FILM · 2018 · USA
Ready Player One
- Directed by
- Steven Spielberg
- Runtime
- 140 min
- Studio
- Amblin Entertainment, Warner Bros. Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures
193 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Sep 2026
When the creator of a popular video game system dies, a virtual contest is created to compete for his fortune.
Summary: TMDB
24 Easter Eggs and References in Ready Player One
- #008
Parzival may drive the DeLorean from Back to the Future, but the red lights sweeping back and forth on the car's front grille are a nod to KITT from Knight Rider, which is itself a nod to the Cylons from the original Battlestar Galactica (both created by Glen Larson).
- #011
Contains a major spoiler — show
When the High Five, as real-life reproductions of their OASIS selves, hack Sorrento's immersion capsule, their eyes emit an amber glow. This is a reference to the lighting effect used in Blade Runner (1982) to distinguish humans from replicants.
- #012
The team of pop culture experts who help Sorrento hunt for Halliday's secret Easter egg are called "oologists" in the film. Oology is a real science that studies and collects bird eggs.
- #017
Ernest Cline's source novel references Steven Spielberg (along with some of his films). Spielberg stated he would remove these references, but some things still appear, such as the Tyrannosaurus Rex and the alien ship from War of the Worlds (2005).
- #027
During the race scene, a theater tent is visible bearing the words "Schwarzenegger Jack Slater III." This is a nod to Arnold Schwarzenegger's Last Action Hero (1993), also written by Zak Penn. According to Penn, the nod was unintentional and was included by the ILM team on the suggestion of co-writer Ernest Cline. Penn did not know about it before the first trailer premiered.
- #034
In the scene inside the store, the background includes the flying Winnebago from Spaceballs (1987), the EVA pod from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), a Colonial Viper from Battlestar Galactica (1978), a starfighter from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979), the ED-209 from RoboCop (1987) and a power loader from Aliens (1986).
- #043
When asked about Halliday, Wade said that Halliday's favorite GoldenEye multiplayer character was Oddjob. The GoldenEye programmers state that Oddjob was an in-joke, because the auto-aim was miscalibrated but never fixed, which made him hard to hit.
- #046
Contains a major spoiler — show
Although Steven Spielberg stated that many of the references to himself in the book were removed from the film, he confirmed that Wade would still have his own personal DeLorean, a prominent element of the Spielberg-produced Back to the Future (1985).
- #056
Contains a major spoiler — show
The abbreviation IOI is a nod to the classic arcade game Pong, one of the games the young Halliday plays at the end; the I's resemble paddles and the O is the ball.
- #058
Aech teases Wade with "You're wearing the costume from your favorite movie? Don't be that guy." This is a nod to PCU (1994), in which Jeremy Piven says to Jon Favreau, "You're wearing the shirt of the band you're going to see? Don't be that guy."
- #067
Alan Silvestri worked closely with director Steven Spielberg to find the right direction for an original score that would not only be distinctive but also avoid referencing any of the film's popular culture references from the 1980s and 1990s, while evoking and developing the film's story and the old-fashioned adventure tone with the sense of optimism, innocence, beauty and wonder that many Hollywood films of the 1980s and 1990s used. It made a great impact. In an interview with "Entertainment Weekly", Spielberg said the following about Silvestri's score: "'Ready Player One' may be filled with every kind of cultural iconic reference, but the music Alan Silvestri composed is completely and intoxicatingly original. It's interconnected with many themes that define the plot and character, and infused with such striking adrenaline and soaring strings that Alan made 'Ready Player One' feel like flying."
- #080
Contains a major spoiler — show
In the novel, Wade finds the Copper Key by venturing through a recreation of the classic Dungeons & Dragons module "Tomb of Horrors." Although this does not appear in the film, it still references Tomb of Horrors by prominently featuring the iconic "Face of the Great Green Devil" in the back of Aech's van.
- #102
Much of Parzival's body language, especially his goofy demeanor when he first meets Art3mis, seems to be based on Keanu Reeves's portrayal of Ted "Theodore" Logan in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989); on Parzival's first visit to Halliday's Journal, the film is referenced when Halliday suggests to Ogden Morrow that they need to go backward instead of forward and adds, "Bill and Ted did!"
- #104
The film's main draw is a dizzying mashup of beloved pop culture references, such as the iconic DeLorean from Back to the Future racing Akira's motorcycle. Stockhausen, who said filling the film with the right references was fun for the producers too, recounts: "Sitting with Steven and saying, if you could race any car in the history of cinema, what would it be, and making a list of pure Willy Wonka fantasies of what he would want." Obvious things that play a big role in the narrative, like the DeLorean, were cleared first by the film's diligent legal team. Later, at a later stage of the process, the detailed, high-resolution version of the OASIS was built, and the producers were able to drop in a slew of fun hidden references in those crowded scenes and character meeting places in the blink of an eye. "If you really look closely," Stockhausen says, "there's all kinds of amazing spaceships from different movies in there, and there's all sorts of stuff on the walls."
- #113
Contains a major spoiler — show
During the Shining scene, Parzival gets Aech out of the dry goods store where Wendy locked Jack. Spielberg is also referencing this scene from Jurassic Park.
- #114
Contains a major spoiler — show
The Curator shows his hand twice without Parzival realizing it. The first time, when asked to replay the office party, he replies 'Do you want to go back?' (referring to the need to go back at the start of the race), and after Parzival tells Art3mis that Kira is the key to the second clue, he exclaims 'You're right', though they think he is only referring to the fact that they have seen the sole reference to Kira in all of Halliday's archives.
- #116
When Wade and Samantha meet, she is wearing the original Peter Saville T-shirt, the design used on the cover of Joy Division's 'Unknown Pleasures' album. The shirt's current value is 310 dollars.
- #118
Tracer from the popular video game Overwatch (2016) is voiced by Cara Theobold, who also voices Tracer in the game. Also, at one point in the Distracted Globe club, Tracer can be seen dancing with a woman, a reference to the Overwatch comic that revealed Tracer is a lesbian.
- #127
The film involves finding "Easter eggs," and the film itself was released on Easter weekend.
- #134
Contains a major spoiler — show
In the final battle scene, where other avatars join the fight, Parzival is seen holding a boombox above his head; this may be a reference to the 80s film Say Anything (1989), in which John Cusack holds a boombox to show how much he loves his girlfriend. This scene has also been referenced in The Simpsons (1989) and many other popular culture sources. Say Anything was also one of the films the High Five clan could choose from while trying to figure out which film Halliday went to on his date.
- #136
In Aech's garage, the red spaceship in the background is the Swordfish spacecraft from Cowboy Bebop, but its nose is longer and its engine is further back than in the anime. It is the same model as the one next to the lunchbox full of model spaceships.
- #152
Contains a major spoiler — show
Another 80s reference appears right after the catastrophe erupts: a bag of Doritos sits on the passenger side of the van, and when Artemis is found walking the streets and Wade's uncle Rick punches him to the ground, a Doritos packet with the same design can be seen on the side table in the background. Unless the iconic logo is redesigned with a nostalgic re-release of the famous nacho chips, people in 2045 would be carrying (and/or eating) a Doritos bag roughly 60 years old.
- #173
The Overlook Theatre in the Oasis takes its name from the hotel of the same name in The Shining (1980).
- #180
The hero's initials are W. O. W. (Wade Owen Watts). WOW is the abbreviation of World of Warcraft, which closely resembles the premise of the Oasis. From the W. O. W. Wiki: "World of Warcraft is set in the same universe as the Warcraft series of real-time strategy games and has a similar art direction. World of Warcraft contains elements of fantasy, steampunk and science fiction: griffons, dragons and elves; steam-powered automatons; zombies, werewolves and other horror monsters, as well as time travel, spaceships and alien worlds. World of Warcraft takes place in a 3D representation of the Warcraft universe that players can see. They interact through their characters," etc., etc., and players also face in-game quests, challenges and battles to level up their characters.
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