Steven Spielberg's latest slice of sci-fi, Ready Player One, features such a heavy load of post-production work that he's found time to make a whole other film (The Post) in between overseeing effects shots. He's turned his attention back to the former and the new trailer for it is online.
Based on Ernie Cline's novel and scripted by Zak Penn, the story follows teenager Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan), who likes to escape his dreary, dangerous real world by logging into Oasis, a globally networked virtual utopia where users lead idyllic alternate lives. When the game's eccentric, Steve Jobs-style billionaire creator dies (Mark Rylance's James Halliday), he offers up his fortune as the prize in an elaborate treasure hunt. Wade is pitted against powerful corporate foes and ruthless competitors who will do anything, in the Oasis and the real world, to reach the riches first. Olivia Cooke is Sam, a Canadian blogger who goes by the handle Art3mis in Oasis and ends up joining forces with Wade, while Ben Mendelsohn is nefarious corporate type Nolan Sorrento.
The overall takeaway from this new trailer is an impressive glimpse further into the Oasis, envisioning a virtual world where The Iron Giant can exist alongside Doc Brown's DeLorean. And that's just the tip of the pop culture references layered in here. There's also a new poster, which appears to suggest that Wade has longer legs than Elastigirl...
Simon Pegg, TJ Miller and Hannah John-Kamen are all in the cast, and the film will be out on 30 March.