Are you ‘Ready Player One’?

In case anyone hasn’t been paying attention, Hollywood has been on a pop culture-fueled train; the ’80s seemingly being the core focus as movies and television try to prove that what is old can be new again. When done well, shows like Netflix’s hit Stranger Things to movies such as Emma Stone’s Easy A, pop culture from the past have influenced where entertainment is currently going. I was born in 1989, but were the 80’s really that awesome?

Anyway, the bottom line is that we love to tap into the pop culture time machine and draw inspiration from the past to help craft a new idea or expanding on an old one to make it better. Next Spring, we’ll get a gold mine of pop culture in theaters.

Based on the popular bestseller written by author Ernest Cline, Ready Player One tells the story of Wade Watts (Ty Sheridan), a teenager in Columbus, Ohio in the year 2045. In this desolate future, there isn’t anywhere else to go except for the OASIS. The OASIS is a virtual reality world where people can interact and engage in different activities. When the creator of the OASIS dies, he creates a quest-like game where the first person who discovers his “Easter Egg” will not only win the game but full control of the OASIS and the creator’s vast fortune. This game leads to Watts facing dangerous adversaries, both in and outside the OASIS, who seek to win the game and the grand prize for themselves.

When it comes to 80s films, there are only a few directors who can connect with this story and translate the book to the silver screen. When picking a director, the author has to be happy that the director of many staples of 80s films, Steven Spielberg, is at the helm. If you were going to pick a director, you couldn’t find many other better choices. The trailer shows a glossy and beautifully crafted world, filled with nods to the past (Back to the Future’s iconic DeLorean) to something more modern (The Iron Giant!) and with Spielberg’s history, he should be right at home in this science fiction world that he once dominated years prior. The book has been collecting dust on my nightstand as I keep reminding myself to read it, but you all know how life gets in the way. Time to stop making excuses and start reading…or I could just wait until the film comes out.

Ready Player One blasts into theaters on March 30, 2018.