Added on June 21, 2015  Hayley Knighten  80's , adaptation , book , director , ernest cline

Spielberg to direct Ernest Cline’s ‘Ready Player One’

My wildest geek dreams have come true. A movie of Ernest Cline’s 2011 novel, Ready Player One is in the works and Warner Bros. Studios has Steven Freakin’ Spielberg set to direct it.

So why is this so amazing? First, they’re gonna need a bigger special effects budget. To give you an idea, here’s a brief synopsis of the novel:

In 2044, the world has deteriorated to the point that the population spends their days logged on to the OASIS, a virtual reality utopia where anyone can go to school, earn a living and customize their avatar. When James Halliday, the 80’s obsessed creator, died he hid an Easter Egg in one of his thousands of virtual worlds and willed that the person who discovered it would inherit his entire estate, including control of the OASIS. Halliday didn’t want a big corporation to inherit his life’s work, so he made the Easter Egg something that only the geekiest of geeks could find. Wade Watts, a down-on-his-luck trailer park kid, has spent years becoming an expert on ’80s pop culture to find the Easter Egg. For Wade, this has meant boning up on everything from the Atari game Joust to memorizing dialogue from the 1983 film Wargames. 

Which brings us to the main reason I never thought we’d see a Ready Player One movie. There is so much pop-culture jam-packed into this novel that any studio would have a hell of a time acquiring all the rights.

Thankfully, I underestimated Warner Brothers. Greg Silverman, President of Creative Development and Worldwide Production, told Deadline magazine:

“I think what we have to do is drill down to the best version of the movie and then see who wants to be a part of what will surely be a great film. What we found with The Lego Movie is that when we went and talked to those having the rights, people got excited about being involved.”

And as for those amazing sci-fi visual effects I mentioned, Silverman said:

“At Warner’s, we always have our eye on all the groundbreaking visual effects and technology available worldwide, and we feel very confidant with any new ground that Steven would want to tackle. He’s a master filmmaker so we feel very comfortable with him. The story is the main thing and whatever works best for audience enjoyment is what we’ll do.”

Yeah, my mind is officially blown.

Now I want to hear from you. Did you read the book? If not, stop what you’re doing and get on that. I’m serious. I can see you. GET! As for the rest of you, feel free to geek out about how excited you are in the comments! Geekery loves company.