Warner Bros. has released a new poster for the highly-anticipatedReady Player One, which is shaping up to be one of this spring’s biggest box office hits. Like the previously-released footage before it, this poster offers a taste of80s nostalgia, featuring the iconic DeLorean, best known for its use in the 1985 classicBack to the Future, along with a number of robots, creatures, out-of-this-world spaceships and several of the main characters that inhabit this futuristic world. With the countdown continuing towards the March 30 release date, it remains to be seen if any more footage will be released.
From filmmaker Steven Spielberg comes the science fiction action adventureReady Player One, based on Ernest Cline’s bestseller of the same name. The film is set in 2045, with the world on the brink of chaos and collapse. But the people have found salvation in the OASIS, an expansive virtual reality universe created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance). When Halliday dies, he leaves his immense fortune to the first person to find a digital Easter egg he has hidden somewhere in the OASIS, sparking a contest that grips the entire world. When an unlikely young hero namedWade Watts(Tye Sheridan) decides to join the contest, he is hurled into a breakneck, reality-bending treasure hunt through a fantastical universe of mystery, discovery and danger.
The first trailer was released at San Diego Comic-Con, and featured no shortage ofEaster Eggs, includingIron Giant,Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Freddy Krueger from theNightmare on Elm Streetfranchise, the Statue of Liberty fromGhostbusters, theAkiramotorcycle, aTronlightcycle, theScooby-DooMystery Machine and even Tom Cruise’s stock car fromDays of Thunder. When the entire movie unspools in theaters, it will likely be one massive Easter Egg hunt, which could lead to an increased number of repeat viewings which could certainly help its box office projections, although it doesn’t have too much competition as of now.
Ready Player Onerecently had itsrelease datebumped up one day from Friday, March 30 to Thursday March 29, to get an early start on the Easter holiday weekend. While no other movies are slated to open on the 29th, Lionsgate’sAcrimonyand Electric Entertainment’sBad Samaritanare slated to arrive on March 30. There are also five movies opening in wide release on March 23, including Universal’sPacific Rim Uprising, Open Road Films’Midnight Sun, Paramount’sSherlock Gnomes, Bleecker Street’sUnsaneand Sony’sPaul, Apostle of Christ. Despite all of this competition,Ready Player Oneshould have little trouble at the box office next month.
We also reported in December that asequel novelis currently being written byReady Player Oneauthor Ernest Cline. There have been no story details for this sequel revealed, including what year the story may be set. The 2011 novel was set in the year 2044, and it remains to be seen if there will be any sort of time jump, or if the sequel will directly follow the events of the original book. It’s also possible that, if theReady Player Onemovie does well in theaters, that this book could be optioned and used as the basis for aReady Player Onemovie sequel. Take a look at the newReady Player Oneposter, courtesy ofWarner Bros.below.
