Ready Player One (film)

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Ready Player One is a 2018 American science fiction adventure film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, and written by Zak Penn and Ernest Cline, based on Cline's 2011 novel of the same name. The film stars Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, Simon Pegg, Hannah John-Kamen and Mark Rylance.

The film is set in the year 2045, when much of humanity, escaping the desolation of the real world, uses the virtual reality software OASIS to engage in work and play. Orphaned teenager Wade Watts (Sheridan) discovers clues to a hidden game within the program that promises the winner full ownership of the OASIS, and joins several allies to try to complete the game before indentured players working for a large company, run by businessman Nolan Sorrento (Mendelsohn), can do so.

Ready Player One premiered at South by Southwest on March 11, 2018, was theatrically released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States on March 29, 2018, in 2D, Real D 3D, IMAX and IMAX 3D. It has grossed over $399 million worldwide, making it the fourth highest-grossing film of 2018. The film received generally positive reviews, with critics praising its visuals and brisk pacing, and some calling it an improvement over the book, while criticism was directed at the perceived lack of character development and "achingly regressive" view of pop culture fans.

Video Ready Player One (film)

Plot

In 2045, many of Earth's population centers have become slum-like cities. To escape their desolation, people engage in the virtual reality world of the OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation), where they can engage in numerous activities for work, education, and entertainment. Users have discovered Anorak's Quest inside OASIS, a game programmed by the late OASIS creator, James Halliday. The first to find the Easter egg, locked behind a gate requiring three keys within Anorak's Quest is promised full ownership of OASIS among other gifts. This has attracted a number of Gunters ("egg hunters") to play the game. Innovative Online Industries (IOI), a video game conglomerate and manufacturer of most of the virtual reality equipment used to access the OASIS, also wants ownership. The new CEO of the company, Nolan Sorrento, has amassed an army of debt-indentured players, known as "Sixers" (due to their six-digit identification), to seek the prize. However, to date, no one has managed to finish the first quest, a vehicle race across an ever-shifting version of New York City.

Wade Watts, an orphaned, 18-year-old Gunter, lives in a Columbus, Ohio, slum with his aunt. In the OASIS, Wade goes by his avatar Parzival, and has partnered with Aech, a male avatar that serves as a virtual mechanic. He later befriends well-known player Art3mis after saving her from dying in-game - referred to as being "zeroed out" - which would reset her avatar's character progression and remove all her goods. Wade decides to study the virtual OASIS library to learn about Halliday's personal life, hoping to find a hint to finish the race. Wade learns that Halliday felt regret when he had to accept the resignation of his partner, Ogden Morrow, over a personal falling-out, musing, "Why can't we go backwards for once? Backwards really fast, as fast as we can - really put the pedal to the metal." At the next race, Wade reverses from the start line, finding a hidden, safe path to the finish line of the race. He gains the first key and a clue to the next quest. Aech and Art3mis, as well as players Daito and Sho, follow Wade to finish the quest, and the five appear atop the global scoreboards, becoming known as the "High Five".

IOI takes interest in them, desiring to learn their real-life identities. Bounty hunter i-R0k overhears Wade tell Art3mis his real name, disclosing it to Sorrento, who approaches Wade in an attempt to convince him to join IOI to solve Anorak's Quest, but Wade refuses. In retaliation, Sorrento has his assistant F'Nale Zandor attack Wade's slum, killing Wade's aunt and her boyfriend. Wade is rescued by Art3mis' real-life friends and is taken to a Gunter hideout in Columbus, where he meets Art3mis' player, Samantha Cook. The two discover that Halliday had once dated Kira, who later became Morrow's wife, and was the source of their falling-out. In the virtual OASIS archives, Wade wins a bet with its Curator regarding whether Kira's memory remains anywhere within the archives, winning a 25-cent coin and access to Halliday's memories of Kira, which turn out to be the entrance to the second quest. In a re-creation of The Shining, the High Five team each gain the second key and the clue that the last quest is in Castle Anorak on Planet Doom.

Zandor discovers the Gunter hideout and kidnaps Samantha. Meanwhile, Wade is rescued by the real-life players of Aech, Daito and Sho, who have taken to hiding in Aech's van. In the OASIS, they learn that IOI has erected a force field blocking access to the castle, maintained by the Sixers, including an enslaved Samantha. Wade blackmails Sorrento into revealing Samantha's location and communication access code to free her, and sends a message to all OASIS players about IOI's activities, convincing millions to join their side. With Aech, Daito, and Sho leading the players, Samantha is able to shut down the field, allowing Wade inside. Wade finds that several Sixers have found the Atari room, trying to determine which Atari 2600 game was Halliday's favorite; choosing the wrong one leads to being zeroed out after precisely one minute. Sorrento and Wade recognize the right game as Adventure, but successfully completing it causes the playing Sixer to be zeroed out.

Sorrento activates the Cataclyst, which zeroes out all players on Planet Doom. However, the Curator's coin is revealed to be an extra life, protecting Wade's avatar. Continuing the quest, Wade deduces that the goal is not to win Adventure but to find its own Easter egg. Upon doing so, he is given the last key. Wade uses the keys to open a gate in the castle, where he is congratulated and presented with a contract by Anorak. Recognizing it as the one Morrow had to sign on his termination, Wade declines. Anorak transforms into a projection of Halliday, who reveals that this was a final test, which centered around his biggest regret in his life. Halliday offers Wade the opportunity to wipe out the OASIS with the Big Red Button if he considers it for the best, and otherwise awards him with the Golden Egg, granting Wade control of OASIS.

Sorrento and Zandor are arrested, and IOI's indentured servitude division removed, heavily restructuring the company. Wade shares control of OASIS with the other members of the High Five. Morrow offers to help consult on a salary of 25 cents, while revealing he had been the OASIS' Curator all along. The High Five decide to have OASIS shut down twice a week, to coax people into spending more time in experiencing and fixing problems in the real world, while Wade and Samantha form a romantic relationship.

Maps Ready Player One (film)

Cast

• Tye Sheridan as Wade Owen Watts / Parzival, a Gunter and one of the "High Five", who wishes to win the Quest so he can leave the stacks.
• Olivia Cooke as Samantha Cook / Art3mis, Wade's love interest and a famous Gunter and one of the "High Five", who works with various allies to ensure the OASIS is kept free and out of the hands of IOI.
• Ben Mendelsohn as Nolan Sorrento, the current CEO of Innovative Online Industries, who seeks full control over the OASIS and also the leader of the Sixers, an army of indentured servants in the OASIS.
• Lena Waithe as Helen / Aech, a Gunter and one of the "High Five", who is male in the OASIS and female in reality, and longtime friend of Wade's. Aech runs a virtual garage in his free time to create and fix various vehicles and items.
• T.J. Miller as i-R0k, a freelance weapons and magic item dealer and bounty hunter, who is often employed by IOI.
• Simon Pegg as Ogden Morrow / The Curator, a co-creator of the OASIS, who eventually left the company due to personal reasons. He harbors a concern about how many people have developed an unhealthy dependency on the game.
• Mark Rylance as James Halliday / Anorak, the deceased co-creator of the OASIS, who includes an Easter Egg hidden in the OASIS after his passing that grants control over the OASIS to its winner.
• Philip Zhao as Zhou / Sho, a Gunter and one of the "High Five", an 11-year-old in reality.
• Win Morisaki as Toshiro / Daito, a Gunter and one of the "High Five".
• Hannah John-Kamen as F'Nale Zandor, the head of IOI's operations in the physical world, as well as their indentured servitude programs.

Additionally, Susan Lynch portrays Alice, Wade's aunt; Ralph Ineson portrays Rick, Alice's boyfriend; Perdita Weeks portrays Karen "Kira" Underwood, Morrow's wife; Clare Higgins portrays Mrs. Gilmore, Wade's neighbor; and Letitia Wright portrays a rebel who can briefly be seen at the safe house. McKenna Grace and Lulu Wilson appear as elementary school children who use the OASIS. Additionally, Daniel Eghan, Kenny-Lee Mbanefo, John Cruise, Henry Goldman, Wyatt Charles Dennings, Hank Westin, and Carl Beckett portray board members at IOI.

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Production

Development

Warner Bros. and De Line Pictures won an auction for the rights to Ernest Cline's novel Ready Player One in 2010, before it had been published. Cline was set to write the script for the film, which Donald De Line and Dan Farah would produce. Eric Eason rewrote Cline's script, and Zak Penn was hired to rewrite the previous drafts by Cline and Eason. Village Roadshow Pictures came aboard to co-finance and co-produce the film with Warner Bros. Steven Spielberg signed on to direct and produce the film, which Kristie Macosko Krieger also produced, along with De Line and Farah. Ready Player One is Spielberg's first action-fantasy film since The Adventures of Tintin in late 2011. 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.

Casting

Three actresses were top-runners for the role of Art3mis: Elle Fanning, Olivia Cooke, and Lola Kirke; In September 2015, Cooke was announced as having been cast in the coveted female lead role. In January 2016, Ben Mendelsohn joined the cast. In February 2016, Tye Sheridan was confirmed as playing the lead role of Wade, after a lengthy nationwide casting call failed to produce an unknown for the part. In March 2016, Simon Pegg joined the cast. In April 2016, Mark Rylance joined the cast, and in June 2016, T.J. Miller, Hannah John-Kamen and Win Morisaki also joined. In July 2016, Philip Zhao joined the cast, and Lena Waithe, Ralph Ineson, McKenna Grace and Letitia Wright were later also announced to have been cast.

Filming

Production was set to begin in July 2016. Screenwriter Zak Penn tweeted on July 1, 2016 that the first week of filming had been completed. In August and September 2016, filming took place in Birmingham, England; this included Livery Street in the Jewellery Quarter area of the city, which was extensively used, including the van chase that takes place towards the film's end. The chase was edited to make the street appear longer than it actually is. The backpackers' hostel Hatters, also on Livery Street, was used for internal filming for a basement scene. Also utilized was the Ludgate Hill Car Park lot on Lionel Street, in which caravan homes were partially built; a planned explosion caused some local business and homes to call emergency services, as no prior notification were given by the production. Other locations in the city included the former industrial area of Digbeth, with a rooftop scene that overlooks the Birmingham City Centre skyline, with some of the city's landmark buildings being erased and replaced with CGI buildings in order to create a dystopian Ohio in the year 2045. Principal photography ended on September 27, 2016.

Visual effects and post-production

Spielberg worked with Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) to oversee the film's visual effects, meeting with ILM for 3 hours three times a week. He has stated that "[t]his is the most difficult movie I've done since Saving Private Ryan."

A significant part of the film takes place in a virtual space based on the Overlook Hotel in the film The Shining. This was mostly a digital recreation of the film using high-quality telecine of the original film, giving them some freedom of new camera angles and shots that could be generated from this recreation. The final film includes a combination of the original footage from The Shining and ILM's additional work. Only a few scenes in this sequence which involved real actors, such as the appearance of the Grady twins, required them to construct a faithful reproduction of The Shining's set for the actors to interact with. Finally, the sequence was post-processed to introduce film grain and other aging effects to make the new footage indistinguishable from the original film.

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Cultural references

Ready Player One pays homage to the popular culture of the 1970s and 1980s as in the book, but also extends to the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s; several reviewers have identified well over one hundred references to films, television shows, music, toys, video games, anime and comics of these eras. Cline did not have any issues with these copyrighted elements when he published his book, but was aware that securing the rights was going to be a major obstacle for a film adaptation, a task made easier by Spielberg's reputation. Spielberg and producer Kristie Macosko Krieger spent several years securing the rights for the copyrighted elements used in the film, starting before filming began, since some scenes would not be possible without certain copyrighted elements. Spielberg estimated that they had gotten about 80% of the copyrighted elements they wanted. Spielberg noted that in some cases, the filmmakers were able to secure rights for some but not all the characters they wanted; in negotiating with Warner Bros., they could not secure Close Encounters of the Third Kind, despite the latter being one of Spielberg's first films as director.

Blade Runner, which was integral to the plot of the book, was off limits to the film adaptation because Blade Runner 2049 was in production at the same time as Ready Player One. As a replacement, they conceived of players having to play out the events of The Shining, which Spielberg was able to secure the rights to as a homage to his friend Stanley Kubrick. While Cline's original work heavily used the character of Ultraman, the rights over the character were still under legal dispute, requiring them to replace Ultraman with the titular robot from The Iron Giant. Spielberg recognized that his past films were a significant part of the 1980s popular culture cited in the book, and to avoid being accused of "vanity", he opted to remove many of the references to his own work. Cline stated that he believed Spielberg wanted to avoid self-references to films he directed, due to the criticism he received for his film 1941, which lampooned his own previous works Jaws and Duel. Cline said he had to convince Spielberg to include some iconic elements, such as the Back to the Future DeLorean time machine, which Spielberg conceded as the film was one he produced rather than directed. Cline also asked ILM to include a reference to Last Action Hero, one of Penn's first screenplays, without Penn's knowledge.

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Music

On June 9, 2016, Variety stated that Spielberg's regular collaborator John Williams was planning to compose the film's score. However in July 2017, it was reported that Williams had left the project to work on Spielberg's The Post instead, with Alan Silvestri hired to take over scoring duties for Ready Player One. The official score was released by WaterTower Music as a 2-CD set on March 30, 2018, with vinyl and cassette releases projected for the summer. At Spielberg's request, Silvestri references his own music from Back to the Future within the film's score, as well as quoting the music from The Shining for the film's sequence at the Overlook Hotel.

The film also includes licensed music from the 1970s and 1980s, which appears on the digital-only album Ready Player One: Songs From The Motion Picture.

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Release

Ready Player One was initially scheduled to be released on December 15, 2017, but was pushed back to March 30, 2018, to avoid competition with Star Wars: The Last Jedi. In January 2018, it was announced the film's release date had been moved up one day to March 29, 2018. The film had its world premiere at the Paramount Theatre in Austin, Texas on March 11, 2018 (as part of the South by Southwest Film Festival).

Warner Bros. distributes the film worldwide, with Village Roadshow Pictures distributing in several overseas territories.

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Reception

Box office

As of April 11, 2018, Ready Player One has grossed $102 million in the United States and Canada, and $297.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $399.1 million. Made on a production budget of $175 million, with about $150 million more spent on global marketing costs, the film will need to gross at least $440 million worldwide in order to break-even.

In the United States and Canada, Ready Player One was released alongside God's Not Dead: A Light in Darkness and Acrimony, and was projected to gross $40-50 million from 4,100 theaters over its first four days. 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), marking Spielberg's biggest debut since 2008's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. In its second weekend it grossed $25.1 million (a drop of 40%), finishing second behind newcomer A Quiet Place ($50 million).

Worldwide, the film was released day-in-date in 62 countries, including China, where it is expected to make $100-120 million in its opening weekend. It grossed $2.9 million on its first day from 11 countries, including $980,000 from Korea. In China the film made $14.75 million on its first day and earned a score of 9.2 from audiences on Douban (compared to the average 6-7 earned by Hollywood films). It grossed $61.7 million in China in its opening weekend which is the highest opening ever for Warner Bros in said territory. The film's other major opening weekend territories were South Korea ($8.1 million), United Kingdom ($7.3 million), Russia ($6.1 million) and France ($6 million).

Critical response

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 74% based on 315 reviews, and an average rating of 6.9/10. The website'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." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 64 out of 100, based on 54 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it an 82% overall positive score and a 65% "definite recommend".

In a review for RogerEbert.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." Writing for Variety, Owen Gleiberman called the film a "coruscating explosion of pop-culture eye candy," and found The Shining sequence to be "irresistible". However, he also criticized Spielberg's dichotomization of fantasy and reality, as well as the film having "more activity than it does layers." IndieWire's Eric Kohn characterized the film as "an astonishing sci-fi spectacle and a relentless nostalgia trip at once" and praised both The Shining sequence as well as Penn's screenplay, particularly with respect to Mendelsohn's character. Nevertheless, he remarked that the film "drags a bunch in its final third".

Alissa Wilkinson, writing for Vox, praised both the quality and quantity of the world building. 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.

Monica Castillo was more critical of the film in her review for The Guardian and drew attention to the absence of character arcs, the lack of resolution for plot holes in the novel, and the bloating of scenes in the film by trivia. She also pointed out the film's "noticeable girl problem", in terms of the relationship between Art3mis and Wade. Matt Bobkin scored the film a 6 out of 10 for Exclaim! saying the film "is not so much a groundbreaking recontextualizing, more doe-eyed affection with no critical commentary."

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Possible sequel

Cline is working on a sequel to the novel. For a sequel to the film, he 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."

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References

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External links

• Official website
• Ready Player One on IMDb
• Ready Player One at AllMovie
• Ready Player One at Box Office Mojo

Source of the article : Wikipedia