Steven Spielberg edges closer to bringing his most ambitious project ever to the silver screen. He has chosen to direct "Ready Player One", which is an adaptation of what was one of the most popular novels of The Last few years. The book was released in 2011.
As an indicator of just how important this Movie is, the rights to create a cinematic version of the novel were already in place before the book was released. This rarely happens, especially with books that, while incredibly popular, have been created by a relatively unknown talent.
It's all in the timing
Usually, when a movie has it's release date changed, it's a big deal. People speculate, and the most common outcome is a suspected poor quality product. Often, this suspicion is justified. What is important to remember here though is the movie is being directed by one Steven Spielberg, the creator of some of the biggest movies of all time. He doesn't tend to lend his name to dud movies as a producer. And as a director, it is a certain bet that "Ready Player One" has a good idea behind it. Spielberg thrives on big ideas.
The movie had its release date moved back to March 2018. It was originally slated for December this year, but it was decided by the producers and the studio behind the movie that the new "Star Wars" movie would be too much of a problem.
"The Last Jedi" has an incredible amount of hype behind it, and any movie that goes up against the might of that franchise would have to be huge.
Speilberg is well known for taking on big projects, and perhaps it is a measure of his belief in "Ready Player One" that the movie was pulled. "The Last Jedi" will very much swamp all competition when it is released in December.
And Speilberg probably feels that his movie would not get anywhere near the attention it deserves.
The story of Ready Player One
The movie is set in 2044, and involves a young man who sets out on a mad scavenger hunt. Citizens in the story live in huge trailer park tower blocks, and everyone is bored and desperate. To pass the time, people step into a virtual reality world called Oasis.
The lead character in the story, Wade Watts, has to find the treasure for a chance of owning Oasis and becoming the most powerful man on the planet.
The novel is famous for having hundreds of pop culture references in it. Movies, music and video games are all included in the frantic narrative, so much so that it is hard to escape the references. Spielberg and his movies are in the novel, and the director has already made the decision to not include anything that links to him and his career.
It's an 'event' movie, and Spielberg has made the right decision in avoiding the "Star Wars" madness in December. But it is interesting to see Speilberg bow out of a release window. Even he knows the power and impact "The Last Jedi" is going to have
