Get your first look at an official image for Spielberg’s Ready Player One

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

Today, Entertainment Weekly has given us our first look at Steven Spielberg's upcoming adaptation of Ernest Cline's nostalgia-heavy sci-fi novel READY PLAYER ONE. In the film, Parzival (real name: Wade Watts), as played by actor Tye Sheridan, escapes into a virtual world of movies, comics, cartoons, and ceaseless John Hughes references in an effort to make life in a dystopian 2045 more tolerable.

While wearing his VR visor and haptic gloves, Parzival explores the world within his rig called OASIS. While there, Parzival receives word that the program's creator, James Halliday, has died, and in the wake of his passing has left an invaluable Easter egg inside the game that could change one lucky players life forever. Now that his mission is clear, Parzival goes on the hunt for Halliday's secret with a group of online friends, with the reward of a better life as the end-game goal.

In the past, Cline himself has come forward to offer praise for Spielberg's body of work, and has even gone so far as to say that, "His [Spielberg] work directly influenced the narrative and the way that I told the story. So to have him directing, it’s too perfect to even be possible. And somehow it’s happened.”

Here's a look at the image released by Entertainment Weekly:

For those of you who've read the novel, you'll immediately recognize Wade's futuristic trailer park hideaway, where the hero of the story keeps his most valuable trinkets from years past. Joining Parzival on his search for Halliday's Easter egg will be a group of gamers that he's never met in real life: Art3mis (Olivia Cooke), Aech (Lena Waithe), and I-R0k (T.J. Miller). Together, the four players must find a way to work beside one another if they're to have any chance of defeating Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn), a representative of IOI (a corporation looking to gain control of OASIS) and the savage chief of Oology – the study of eggs.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the READY PLAYER ONE novel. However, I am extremely excited about Spielberg taking on the project, and perhaps spinning the material into something truly fantastic up on the big screen. For me, Spielberg feels like the perfect fit to bring depth to Wade's character and polish to a few of Cline's meandering ideas.

READY PLAYER ONE is expected to press start in theaters on March 18, 2018.