On Screen: Ready Player One

With news that Stephen Speilberg set to direct Ready Player One the one question I have is how can they make this movie?

For those of you who have read the book by Ernest Cline.

Here is the synopsis:

“At once wildly original and stuffed with irresistible nostalgia, READY PLAYER ONE is a spectacularly genre-busting, ambitious, and charming debut—part quest novel, part love story, and part virtual space opera set in a universe where spell-slinging mages battle giant Japanese robots, entire planets are inspired by Blade Runner, and flying DeLoreans achieve light speed.

It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place.

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets.

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them.

For years, millions have struggled fruitlessly to attain this prize, knowing only that Halliday’s riddles are based in the pop culture he loved—that of the late twentieth century. And for years, millions have found in this quest another means of escape, retreating into happy, obsessive study of Halliday’s icons. Like many of his contemporaries, Wade is as comfortable debating the finer points of John Hughes’s oeuvre, playing Pac-Man, or reciting Devo lyrics as he is scrounging power to run his OASIS rig.

And then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle.

Suddenly the whole world is watching, and thousands of competitors join the hunt—among them certain powerful players who are willing to commit very real murder to beat Wade to this prize. Now the only way for Wade to survive and preserve everything he knows is to win. But to do so, he may have to leave behind his oh-so-perfect virtual existence and face up to life—and love—in the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.

A world at stake.”

How will the studio gain access to all the trademark properties? Here is a list of all the Pop Culture References in the book:

• “Dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!” (0.3) is a quote from Ghostbusters
• “Dead Man’s Party” by Oingo Boingo (0.10) (0.13)
• Space Invaders, referenced throughout
• Time magazine (0.11) (2.3)
• Halliday is described as “dancing with himself,” which is likely a reference to the Billy Idol song, “Dancing with Myself” (0.12)
• John Hughes (0.12) (2.44)
• Heathers (0.16)
• Winona Ryder (0.17)
• Christian Slater (0.17)
• The Muppet Show (0.22)
• Atari, especially the Atari 2600, referenced throughout
• Adventure for Atari, referenced throughout
• Warren Robinett, programmer of Adventure (0.24)
• Apple IIe (0.33) (5.12)
• Commodore 64 (0.33) (5.10) (5.12)
• Atari 800XL (0.33)
• TRS-80 Color Computer 2 (0.33)
• Dungeons and Dragons, referenced throughout
• Galaga (1.2) (11.3) (11.11) (22.25)
• Defender (1.2) (6.50) (22.23)
• Asteroids (1.2)
• Robotron: 2084 (1.7) (22.24)
• Family Ties (1.10) (1.12) (1.41) (25.6)
• The Amazing Spider-Man (1.12)
• The X-Men (1.12)
• Green Lantern (1.12)
• Peter Parker (1.12) (13.3)
• Clark Kent (1.12) (13.3)
• Sesame Street (1.15)
• Muppets (1.15)
• Cosmos (1.57)
• Donkey Kong (1.59) (22.21)
• BurgerTime (1.59) (9.101)
• Star Wars, including Princess Leia, X-Wings, Tie Fighters, Ewoks, etc., referenced throughout
• Pitfall (1.59)
• Spider-Man (1.65)
• The Batcave (1.76)
• Superman’s Fortress of Solitude (1.76)
• Star Trek in general, including Vulcans, referenced throughout
• Wade’s passphrase, “You have been recruited by the Star League to defend the Frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada” is from The Last Starfighter (1.81)
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail (2.3) referenced throughout chapter 37
• The T-1000 is from Terminator 2: Judgment Day (2.21)
• Sixteen Candles (2.44)
• Pretty in Pink (2.44)
• Some Kind of Wonderful (2.44)
• The Breakfast Club (2.44)
• Weird Science (2.44)
• Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (2.44)
• Dragon magazine (3.2)
• Betamax (3.2)
• LaserDisc (3.2)
• “The Wild Boys” by Duran Duran (3.5)
• The Cheshire Cat from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, referenced throughout as part of Aech’s ubiquitous “trademark Cheshire grin.”
• Contra (3.10)
• Golden Axe (3.10)
• Heavy Barrel (3.10)
• Smash TV (3.10) (26.39)
• Ikari Warriors (3.10)
• Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons and Dragons (3.15) (5.3) (6.70)
• Tron: Deadly Discs (3.16)
• Starlog magazine (3.16) (3.17)
• Ladyhawke, referenced throughout chapter 3, (7.48) (10.40)
• Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (3.18)
• Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (3.18)
• Intellivision (3.28) (3.47)
• Astrosmash (3.28)
• “And don’t call me Shirley” is a quote from Airplane! (3.31)
• Howard the Duck (3.36)
• Krull (3.36)
• Alan Parsons Project (3.38)
• Highlander II (3.38)
• John Wood (3.39)
• Matthew Broderick referenced throughout, especially chapter 11
• WarGames referenced throughout, especially chapter 11
• Richard Donner (3.41)
• The Goonies (3.41, 17.168)
• Superman: The Movie (3.41)
• Steven Spielberg (3.42)
• Legend (3.42) (3.43)
• Planet Greyhawk is a reference to Dungeons and Dragons (3.55)
• Swordquest Series, including Earthworld (3.63) (3.66) (3.71) (3.75) (3.77)
• Dan Hitchens and Tod Frye, developers of the Swordquest series (3.73)
• Wikipedia (3.84)
• Spaced (3.98) (7.48)
• Fantastic Voyage (4.6)
• Battlestar Galactica (4.10)
• Everquest (4.13)
• World of Warcraft (4.13)
• Firefly/Serenity (4.13) (21.32)
• The Matrix (4.13) (6.9)
• Rubik’s Cube (4.4) (10.6)
• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (5.2)
• Garriott is likely Richard Garriot, the creator of Ultima and not his more business-minded brother Robert Garriott or their astronaut father Owen Garriott (5.3)
• Bill Gates (5.3)
• Steve Jobs (5.9)
• Steve Wozniak (5.9) (21.20)
• John Lennon (5.9)
• Paul McCartney (5.9)
• Chthonia, Halliday’s fantasy world, referenced throughout, might be a reference to H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulu mythos
• Back to the Future (5.22) (6.9) (18.11) (18.21) (18.22) (21.32)
• Ghostbusters (6.8) (18.11)
• Real Genius (6.8) (9.54) (10.27) (11.28)
• Better Off Dead (6.8) (11.28)
• Revenge of the Nerds (6.8)
• Lord of the Rings (movies) (6.9) (33.88) (33.89
• Mad Max (6.9)
• Indiana Jones (whole series) (6.9)
• James Cameron (6.10)
• Terry Gilliam (6.10)
• Peter Jackson (6.10)
• David Fincher (6.10)
• Stanley Kubrick (6.10)
• George Lucas (6.10)
• Steven Spielberg (6.10)
• Guillermo Del Toro (6.10)
• Quentin Tarantino (6.10)
• Kevin Smith (6.10)
• John Hughes (6.11)
• “Only the meek get pinched. The bold survive,” is a quote from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (6.12)
• Monty Python (6.14) (12.40)
• The Greatest American Hero (6.19)
• Airworlf (6.19)
• The A-Team (6.19)
• Knight Rider (6.19) (18.11)
• Misfits of Science (6.19)
• The Muppet Show (6.19)
• The Simpsons (6.20)
• Star Trek
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (6.22) (18.27)
• Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (6.22)
• Star Trek: Voyager (6.22)
• Star Trek: Enterprise (6.22)
• Transformers (6.24)
• Gobots (6.24)
• Land of the Lost (6.25)
• Thundarr the Barbarian (6.25)
• He-Man (6.25)
• Schoolhouse Rock! (6.25)
• G.I. Joe (6.25)
• H.R. Pufnstuf (6.26)
• Godzilla (6.28)
• Gamera (6.28)
• Star Blazers (6.28)
• The Space Giants (6.28) (20.10)
• G-Force (6.28)
• Speed Racer (6.28)
• Bill Hicks (6.31)
• The Police (6.34)
• Journey (6.34)
• R.E.M. (6.34)
• The Clash (6.34)
• They Might Be Giants (6.35)
• Devo (6.35) (10.27)
• Van Halen (6.37)
• Bon Jovi (6.37)
• Def Leppard (6.37)
• Pink Floyd (6.37) (10.27)
• “Beds Are Burning,” Midnight Oil (6.40)
• Jeopardy! (6.47)
• Akalabeth (6.48)
• Zaxxon (6.48) (11.3)
• “Verb, That’s What’s Happenin'” from Schoolhouse Rock! (7.1)
• Quidditch is from Harry Potter, of course (7.38)
• Doctor Who (7.43)
• Hawk the Slayer (8.4)
• The Beastmaster (8.4)
• Excalibur (8.7) (27.28)
• Super Friends (8.27)
• Joust, referenced throughout, especially chapter 8
• Street Fighter II (8.37)
• Heavy Metal magazine (8.45)
• Dragon magazine (8.45)
• Dungeons of Daggorath, referenced throughout, especially chapter 10
• Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (9.4)
• Ray-Bans  (9.4)
• Highlander (9.9) (9.11) (17.143)
• She-Ra (9.35)
• “Get to Know You Well” by Howard Jones from the Better Off Dead soundtrack (9.43)
• Rain Man (9.100)
• Centipede (9.101)
• Ms. Pac-Man (9.101)
• The Smurfs (9.138)
• Member’s Only jackets (10.6)
• Riptide (10.6) (20.10)
• Footloose (10.12)
• John “Cougar” Mellencamp (10.12)
• Combat (10.25)
• Space Invaders (10.25)
• Pitfall (10.25)
• Kaboom! (10.25)
• Star Raiders (10.25)
• The Empire Strikes Back (the Atari game) (10.25)
• Starmaster (10.25)
• Yars’ Revenge (10.25
• E.T. (the Atari game) (10.25)
• Tron (10.27)
• Rush (10.27)
• Raaka-tu (10.32)
• Bedlan (10.32)
• Pyramid (10.32)
• Madness and the Minotaur (10.32) (10.40)
• Conan the Barbarian (10.36)
• 2010 (10.46)
• “Also Sprach Zarathustra” musical arrangement by Richard Strauss (10.46)
• Dig Dug (11.3) (11.24) (22.25)
• “Video Fever” by the Beepers (11.7)
• Ally Sheedy (11.31)
• Tom Cruise, Risky Business (11.57)
• The Dark Crystal (12.40)
• Captain Kangaroo (13.9)
• Captain America (13.9)
• Buck Rogers (13.9)
• Revenge of the Nerds (13.11)
• Aquafresh toothpaste (13.12)
• Phantasm (14.12)
• Wonder Twins (15.164)
• The Wizard of Oz (16.24)
• Saturday Night Live (17.23)
• “Clouseau” is a reference to Peter Sellers’s character in the Pink Panther series of films (17.31) (17.38)
• “Answer the question, Claire” (17.58) is a quote from The Breakfast Club
• “No time for love, Dr. Jones” (17.77) is a misquote from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
• “Quid pro quo, Dr. Lecter” (17.93) is a reference to The Silence of the Lambs
• The Kurgan (17.145) is a character from Highlander
• Martha Plimpton (17.168)
• Sean Astin (17.168)
• The Space Giants (17.170)
• Cap’n Crunch (17.171)
• John Draper, the hacker, not Don Draper, the misogynist from Mad Men(17.172) (21.20)
• The Addams Family (17.177) (21.20)
• Evil Dead (17.177)
• Fight Club (17.177)
• Rocky Horror Picture Show (17.188)
• Simon & Simon (18.1)
• “We Can Dance If We Want To” (18.1) is a lyric from “The Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats
• Buckaroo Banzai (18.8): Parzival dresses like the guy 4th from the left in this photo
• Max Rockatansky (18.13) is the role played by Mel Gibson in the Mad Maxseries of films
• Superman (18.15)
• “Blue Monday” by New Order (18.17)
• “Union of the Snake” by Duran Duran (18.19)
• “Rebel Yell” by Billy Idol (18.27)
• Parzival’s dance software, Travoltra, is obviously a reference to John Travolta(18.35)
• Plastic Man (18.37)
• “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper (18.38) (18.74)
• “James Brown Is Dead” by L.A. Style (18.74)
• “Atomic” by Blondie (18.89)
• “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” by Wham! (19.2)
• Max Headroom, referenced throughout, especially chapter 19
• The Pleasuredome (19.16) is aptly named, but is also the name of the debut album by Frankie Goes to Hollywood in 1984, whose song “Relax” is about masturbation
• Erin Gray (19.24)
• Buck Rogers, including Wilma Deering (19.24) (19.32)
• Silver Spoons (19.24) (20.10)
• Majel Barrett (19.32)
• “A Million Miles Away” by the Plimsouls (19.45)
• “Change” by John Waite from the Vision Quest soundtrack (19.45)
• The quote “No one in the world ever gets what they want and that is beautiful” (19.54) is from the song “Don’t Let’s Start” by They Might Be Giants.
• Australian rap “star” Falco, referenced throughout, especially chapter 20
• Wil Wheaton (20.5)
• Kikaider (20.10)
• Spectreman (20.10)
• Supaidaman and his robot, Leopardon, referenced throughout
• Misfits of Science (20.11)
• Gamera (20.11)
• Silver Spoons (20.11)
• Square Pegs (20.12)
• ElectraWoman and DynaGirl (20.12)
• Isis (20.12)
• Wonder Woman (20.12)
• Art3mis’s planet, Benatar, referenced throughout, esp. chapter 20, is clearly named after rock goddess Pat Benatar
• Parzival standing outside Art3mis’s palace gates and blasting “In Your Eyes” by Peter Gabriel (20.14) is an imitation of the classic John Cusack scene fromSay Anything
• Hulk Hogan (10.20)
• Andre the Giant (10.20)
• WWF, the World Wrestling Federation (10.20) not the World Wildlife Fund
• Ultraman, mentioned throughout
• “Time to make the doughnuts” (10.31) is a reference to a classic Dunkin Donuts commercial
• Ken, Barbie’s beau (10.35)
• Hacker Kevin Mitnick (21.21)
• Pac-Man, referenced throughout chapter 22
• The Whedonverse (21.33) is a reference to Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and more
• Battlezone (22.4)
• “Pour Some Sugar on Me” by Def Leppard (22.6)
• The very first video game, Tennis for Two, by William Higinbotham (22.11) (22.12)
• Spacewar! (22.11) (22.12)
• “Kids Wanna Rock” by Bryan Adams (22.23)
• The graffiti on the Robotron machine “Rooney eats it!” (22.24) is a reference toFerris Bueller’s Day Off  
• Dokken (22.43)
• “I had the glow” is a reference to the 1985 movie The Last Dragon
• “Pac-Man Fever” (22.46)
• Zork, referenced throughout, esp. chapters 22 & 23
• Colossal Cave (23.3)
• The Ring of Teleportation’s command word, “Brundell” (23.11) is likely a reference to Jeff Goldblum’s character Seth Brundle in The Fly
• Froot Loops (23.20)
• Honeycombs (23.20)
• Lucky Charms (23.20)
• Count Chocula (23.20)
• Quisp (23.20)
• Frosted Flakes (23.20)
• Parzival takes his ship to Joe’s Garage for repair (23.45). Joe’s Garage is also an album by Frank Zappa.
• The Kobayashi Maru (24.11) is a test from Star Trek
• The Pepsi Challenge (24.11)
• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (24.13)
• Play-doh (24.33)
• Cowboy Bebop (25.2)
• Blade Runner, including Sean Young and Harrison Ford, referenced throughout chapter 26
• Chow Yun Fat (26.27)
• John Woo (26.27)
• Hard Boiled (26.27)
• The Killers (26.27)
• Crime Fighters (26.39)
• Heavy Barrel (26.39)
• Vigilante (26.39)
• Black Tiger, referenced throughout chapter 26
• Time Pilot (26.41) (26.48)
• Tranzor Z (26.66)
• The Iron Giant (26.66)
• Jet Jaguar (26.66)
• Johnny Sokko and his Flying robot (26.66)
• Shogun Warriors (26.66)
• A variety of songs by Rush, referenced throughout chapter 27
• Explorers (28.1)
• “Crom, strong in his mountain” (28.4) is a quote from Conan the Barbarian
• THX1138 (29.6)
• All of Wade’s aliases at IOI, Sam Lowery (30.54) and Harry Tuttle (31.11) are characters from the movie Brazil
• Big Trouble in Little China (30.70)
• Aech says that Parzival has “balls of solid adamantium” (32.15), adamantiumbeing the same material that composes Wolverine’s indestructible claws.
• “Three is a Magic Number” by Schoolhouse Rock! referenced throughout chapter 32
• Quake (33.86)
• Wade’s password “Reindeer Flotilla Setec Astronomy” is a reference to bothTron and Sneakers, in which “Setec Astronomy” is an anagram of “Too Many Secrets.” (33.138)
• “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” by AC/DC (34.9)
• Woodstock (34.14)
• Mazinger Z (34.16) (35.9)
• Mobile Suit Gundam (34.17) (34.23)
• Brave Raideen (34.18)
• If you don’t know the quote “Han will have that shield down […] We’ve got to give him more time!” (34.27) is from Star Wars, you’re reading the wrong book.
• Mechagodzilla, referenced throughout chapter 34 & 35
• Voltron (34.42)
• Robotech (34.42)
• Neon Genesis Evangelion (34.42)
• Short Circuit (34.48)
• Red Dawn (35.9)
• Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner (36.12)
• Chuck Taylor All Stars (36.61)
• Twilight Zone (36.64)
• Q*Bert (37.1)
• Gorf (37.1)
• Tempest, the arcade game, referenced throughout chapter 37
• Nintendo (37.119)
• Sega (37.119)
• PlayStation (37.119)
• Xbox (37.119)

If you have not had a chance to read the book check out our own Hannah’s book review

In other news Ready Player One will arrive March 30, 2018 instead of December 15, 2017. This is because Star Wars Rpusode VIII moved from May 2017 to December 2017. Now it is a bummer tha Ready Player One has to move, but this is wise on Warner Bros. part in order to get out of the huge wake that  episode VIII will dish out if it is anything like episode VII.

Are you disappointed in the move? let us know in the comment section below.