The New Ready Player One Trailer Is The Best One Yet

The Parzival avatar

Ernie Cline's best-seller Ready Player One is a treasure hunt through a bevy of pop-culture landmarks, a race to complete a puzzle established by a deceased genius who built a VR playground, then turned it over to his rabid fans. But there are real stakes at play in the novel, and those dangers are brought to the forefront of this final trailer for Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One adaptation, which you can check out below:

Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) knows everything there is to know about the late James Halliday (Mark Rylance) and his virtual-reality creation, the OASIS. When Halliday announces a contest -- one that can result in the winner assuming immense power -- Wade begins to play the genius's game. Only, he and his colleague realize that they are up against more powerful forces who want to unlock the secrets of the OASIS, without actually figuring out what makes it special in the first place.

So much of Ready Player One is the immersion into recognizable pop culture landscapes that are part of the story, Ernie Cline spun a deep dive into the 1980s and '90s with Ready Player One, as Wade -- using his OASIS avatar Parzival -- had to play through simulations of the Matthew Broderick movie WarGames, or defeat a knight from the classic video game Joust. Part of us is anxious to see what Steven Spielberg keeps, and what he adds, as much of his own career was shaped and influenced by the media of the 1980s. We already have seen prominent placement of the Delorean from Back to the Future, and the character of The Iron Giant playing a major role.

What this final trailer actually shows us, though -- as fans of the book will recognize -- is the concluding confrontation in the movie... though I don't want to go much further in this story, so as to protect most of the story's juicy secrets.

Tye Sheridan will be joined in Ready Player One by Olivia Cooke, and they will be hunted by chief bad guy Ben Mendelohn. The movie also has roles for Simon Pegg, Letitia Wright, Rylance, T.J. Miller and McKenna Grace. It will be in theaters on March 29. From what you have seen of the movie to date, are you willing to put your quarters on the screen and reserve a spot in line to play?

This poll is no longer available.

Sean O'Connell
Managing Editor

Sean O’Connell is a journalist and CinemaBlend’s Managing Editor. Having been with the site since 2011, Sean interviewed myriad directors, actors and producers, and created ReelBlend, which he proudly cohosts with Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy. And he's the author of RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT, the Spider-Man history book WITH GREAT POWER, and an upcoming book about Bruce Willis.