Ready Player One is a 2018 American science fiction action film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Zak Penn and Ernest Cline. Based on Cline's 2011 novel, the film stars Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, and Mark Rylance. The film is set in 2045, where much of humanity uses the OASIS, a virtual reality simulation, to escape the real world. Teenage orphan Wade Watts finds clues to a contest that promises ownership of the OASIS to the winner, and he and his friends try to complete it before an evil corporation can do so.

Development of the film began in mid-2010 when Warner Bros. Entertainment acquired the rights to the book. In July 2015, Spielberg signed on to direct and produce the film, with casting commencing in September 2015. Filming began in England in June 2016 and was completed in September that year. The visual effects were handled by Industrial Light & Magic, Digital Domain, and Territory Studio, with some pre-visualization work done by the Third Floor, Inc.. As with the novel, many popular culture references appear throughout the film, including those to the Back to the Future franchise, The Iron Giant, The Shining, King Kong, and the Godzilla franchise.

Ready Player One premiered at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas on March 11, 2018, and was theatrically released in the United States on March 29, by Warner Bros. Pictures. It received positive reviews from critics, who praised Spielberg's direction, the visual effects, brisk pacing, and the performances of Sheridan and Rylance. The film was a commercial success, grossing $608 million worldwide against a $155–175 million budget, and earned a nomination for Best Visual Effects at the 91st Academy Awards, 24th Critics' Choice Awards, and 72nd British Academy Film Awards. Ready Player One was awarded the title of Best Science Fiction Film at the 45th Saturn Awards, and a further two Outstanding Achievement Awards from the Visual Effects Society. A sequel is in development.

Plot

In a dystopian 2045, people seek to escape from reality through the OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation), a virtual 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 golden Easter egg within it, which is locked behind a gate requiring three keys players can obtain by accomplishing three challenges. The contest has lured several egg hunters, or "Gunters", and the interest of Nolan Sorrento, the CEO of Innovative Online Industries (IOI) who seeks to control the OASIS and insert intrusive online advertising. IOI uses an army of indentured servants and employees called "Sixers" to find the egg.

Wade Watts, an avid orphaned Columbus, 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 Parzival has 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 hires the mercenary i-R0k to learn Wade's true identity, intent on 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 Globe night 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 house, killing Wade's aunt Alice 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 the Overlook 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 Wade and others hack Sorrento's OASIS rig.

The third challenge is found in Castle Anorak on Planet Doom, where players must guess Halliday's favorite Atari 2600 game to earn the Crystal Key. iR0k places a forcefield around the castle using the Orb of Osuvox, but Art3mis eventually disables 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 pick her up, and reaches the console, but Sorrento uses the Cataclyst bomb to wipe out every avatar on Planet Doom including himself.

Parzival survives using an extra life coin given to him earlier by the Curator in a bet. He plays the 1980 game Adventure and wins the Crystal Key by locating Warren Robinett's Easter egg. He uses the three keys to enter a treasure room where Anorak offers him a contract. 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 and hands over the Easter egg. Sorrento and F'Nale are arrested in the aftermath of the bombing.

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.

Cast

Tye Sheridan as Wade Watts / Parzival, 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 from Percival of Arthurian Legend. Olivia Cooke as Samantha Cook / Art3mis, 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 for Artemis of Greek mythology. Ben Mendelsohn as Nolan Sorrento / IOI-655321, the CEO of Innovative Online Industries who seeks full control over the OASIS. His avatar of IOI-655321 is a heavily-muscled businessman. Lena Waithe as Helen Harris / Aech, a Gunter and long-time friend of Wade's who works as a mechanic in the OASIS. Her avatar of Aech is a male cyborg of indeterminate species. T.J. Miller as the voice and motion-capture of i-R0k, 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, 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 the Curator who works at the Halliday Journal archives. Mark Rylance as James Halliday / Anorak the All-Knowing, 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, tall wizard. Philip Zhao as Zhou / Sho, 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 a ninja. Win Morisaki as Toshiro Yoshiaki / Daito, a Japanese Gunter and one of the "High Five". His avatar of Daito is an armored samurai. Unlike the book, Toshiro is not killed by IOI and survives to the end. Hannah John-Kamen as F'Nale Zandor, IOI's head of operations in the physical world and for their indentured servant programs at IOI's Loyalty Centers. Susan Lynch as Alice, Wade's aunt who Wade has a poor relationship with Ralph Ineson as Rick, the boyfriend of Alice who mistreats Wade Perdita Weeks as Karen "Kira" Underwood, 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

Other appearances in the film include Letitia Wright as Reb, a rebel at Samantha's safe house, Lulu Wilson and Mckenna Grace as students using the OASIS when Halliday's pre-recorded will is shown, and Jane Douglas of the YouTube group OutsideXbox in a cameo appearance as a Sixer.

Additionally, among the many gaming characters that appear in the film, two of them have credited speaking roles; Cara Theobold reprises her role as Tracer from Overwatch; Vic Chao reprises his role as Mortal Kombat antagonist Goro from Mortal Kombat X.

Production Development and casting

Warner Bros. bought the film rights for producers Dan Farah and Donald De Line in June 2010, one year before the book was published. Ernest Cline was set to write the script for the film, which De Line and Farah would produce. Eric Eason rewrote Cline's script, and Zak Penn was hired to rewrite the previous drafts by Cline and Eason (who became uncredited for the final draft), along with Village Roadshow Pictures coming aboard. Warner Bros. attempted to convince Christopher Nolan to direct the film as his next project after Interstellar (2014), but he declined. Afterwards the studio made a shortlist of potential directors including Robert Zemeckis, Edgar Wright, Matthew Vaughn, and Peter Jackson. A directorial offer was also sent to Josh Trank, who turned it down twice. Steven Spielberg finally signed on to direct and produce the film, which Kristie Macosko Krieger also produced, along with De Line and Farah. 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 in Pac-Man, or recites all the lines from the film WarGames (1983). In 2016, American musician Moby said he had tried to make the book into a movie, but discovered that Spielberg had taken the role before him.

Elle Fanning, Olivia Cooke and Lola Kirke were the frontrunners for the role of Art3mis; with Cooke announced as having been cast in the role by September 2015. In January 2016, Ben Mendelsohn joined the cast. In February 2016, Tye Sheridan was confirmed to play Wade, after a lengthy casting search for the role. Barry Keoghan screen-tested for the part. Simon Pegg was added to the cast in March, with Mark Rylance joining in April. By June, T.J. Miller, Hannah John-Kamen, and Win Morisaki had also been cast in the film. In July, Philip Zhao joined the cast, with Lena Waithe, Ralph Ineson, Mckenna Grace, and Letitia Wright being revealed as appearing in the film over time prior to the film's release.

In October 2019, Doctor Sleep (2019) director Mike Flanagan revealed that Jack Nicholson, who portrayed Jack Torrance in The Shining (1980), was approached to appear in the film, but declined the offer due to his retirement.

Filming