Production has Started on Steven Spielberg’s ‘Ready Player One’

Ready Player One was always meant to be a movie. With a plot that centers on millennial nostalgia for early ’90s video games, movies, and television shows, and a thoroughly likable group of characters, Ready Player One has been on many science-fiction fans’ most anticipated movie list since the movie rights were optioned. And on Friday, screenwriter Zak Penn posted on Twitter that production on the Steven Spielberg-led film adaptation had finally begun.

While I devoured the book practically in one sitting, it has also been a while since I read Ready Player One. Rather than regale you with my half-baked synopsis that undersells it as some childish version of The Matrix, here is the plot from the Penguin Random House website:

In the year 2044, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he’s jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade’s devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world’s digital confines—puzzles that are based on their creator’s obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade’s going to survive, he’ll have to win—and confront the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.

The film is set to star Tye Sheridan as young gamer Wade Watts (aka Parzival) and Olivia Cooke as his friend and love interest Samantha Evelyn Cook (aka Art3mis). Also rounding out the cast are frequent Spielberg collaborator Mark Rylance, actor / comedian T.J. Miller, and reigning Hollywood sci-fi nerd Simon Pegg. The film is scheduled to be released on March 29, 2018, giving us almost two years to eagerly anticipate the next big adventure epic.