Ready Player One was a weird experience. I watched it. I was generally entertained by it. But thinking about it now, I can’t actually remember a damn thing about it. I do remember reading the author, Ernest Cline’s, Armada and being struck by how similar it was to Ender’s Game and The Last Starfighter. Still, that is a discussion for another day.
The first movie followed Wade Watts in a dystopian 2045, where he wins control of the virtual-reality system known as the OASIS. The follow-up would see Wade and his friends discover a brain–computer interface, created by OASIS founder James Halliday, which leads them to undertake another quest.
The movie grossed $608 million worldwide on a $175 million budget and was considered something of an underperformer for Spielberg. This summer, a few studios would rip your arm off for a return like that.
Screenwriter Zak Penn, who penned the Steven Spielberg-directed original, is now set to write the script for the sequel – Ready Player Two.
A report in The Direct says he confirmed this while speaking to them on the red carpet for Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, when he replied simply:
“I am working on it.”
Ready Player Two was first announced in 2020, but Spielberg will only produce, not direct. This means there is an opportunity for a protege director to step up. Who should it be? Who will it likely be?
