI-655321 is an armored businessman.
Lena Waithe as Helen Harris / Aech,[15] a Gunter and long-time friend of Wade's who works as a mechanic in the OASIS. Her avatar of Aech is a malecyborg of indeterminate species.
T.J. Miller as the voice and motion-capture of i-R0k,[16] a freelance dealer and mercenary often employed by IOI. He shares his name with a character from the novel, but is otherwise unrelated. Unlike the other characters, his true appearance outside of the OASIS is not shown.
Simon Pegg as Ogden "Og" Morrow / The Curator,[17] a co-creator of the OASIS who eventually left the company and is concerned that many people have developed an unhealthy dependency on the game. His avatar in this film is theCurator, who works at the Halliday Journal archives.
Mark Rylance as James Halliday / Anorak the All-Knowing,[18] the deceased co-creator of the OASIS who reveals after his death that an Easter Egg is hidden in the OASIS that grants control over the OASIS to its winner. His avatar of Anorak the All-Knowing is an old, tallwizard.
Philip Zhao as Zhou / Sho,[19] a young Chinese Gunter and one of the "High Five". He is based upon Akihide "Shoto" Karatsu, a Japanese Gunter featured in the novel. Zhou's avatar of Sho is aninja.
Win Morisaki as Toshiro Yoshiaki / Daito,[20] a Japanese Gunter and one of the "High Five". His avatar of Daito is an armoredsamurai. Unlike the book, Daito is not killed by IOI and survives to the end.
Susan Lynch as Alice,[22] Wade's aunt who Wade has a poor relationship with
Ralph Ineson as Rick,[23] the boyfriend of Alice who mistreats Wade
Perdita Weeks as Karen "Kira" Underwood,[24] Morrow's wife who Halliday also loved
Turlough Convery as IOI's chief oology expert who leads the other IOI oology experts at finding the right video game to grant the Sixers access to the Easter egg
Warner Bros. bought the film rights for producers Dan Farah andDonald De Line in June 2010, one year before the book was published.[28]Ernest Cline was set to write the script for the film, which De Line and Farah would produce.[29]Eric Eason rewrote Cline's script,[30] andZak Penn was hired to rewrite the previous drafts by Cline and Eason (who became uncredited for the final draft), along withVillage Roadshow Pictures coming aboard.[31] Warner Bros. attempted to convinceChristopher Nolan to direct the film as his next project afterInterstellar (2014), but he declined.[32] Afterwards the studio made a shortlist of potential directors includingRobert Zemeckis,Edgar Wright,Matthew Vaughn, andPeter Jackson.[33][34] A directorial offer was also sent toJosh Trank, who turned it down twice.[35] Steven Spielberg finally signed on to direct and produce the film, whichKristie Macosko Krieger also produced, along with De Line and Farah.[36] Cline and Penn made several revisions while adapting the novel to film. Most of these changes were to eliminate scenes that would be uninteresting in a visual format, such as when Wade beats a high score inPac-Man, or recites all the lines from the filmWarGames (1983).[37][38] In 2016, American musicianMoby said he had tried to make the book into a movie, but discovered that Spielberg had taken the role before him.[39]
Production was slated to begin in July 2016,[44] but on July 1, 2016, screenwriter Zak Penn confirmed that the first week of filming had already been completed, meaning that filming began on June 24, 2016.[45] In August and September 2016, filming took place inBirmingham, England, standing in forColumbus, Ohio.[46] Birmingham filming included on Livery Street in theJewellery Quarter area of the city, which was used for multiple scenes in the film. Ludgate Hill Car Park on Lionel Street, in which caravan homes were partially built, was also used, and a planned explosion there caused some local businesses and residents to call emergency services as no prior notice was given by the production team. Other locations in the city included the former industrial area ofDigbeth, and some of the city's landmarks were erased and replaced with CGI buildings to create a dystopian future Ohio.[47][48] Outside of Birmingham, filming also took place atWarner Bros. Studios, Leavesden and at Solaris House, the formerSun Microsystems headquarters inSurrey.[46][49] Principal photographywrapped on September 27, 2016.[50][51]
Industrial Light & Magic (ILM),Digital Domain, andTerritory Studio developed the visual effects, with some pre-visualization work done byThe Third Floor.[52][53] For three hours three days a week, Spielberg met with ILM, which was in charge of the OASIS segments and produced the bulk of the visual effects shots, with 900 in total; Spielberg remarked that "this is the most difficult movie I've done sinceSaving Private Ryan", as three 3-hour long meetings a week were necessitated to discuss the visual effects.[51]Visual effects supervisorRoger Guyett stated that the VFX team would collaborate with Spielberg and writers Cline and Penn:[54]
What we did at one point was to have a card for every single character that we considered to be a "hero" character within the movie, and we put them up on a board and Steven and everyone else spent hours assigning them to scenes. We'd say, "This is where we want whoever it would be …Batman,Chun-Li, or whoever." And then we went through the whole movie doing that. As the scenes developed, we got an understanding of how many characters we needed.
Part of the film takes place in a virtual space based on theOverlook hotel inStanley Kubrick's 1980 filmThe Shining. It was mostly a digital recreation using high-qualitytelecine of the original film, allowing new camera angles and shots that did not appear in the original. Some original footage fromThe Shining was also used, with ILM's modifications. Only a few scenes involved real actors (such as the appearance of the Grady twins) and required reproduction ofThe Shining's physical sets. TheShining sequence was post-processed withfilm grain and other aging effects to make the new footage closely resemble the original.[55] The VFX team built the Overlook Hotel sequence in the digital realm, consulting Kubrick's blueprints.[56]
ILM also produced digital versions ofReady Player One's many cultural references, including theDeLorean time machine from theBack to the Future films; theIron Giant;Chucky; andKing Kong, modeled afterthe 1933 film version.[57] TheTyrannosaurus rex fromJurassic Park was created from the base model ILM had created.[57] Digital Domain facilitatedpre-visualization (with The Third Floor),motion capture, andvirtual sets, and also created 300 visual effects shots for the primarily live-action portions of the film. The virtual sets were powered by game engines and were used congruently with the motion-capture process, with previsualization supervisor Scott Meadows explaining that in real time Spielberg would "put on aheadset and scout the sets and make adjustments."[52][53]
DirectorSteven Spielberg was reluctant to include references to his own movies for the film, but would eventually include references to theBack to the Future andJurassic Park franchises.
Ready Player One pays homage to popular culture from various time periods, mainly the 1970s and 1980s but also extending to the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s; reviewers have identified over a hundred references to films, television shows, music, toys, video games, anime, and comics from these eras.[64][65][66] Cline did not have any issues with these copyrighted elements when he published the book, but was aware that securing all necessary rights would be a major obstacle for a film adaptation. This task was eventually made easier thanks to Spielberg's reputation in the film industry.[37][67][68] In the end, Spielberg estimated that they managed to get about 80% of the copyrighted elements they desired.[37] Somewhat ironically, the production was unable to secure the rights to Spielberg's ownClose Encounters of the Third Kind fromColumbia Pictures.[69]
TheDungeons & Dragons moduleTomb of Horrors features in an important episode of the book, the "Copper Key challenge", but that reference was excluded from the film, where the challenge features a huge car race in New York instead. However, the film does reference the module: artwork of theTomb of Horrors demon appears on the back of Aech's van.[70]
SimilarlyBlade Runner, which was integral to the plot of the book, was shelved asBlade Runner 2049 was in production at the same time asReady Player One and the producers atAlcon Entertainment feared that Spielberg's film could damage the commercial prospects of their film; as a replacement, the creative team had the players play through the events ofThe Shining, to which Spielberg was able to secure the rights, as an homage to his friend Stanley Kubrick.[37] Village Roadshow Entertainment Group's library (includingReady Player One) later sold to Alcon Entertainment for $417.5 million on June 18, 2025.[71][72] Penn and Cline also thought that the film could be the opportunity to replace such a lengthy sequence with a more action-heavy one. Once they decided to useThe Shining, they were doubtful at first that Spielberg would accept the change, but Spielberg did go for it.[73] While Cline's original work heavily used the character ofUltraman, the rights over the character were still under legal dispute, requiring them to replace him with the titular robot fromThe Iron Giant.[74]
Although Spielberg recognized that his films were a significant part of the 1980s popular culture cited in the book, he opted to remove many references to them to avoid accusations of vanity.[75] Cline believed Spielberg wanted to avoid self-references to films he directed, due to the criticism he received for his film1941, which lampooned his own previous worksJaws andDuel. Cline said he had to convince Spielberg to include some iconic elements, such as the DeLorean time machine fromBack to the Future, which Spielberg conceded as he only produced the film.[76] Spielberg also allowed theTyrannosaurus rex fromJurassic Park to be included.[57] Cline also asked ILM to include a reference toLast Action Hero, one of Penn's first screenplays, without Penn's knowledge; a movie marquee in the Manhattan race segment bears the name "Jack Slater", the characterArnold Schwarzenegger played in that film.[77]
Ready Player One was originally scheduled to be released on December 15, 2017.[78] However, on February 9, 2016, it was delayed to March 30, 2018, to avoid competition withStar Wars: The Last Jedi.[79] In January 2018, it was announced the film's release date had been moved up one day to March 29.[80] The film had its world premiere at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas on March 11, 2018 (as part of theSouth by Southwest Film Festival).[6] Warner Bros. distributed the film worldwide, with Village Roadshow Pictures distributing in several overseas territories.[81] Around the same time, themassively multi-player online game platformRoblox held an event based on it. The winner of the event was the user r0cu.[82]
Ready Player One was released ondigital copy on July 3, 2018, and on4KUHDBlu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, andDVD on July 24, 2018.[83] The film debuted at the top of the NPD VideoScan First Alert chart, a tracker of combined domestic Blu-Ray and DVD unit sales, for the week ending on July 27, 2018.[84] It retained the No. 1 spot on the chart for the week ending on August 4, 2018.[85]
Ready Player One grossed $137.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $469.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $607 million.[9]Deadline Hollywood had estimated it would need to gross at least $440 million tobreak even, given its $175 million budget.[86]
In the United States and Canada,Ready Player One was projected to gross $40–50 million from 4,100 theaters over its first four days.[8] It made $12.1 million on its first day, including $3.75 million from Wednesday night previews. It ended up grossing $41.8 million in its opening weekend (for a four-day total of $53.7 million).[87] It made $24.6 million in its second weekend, finishing second behind newcomerA Quiet Place, and $11.5 million in its third weekend, finishing in fourth.[88][89]
Onreview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 71% with an average score of 6.8/10, based on 443 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Ready Player One is a sweetly nostalgic thrill ride that neatly encapsulates Spielberg's strengths while adding another solidly engrossing adventure to his filmography."[90] OnMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 64 out of 100 based on 56 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[91] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, and those atPostTrak gave the film an 82% overall positive score and a 65% "definite recommend".[86]
In a review forRogerEbert.com, Brian Tallerico wrote that the film's "overwhelming" nature and non-stop action will likely thrill fans of pop culture; while he observed narrative weaknesses, such as a lack of depth among the supporting characters, he felt that they ultimately do not hinder the film from working "on the level of technical, blockbuster mastery that Spielberg helped define".[92] Writing forVariety,Owen Gleiberman called the film a "coruscating explosion of pop-culture eye candy" and found the sequence based onThe Shining to be "irresistible". However, he criticized Spielberg's separation of fantasy and reality, and he said the film has "more activity than it does layers".[93]IndieWire's Eric Kohn characterized the film as "an astonishing sci-fi spectacle and a relentless nostalgia trip at once" and praised both the sequence based onThe Shining and Penn's screenplay, particularly with respect to Mendelsohn's character. Nevertheless, he remarked that the film "drags a bunch in its final third".[94] Alissa Wilkinson, writing forVox, praised both the quality and quantity of theworldbuilding. She also commented on just how dystopian the future portrayed is, where the main characters fight to save the OASIS and the escape from reality it represents, with arguably less concern for the problems of the real world.[95] Film and television criticMatt Zoller Seitz praisedReady Player One and noted the undercurrent of sadness present in the film, stating that "I don't think Spielberg gets enough credit for making sad films that most people interpret as happy, and complex films that are immediately dismissed as simple or confused".[96][97][98] Seitz concluded that the film "is a mess, but it is a fascinating and complex one..."[99] In March 2019, a year after the film's release, Seitz determined that withReady Player One's images commenting on capitalism and popular culture, the film was the second-most "interesting [and] substantive" big-budgeted fantasy in 2018 afterBlack Panther, admitting that "I still think about [Ready Player One] a lot, especially concerning the world around me."[100][101]
Monica Castillo was more critical of the film in her review forThe Guardian and drew attention to the absence ofcharacter arcs, the lack of resolution for plot holes in the novel, and the bloating of scenes in the film by trivia.[102]Alonso Duralde, writing forTheWrap, found the usage of pop culture references lacking, and found his experience watching the film as "feeling bombarded with images, bored by the lack of an interesting story, and irritated with my own cultural past. I've never been much of a video-game player, but by the finale, I was ready to 'Leeroy Jenkins!' my way out of the theater".[103]
Ready Player One's depiction of a pop culture-dominated virtual world has drawn comparisons toMeta's investments in themetaverse in the 2020s.[111] Upon the unveiling of theApple Vision Promixed reality headset in 2023, many commentators compared its design to the headsets seen inReady Player One.[112] A promotional video produced byApple that accompanied the Vision Pro's announcement also mirrored a scene inReady Player One in which Wade Watts uses his headset to enter the OASIS.[113]
When asked about a sequel to the film, Cline stated: "I think there's a good chance that, if this one does well, Warner Bros. will want to make a sequel. I don't know if Steven [Spielberg] would want to dive back in, because he would know what he is getting into. He's said that it's the third-hardest film he's made, out of dozens and dozens of movies".[114][115][116] Cline wrote a book sequel, titledReady Player Two, which was released on November 24, 2020, stating in the acknowledgments that he had consulted Spielberg on the final draft of the book and where to take a potential film adaptation.[117][118]
On December 22, 2020, Cline announced that a sequel was in the early stages of development.[119] Spielberg confirmed that the film was still in development as of March 2024, stating that he would not direct the film unlike its predecessor, but produce it.[120]
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