Ready Player One Gets High Marks on Opening Weekend
East Hampton director Steven Spielberg‘s Ready Player One opened big on Thursday night, pulling in $12 million at 4,234 theaters around the country. We saw the movie and, while it had some drastic changes from the Ernest Cline book on which it’s based, it was a totally fun, enjoyable ride.
Some 80% of viewers like it on Rotten Tomatoes, too.
The film is estimated to earn some $50 million or more on opening weekend, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It also has seriously replay value as fans may return to catch all the hidden pop culture references thrown about like confetti throughout. Many of said references are different from those in the book, but it’s well in keeping with the source material, which is brimming with callbacks to 1970s and 1980s favorites.
Watch the trailer:
You can pretty much get it from the trailer, but, In a nutshell, the premise centers on a virtual reality world called the OASIS where players can do everything they’ve ever wanted, and, more importantly, be anyone they’ve ever wanted. When the creator of the OASIS, James Haliday (Mark Rylance), dies, he leaves a posthumous message inviting players to search for his hidden Easter egg (a word used to describe hidden content in video games) in the massive virtual universe. The person who finds the egg will inherit the OASIS and Haliday’s fortune that goes with it.
Tye Sheridan plays Wade Watts, a young man who’s dedicated his life to the search. But as he gets closer to achieving his goal, some very real world dangers come his way.
After years of more serious films, like The Post and Bridge of Spies, Ready Player One puts Spielberg back at the helm of a true blockbuster. And Warner Bros. bet big on it, spending $175 million before marketing, according to THR. It’s also the director’s highest-earning opening since Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which drew in over $100 million a decade ago, in 2008.
This one is definitely worth the price of admission, and should absolutely be seen on the big screen.
Ready Player One is playing in East Hampton and Hampton Bays.