One of the early architects of modern pop culture, Steven Spielberg, delivered the first trailer for his upcoming blockbuster, Ready Player One at San Diego Comic-Con earlier today. Accompanied by cast members Tye Sheridan, Ben Mendelsohn, Olivia Cooke and T.J Miller, the director unveiled the first promotional footage at the event to an ecstatic response from those in attendance.
The long-awaited adaptation of the popular novel by Ernest Cline shot to the top of many ‘most-anticipated’ lists when it was announced that Spielberg himself would take the reins, so it was more than fitting for the legendary filmmaker to unveil the first glimpse of footage onstage in the iconic Hall H.
Played to rapturous reception, the trailer includes an explanatory voiceover by Tye Sheridan’s lead character, as he describes the sense of emptiness and longing that brings him to The Oasis – a virtual reality scene where his pop culture heroes – and ours – engage in battle and exciting chases.
The shots are epic, the soundtrack is stirring, and a great many familiar figures can be spotted in amongst the action – from The Iron Giant (who supposedly plays a major role in the story) to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and from Freddy Krueger to the Delorean from the Back To The Future trilogy. The impact of seeing these characters flit across the screen and interact with each other is powerful, and hints that there should be something quite epic in store when the film arrives.
Interestingly, during the panel, Steven Spielberg claimed to have tried to omit the pop culture references to which he originally contributed, and which feature prominently in the source novel, too. Whether any of them made the final cut or not remains to be seen, but we’re hopeful that at least a few of them did.
Ready Player One reaches theatres on March 30th, 2018.
