Sci-fi often features bold visuals that bring the impossible to life, from gigantic space stations to mind-bending alien life forms unlike anything found on Earth. Authors don’t have to worry about how their stories will come to life on the big screen, which sometimes means filmmakers have to find creative ways to make the impossible possible.
Steven Spielberg faced a steep challenge when he took on the adaptation of Ready Player One, a challenge that would have deterred any other director from even attempting. However, Spielberg prevailed and brought the film to life by conquering the most daunting aspect of any creative project: securing copyrights.
Ready Player One transforms a fairly standard story of a dystopian Earth where residents spend more time in a virtual world under the control of a megacorporation into a visual spectacle filled with everyone turning into the Captain America ”I understood that reference” meme every 30 seconds. Author Ernest Cline filled every inch of the novel with references to movies, video games, and TV shows, without any copyright concerns. From the music of Rush to the inclusion of Firefly’s Serenity and Star Trek’s Enterprise, it sacrifices plot for the sake of being an entertaining read.
The story centers around Wade (Tye Sheridan), who uses the handle Parzival when logging into the OASIS, the massive online game dominating society, as he tries to solve the mystery behind its founder, James Halloway (Mark Rylance). Whoever can find the hidden keys will unlock the secret to take control of the OASIS. He soon meets up with Art3mis (Olivia Cooke) and Aethe (Lena Waithe) within the virtual reality world, and together, they crack the code, find the keys, and save the day.
That’s not a spoiler because Ready Player One is the type of light-hearted family entertainment that Steven Spielberg perfected with E.T. Like the book, the movie is all about the fun of the journey. For the viewer, anyway, for the Warner Bros. legal department, bringing the OASIS to life with over 100 references to other properties was the copyright equivalent of competing in the Olympics.
Spielberg’s Battle To Beat Back Lawyers
Spielberg explained in interviews that production began by securing as many copyrights as possible for the film, and by his estimation, they secured approximately 80 percent of the studio’s wish list. The most significant omissions from the novel are the Rush album 2112, Blade Runner, War Games, and the Dungeons & Dragons module “The Tomb of Horrors.“ Instead, the movie included a Mario Kart-style race sequence, and thanks to Spielberg, The Shining’s Overlook Hotel played a huge part in the film.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? managed to get Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny on screen together, but Ready Player One, in one scene, put together Halo Spartans, Street Fighter’s Chun-Li, Overwwatch’s Tracer, Godzilla, Mobile Suit Gundam, The Iron Giant, Firefly, Back to the Future, and to prove how deep the well of millennial nostalgia goes, Madballs, all to Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” which Dee Snyder probably permitted while cackling over the screenplay. Eagle-eyed viewers will find dozens of other easter eggs, and again, both the novel and the movie didn’t become massive hits for any reason other than they know how to have fun.
Spielberg’s Copyright Crusade Pays Off
In theaters, Ready Player One earned over $470 million, easily turning a profit, and it’s padded the total since through Blu-Ray and streaming deals. It’s now available on Netflix, where it’s been hanging around the edges of the Top Ten. Watching the Spielberg spectacle at home is the best way to view it since you can pause the screen and point like Leonardo DiCaprio every time you catch another easter egg.
Sci-fi can exist for no other reason than to have fun, after all, Ready Player One doesn’t have a message about spending too much time in a virtual world filled with pop culture characters putting a friendly face on corporate greed. That would never happen in our world.
The same weekend Ready Player One arrived on Netflix, The Simpsons also arrived in Fortnite.
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