The first trailer for Ready Player One, based on Ernest Cline's legendary novel, just dropped at San Diego Comic-con.

Ever since Cline's novel shot to the top of bestseller lists, fans have been waiting for the movie. It's the story of a kid growing up in the near future, dreaming of escape from his life in a massive, dystopian trailer park. He's only happy in the Oasis, a massive multiplayer VR world, where he indulges in his love for 1980s pop culture.

This trailer is a little uneven at first, but won me over when the 80s Rush song "Tom Sawyer" provided the perfect soundscape for an incredible VR-powered car chase.

The premise of the novel is that our protagonist is a gamer whose team is poised to unlock the highest level in the Oasis and find the Easter Egg its creator has hidden. But it turns out that there's something more than just glory at stake. They're competing with corporate-funded teams who want something that could affect the future of the real world as well as the game.

Cline, who also wrote the cult classic movie Fanboys, has always been obsessed with 1980s nerd culture. Ready Player One is packed with nostalgia for the golden age of geek, and it's clear from this trailer that we're going to see that in the film, too. We caught glimpses of the Iron Giant, as well as Tron references and about a zillion other things.

It's a little weird to have Spielberg directing a movie that's about nostalgia for his own movies. But hey, I guess go meta or go home?

Ready Player One drops on March 30, 2018.

Listing image by Dreamworks