Taglines: Break Free.
In 2045, people seek regular escape from life through the virtual reality entertainment universe called OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation), co-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 game, granting ownership of OASIS to the first to find the Golden Easter egg within it, which is locked behind a gate requiring three keys. The contest has lured a number of ‘gunters’, or egg hunters, and the interest of Nolan Sorrento, the CEO of Innovative Online Industries (IOI) who seeks to control OASIS himself. IOI uses a number of indentured servants and employees called “Sixers” to find the egg.
Wade Watts is an orphaned teenager living in the slums, or ‘stacks’, of Columbus, Ohio, with his Aunt Alice. In the OASIS, his avatar Parzival is best friends with Aech, a virtual mechanic. One day, Parzival befriends Art3mis, a well-known Gunter, sharing a common interest in Halliday’s history. They review Halliday’s life from the Archives, an online library of Halliday’s life that came online upon the start of the games, with help from its Curator.
They learn Halliday had several regrets in life, including his unrequited love for Morrow’s wife Karen (who uses the gamer tag “Kira”) and losing Morrow as a friend after forcing him to sign away his part of Gregarious Games. Using this information, they solve the first two challenges of Anorak’s game: a car race across an ever-shifting Manhattan cityscape and a search for Kira in the Overlook Hotel from The Shining. Aech and two of their other friends, Daito and Sho, soon follow suit, with the group becoming known as the “High Five” on the OASIS scoreboards.
Sorrento learns of Parzival’s real-life identity through OASIS mercenary i-R0k, and attempts to sway Wade into joining IOI, but he refuses. In retaliation, Sorrento has IOI’s head of operations F’Nale Zandor bomb Wade’s stack, killing Alice. Art3mis’s player, Samantha Cook, rescues Wade, but they are soon found by IOI. Samantha is captured and remanded to one of IOI’s Loyalty Centers to work off the debt IOI acquired, while Wade is extracted by the other High Five—Helen (Aech), Toshiro (Daito), and Zhou (Sho). The group tracks down Samantha’s location at IOI and they remotely help her escape, allowing her to assist them in the OASIS as Art3mis.
Ready Player One is a 2018 American science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, from a screenplay 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, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, and Mark Rylance. The film takes place in 2045, when much of humanity uses the virtual reality software OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation) to escape the desolation of the real world. 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 a large company run by businessman Nolan Sorrento (Mendelsohn) can do so.
Ready Player One premiered at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas on March 11, 2018, and was theatrically released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States on March 29, 2018, in 2D, RealD 3D, IMAX and IMAX 3D. It grossed over $582 million and received generally positive reviews; critics praised its visuals, brisk pacing, the performances of Sheridan and Rylance, and the many cultural references from various media. The film was noted to have significant differences from the book; some critics said the film’s plot was an improvement over the source material. It also received nominations at the 91st Academy Awards, 24th Critics’ Choice Awards, and 72nd British Academy Film Awards, all for visual effects.
Ready Player One (2018)
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Hannah John-Kamen, Ben Mendelsohn, Letitia Wright, Simon Pegg, Olivia Cooke, Mckenna Grace, Tye Sheridan, Mark Rylance, T.J. Miller, Julia Nickson, Lena Waithe, Kathryn Wilder, Susan Lynch
Screenplay by: Zak Penn, Ernest Cline
Production Design by: Adam Stockhausen
Cinematography by: Janusz Kaminski
Film Editing by: Michael Kahn
Costume Design by: Kasia Walicka-Maimone
Set Decoration by: Kasia Walicka-Maimone
Art Direction by: Guy Bradle, Gavin Fitch, Stuart Rose, Mark Scruton, Remo Tozzi
Music by: Alan Silvestri
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of sci-fi action violence, bloody images, some suggestive material, nudity and language.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: March 29, 2018
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