Ready Player One is one of the more intriguing movies of 2018. Ernest Cline’s novel was packed with references to 80s and 90s culture and films, including much of the work of Steven Spielberg. So when the great bearded one announced he was going to direct a movie version, many were intruigued about how they’d incorporate references to films owned by a wide variety of companies – especially as Spielberg said he would be going easy on references to his own films.

Now we’ve got out first look at the movie, and the references are there, including the Back To The Future DeLorean, and The Iron Giant. The last of those Spielberg says is a major part of the movie. It does look pretty cool though, and more ambitious than anything we’ve seen from SPielberg for a while.

Here’s the synopsis: ‘From filmmaker Steven Spielberg comes the science fiction action adventure “Ready Player One,” based on Ernest Cline’s bestseller of the same name.

‘Ready Player One is in cinemas March 30, 2018 and stars Tye Sheridan (“X-Men: Apocalypse,” “Mud”), Olivia Cooke (“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” “Bates Motel”), Ben Mendelsohn (“Rogue One – A Star Wars Story,” “Bloodline”) and T.J. Miller (“Deadpool,” “Silicon Valley”), with Simon Pegg (the “Star Trek” movies, the “Mission: Impossible” movies) and Oscar winner Mark Rylance (“Bridge of Spies,” upcoming “Dunkirk”).

‘The film is set in 2045, with the world on the brink of chaos and collapse. But the people have found salvation in the OASIS, an expansive virtual reality universe created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance). When Halliday dies, he leaves his immense fortune to the first person to find a digital Easter egg he has hidden somewhere in the OASIS, sparking a contest that grips the entire world. When an unlikely young hero named Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) decides to join the contest, he is hurled into a breakneck, reality-bending treasure hunt through a fantastical universe of mystery, discovery and danger.’ [Read more…]