Ready Player One

Ready Player One is a 2018 American science fiction action-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. It stars Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, and Mark Rylance. It 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) finds clues to a hidden game that promises OASIS’s ownership to the winner, and he and four allies try to complete it before a corporation 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 Dolby Cinema, RealD 3D, IMAX, 4DX, and IMAX 3D. It grossed over $582 million and received generally positive reviews; critics praised its visuals and brisk pacing but criticized the character development. The film was noted to have significant differences from the book, with some critics saying 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.