Warner Bros. has set a December 15, 2017 release date for Steven Spielberg‘s adaptation of Ready Player One, the Ernest Cline young adult novel set in the year 2044, where the virtual reality game OASIS has taken over. Puzzles hidden with the world based on ’80s and ’90s pop culture promise a fortune to whomever can solve them. Teenager Wade Watts stumbles on the first clue but soon finds himself hunted as the virtual world an real world eventually collide.
I read this book a while back based on the hype and I have to admit, I wasn’t all that impressed. It was basically a Hunger Games style story for boys. Spielberg is probably a fine director to bring it to the big screen and appeal to the widest audience, but he isn’t the kind of risky storyteller that would likely deliver the best adaptation. It would be great to see someone like Rian Johnson or Doug Jones take this on and really turn it into a twisted and darker story, a little less obsessed with pop culture nostalgia. I’m also afraid Spielberg is going to hit the “unplug from your computer and look around you” angle too hard. The book is so on the nose with everything it becomes a bit of a dull read.
Zak Penn (Elektra, X-Men: The Last Stand) is working on the screenplay and as of right now there are no actors attached.
Spielberg will see Bridge of Spies released later this year and his next film is The BFG coming July 1, 2016 and it would seem he may have abandoned Robopocalypse altogether. [Deadline]
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