Ready Player One Set for 2017 Release Date

The film adaptation of Ready Player One, the sci-fi/VR/gaming/80's pop culture novel by Ernest Cline, is steadily moving along, with Warner Bros. giving it an official release date: December 15, 2017. Steven Spielberg is attached to direct and produce, from a screenplay adapted by Cline himself with rewrites from X-Men: The Last Stand and Avengers writer Zak Penn.Ready Player One follows a boy named Wade Watts in the year 2044, in an alternate future in which most people are plugged into a utopian virtual reality world called OASIS. But lest you think this is a Matrix ripoff, everyone knows that they're plugged into OASIS, and spend their lives trying to find an Easter egg in the game that will allow them to control OASIS, and therefore rule the world. And since the creator of the game had a love for the 80's, access to the keys to the egg are dependent on the player's knowledge of 80's popular culture.Spielberg is uniquely qualified to direct this film, as he is a self-proclaimed gamer, even attaching himself to the upcoming live-action adaptation of Halo. He has also had a little bit of experience directing sci-fi adventures, and was personally responsible for much of 80's culture. He is currently attached to the adaptation of the manga Ghost in the Shelf, which will star Scarlett Johansson, as well as Robopocalypse starring Anne Hathaway and Chris Hemsworth, although production has been put on hold indefinitely.Via Collider