If the book reaction is anything to go by, then one of the most anticipated projects in development right now is ‘Ready Player One.’ ‘Ready Player One’ is based on the book by Ernie Cline and although he originally wrote the screenplay for the movie version, Warner Bros. has decided to send it out to Eric Eason for a rewrite.
Apparently the producers met with many writers before deciding upon Eason to rewrite the script. Ultimately they felt that his unique perspective and experience with character driven stories would be the best fit for this concept driven film. Eason is well known for writing ‘A Better Life’ and ‘Journey to the End of the Night.’
‘Ready Player One’ has been described as ‘The Matrix’ meets ‘Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.’ The story follows Wade Watts, a teen from the year 2044 who escapes his bleak surroundings of poverty and pollution by becoming immersed in the world of OASIS, an MMO virtual reality world. When James Halliday, the game’s eccentric creator, dies, he sets an elaborate treasure hunt that will see the winner taking over his company. Wade willingly enters the game and upon stumbling on the first puzzle, he finds himself against powerful players who will do anything (even murder), both in the virtual world and the real world, to win the treasure. Now the only way for Wade to survive is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his perfect virtual existence and face up to life and love in the real world that he’s always been desperate to escape.
With the book description alone, it’s no wonder that there was a bidding war for the film rights a year before the book was even published. ‘Ready Player One’ is the debut novel from Cline who also wrote the screenplay ‘Fanboys’ about ‘Star Wars’ super fans that take a cross country trip to George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch so that their dying friend could see a screening of ‘Star Wars: Episode I.’
You can check out a review of ‘Ready Player One’ here. With the combination of online gaming, virtual words, conspiracies and 80’s trivia,the movie sounds like it would make a great film. What do you think?
