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
149 Interesting Facts About Ready Player One
- #001
In an interview, Steven Spielberg said this was the third hardest film of his career, after Jaws (1975) and Saving Private Ryan (1998).
- #002
When King Kong appears during the race sequence, the theme from the original 1933 film, composed by Max Steiner, plays.
- #003
Alongside the Bigfoot, the DeLorean and the Akira vehicle, other notable cars in the race were the Mach 5, the Batmobile, the A-Team van, the V8 Interceptor, Christine, the Porkchop Express from Big Trouble in Little China, the Trans-Am from Smokey and the Bandit and the RV from Spaceballs.
- #004
The spell used to activate the Osuvox Sphere is taken from the film Excalibur. In modern Irish Gaelic it reads "Anáil nathrach, ortha bháis is beatha, do chéal déanaimh," meaning "The breath of a serpent, the breath of death and life, is a cunning device."
- #006
The Zemeckis Cube is named after director Robert Zemeckis. The music that plays when the cube is activated comes from the Back to the Future trilogy (1985), which Zemeckis directed. Alan Silvestri composed the score for both the Back to the Future trilogy and this film.
- #007
Art3mis uses the M41A Pulse Rifle from Aliens as her preferred weapon in the Oasis.
- #009
Parzival's belt in the Oasis bears the Thundercats (1985) logo. The belt itself is in the same style as Han Solo's.
- #010
Contains a major spoiler — show
The coffin in Halliday's death video announcement is the same photon torpedo tube in which Spock's body is placed at the end of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). This signals that, just like Spock, Halliday's body is dead but his mind is still preserved: Spock's mind was transferred to another person before he died, while Halliday uploaded his consciousness to the OASIS.
- #014
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In the scene where Halliday and Morrow discuss the date with Kira, Halliday's monitor shows that he is working on the construction of room 237 from The Shining (1980).
- #016
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Wade Watts, or his avatar Parzival, never manages to high-five despite being part of the High Five: they always hang.
- #018
The semi-truck that blocks the road in the middle of the opening race is the same truck Jack Burton drives in Big Trouble in Little China (1986).
- #019
The box containing the Osuvox Sphere is the same box Gizmo was given in when he was handed to Billy in Gremlins (1984).
- #021
Contains a major spoiler — show
In the final battle against Sorrento, the spaceship Daito flies is the "Serenity," a Firefly-class transport ship from the beloved but short-lived TV series Firefly (2002) and its follow-up film Serenity (2005).
- #022
The score was initially to be composed by John Williams, a longtime collaborator of Steven Spielberg. However, scheduling conflicts while working on another Spielberg film, The Post (2017), led him to leave, and Alan Silvestri took over the job. This was only the third Spielberg film not to be a collaboration with Williams.
- #023
Halliday's Oasis avatar is named "Anorak." In British English, this is a somewhat derogatory slang term for someone with an obsessive, comprehensive interest in a particular aspect of popular culture, a hobby, or an expert or niche subject. This level of obsessive fandom is the point of the character Halliday and of his creation of the Oasis.
- #024
In the garage scene, a replica of the ED-209 robot from RoboCop (1987) can be seen.
- #025
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In the film, Wade receives his Extra Life money from The Curator. In the book, he earns the prize for discovering and mastering the secret arcade version of PAC-MAN.
- #026
Boba Fett appears in the bar where the dance number takes place.
- #030
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At one point in the film, the group enters a simulation of the hotel from The Shining (1980). In real life, Steven Spielberg was close friends with The Shining's director, Stanley Kubrick. Spielberg once called the scene in which Wendy finds Jack's novel "a great example of counter intuitive direction."
- #031
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When the IOI Sixers attack Parzival and Art3mis in the Distracted Globe dance club, Art3mis fights back with the M41A1 pulse rifle from Aliens (1986). She is also seen using a Lawgiver from Judge Dredd (1995).
- #032
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Daito survives the entire film, whereas in the book he is killed by IOI both in the OASIS and in the real world.
- #033
When Ogden Morrow arrives, he claims to have come on a magic sled. In the book, Morrow is described as resembling Santa Claus.
- #036
The Curator, who guides people in Halliday's Journal, is based on Arthur Treacher, known for butler and other English roles.
- #037
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In the novel, the character Ultraman from Ultraman: A Special Effects Fantasy Series (1966) plays a crucial role at the climax of the story. However, the rights to the character were in the middle of a legal dispute, so the film replaced him with the Iron Giant from The Iron Giant (1999).
- #038
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In the close-up of Halliday in the coffin, the quarters over his eyes are from 1972, the year the book's author, Ernest Cline, was born.
- #039
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The riddle that reveals the location of the crystal key is read quickly, but before the High Five can solve it, IOI solves it, and its meaning is never explained by anyone, which confused some viewers. The clue says that "answer ultimate" must be divided by "number magic." The ultimate answer is 42, as explained in Douglas Adams's 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,' and the magic number is 3, as mentioned in a song from Schoolhouse Rock. 42÷3=14, and sector 14 was the location of Anorak's castle. The book contains a riddle about the "magic number," but it explained how to open the final gate rather than how to find it. The number 42 is not part of any clue in the book.
- #041
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One of the biggest differences between the book and the film revolves around the copper key. In the film, everyone knows where the key is and a frequently impossible-seeming car race is run to obtain it. In the novel, many years pass with no one knowing where the first key is, until Parzival discovers an area that requires him to navigate a Dungeons & Dragons campaign outside his school before defeating a demon in a head-to-head game of Joust. Shortly after taking the key, he meets Art3mis for the first time, who has been trying to beat the demon in Joust for about a month.
- #042
The film features characters from 1980s and 1990s popular culture, including The Iron Giant (1999), Tron (1982), Akira (1988), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Back to the Future (1985), A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Tomb Raider (1996) and Duke Nukem (1991).
- #044
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The Atari system in Anorak's Castle is connected to a TV set on channel 3. The first video game consoles were connected to a TV by attaching a small switch box to the two antenna terminal screws. This box contained an analog slide switch that could be moved between the TV and game mode and could send the game system's signal to channel 2 or channel 3 to prevent interference with local TV stations broadcasting in the area.
- #045
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Another major difference from the book is the character I-R0k, who appears in the film as a main character serving as Sorrento's confidant and co-conspirator, while in the book he is mentioned twice. After entering Aech's private chat room (Aech only lets him in because he is very bad with weapons and fun to have around) and leading IOI to the first major challenge in Ludus, it is his online boasting that he knows Parzival and Aech. Apart from these lines in the first chapter, he appears nowhere else in the book.
- #047
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In the book, Parzival and Art3mis do not meet in real life until the end of the story. In the film, they meet about halfway through the story to place more emphasis on their budding romance.
- #048
Another Steven Spielberg reference can be seen in Halliday's attic; a poster for Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) is visible on the wall.
- #049
When Sorrento meets with I-R0k about the orb, a falling ship from George Pal's version of The War of the Worlds (1953) appears and makes its original sounds.
- #051
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The pistol Parzival uses when he shoots to rescue Art3mis in the real world is from the original Battlestar Galactica series.
- #052
Sir Christopher Nolan, Robert Zemeckis, Matthew Vaughn, Sir Peter Jackson and Edgar Wright were considered to direct this film.
- #053
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Sho cuts off I-R0k's arm with the Glaive (an ancient magical five-bladed throwing weapon) used by Prince Colwyn to defeat The Beast in Krull (1983).
- #054
Ernest Cline based the relationship between James Halliday and Ogden Morrow on Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. However, Cline said the primary influences for the techno-entrepreneur characters were: * Nolan Sorrento (Nolan Bushnell, Atari founder) * James Halliday (Howard Hughes and Richard Garriott, also known as Lord British / Ultima developer) * Ogden Morrow (Harry Knowles, Ain't It Cool News founder).
- #055
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The vast majority of the film is completely different from the book. This includes the riddles and the locations of the keys, Daito's death, Art3mis meeting Wade in the second act rather than at the end, and the characters running from IOI as Parzival completes the Third Test.
- #057
The two quarters placed over James Halliday's eyes are from 1972, the birth year of both Halliday and Atari's Pong, the first commercially successful video game. Cost to play: 25 cents.
- #059
After meeting Parzival in real life, Art3mis adds her birthmark to her avatar.
- #060
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During the final battle, when Sorrento creates a Mechagodzilla, the theme music of the original Godzilla (1954) can be heard on the soundtrack.
- #061
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During the first race, the Silvercup Studios building is visible seconds after King Kong lands on the track. Silvercup Studios not only produced numerous popular culture works, but the building itself is where the final fight of Highlander (1986) takes place.
- #063
In the Halliday Journals building, the floors of the rows of video arcade cabinets are made up only of combinations of Pole Position (1982), Asteroids (1979), Millipede (1982), Pong (1972), Missile Command (1980), Tempest (1981), Dig Dug (1982) and one non-Atari game, Ms. Pac-Man (1981).
- #064
Nolan Sorrento's avatar, Boss Man, is based on Senator Armstrong from the video game Metal Gear Revengeance.
- #066
When Wade first goes to the club to meet Art3mis, the bartender is wearing a Devo hat from the famous Whip It video.
- #068
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There are hints that the Curator is more than an NPC (non-player character). The first occurs when, while checking the second clue, he mistakenly thinks Art3mis is talking to him. The film also shows that he can only attend to one visitor's requests at a time.
- #069
At the end of the first trailer, Van Halen's "Jump" transitions into a sample of the opening song from Back to the Future Part II (1989) and Back to the Future Part III (1990).
- #070
In the opening scene, Wade takes off his visor and sets it on an old metal lunchbox from 1983 (Masters Of The Universe featuring He-Man).
- #071
The source novel references the series Spaced (1999), which Simon Pegg co-wrote and starred in. Pegg plays Ogden Morrow in the film.
- #072
The Cyclops from Ray Harryhausen's The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) appears in the first login scene and in the final battle.
- #073
The teaser trailer includes an adaptation of the song "Pure Imagination" from Ghostwriter Music's Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). It also includes a portion of Rush's "Tom Sawyer".
- #075
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Parzival bets the Curator all his money that the name Kira appears only once in all the archives. The Curator pays him with an extra life token equivalent to all of Parzival's money.
- #076
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During the final large-scale battle, Parzival appears with an A41 SPNKR rocket launcher from the Halo series. He uses it to fire a rocket at the spider machine Art3mis is on.
- #077
Warner Bros. and producer Donald De Line acquired the adaptation rights to Ernest Cline's novel on June 21, 2010, in a very aggressive bidding contest while the novel was still in galley form, beating rival studios Paramount Pictures and 20. Century Fox, the day after publisher Random House won the publishing rights. In the deal with the studio, Cline stipulated two conditions: he and Eric Eason would make the first attempt at writing the screenplay for his book; and Cline wanted Steven Spielberg to direct the film.
- #078
Right after the casino planet section, while Wade is narrating the OASIS, the camera passes over some planets on its way to where all avatars are born; one of these planets is called Ludus, the school planet where Wade, Aech and I-R0k go to virtual school in the novel.
- #079
When Wade sees Sorrento's rig while in hologram form, he says it looks like a giant hamster ball; this is the same description the book uses to describe Ogden Morrow's OASIS rig, which the heroes use at his home at the end of the story.
- #081
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The music in the Overlook Hotel scenes is the music used in The Shining (1980). Some shots throughout the sequence are also taken from the original film, most notably some of the shots in the Room 237 scene.
- #082
The special pistol carried by Captain Malcolm Reynolds in the series Firefly (2002) (a modified Taurus 85) can be briefly seen in a weapon display in Sorrento's office.
- #083
Rather than building on a real soundstage, ILM created the backgrounds of the Oasis scenes as three-dimensional, computer-generated (CG) structures. When the filmmakers wanted a better sense of the CG environments than watching them on a screen, virtual reality came into play. Spielberg and Stockhausen put on VR headsets to enter the virtual environment just like the characters in the film. VR allowed them to adjust lighting, consider camera angles and see whether the environments suited their purposes in a far more immersive way than looking at concept art. "It's almost like being on a real set," Stockhausen says.
- #084
In the film's final battle scene, the protagonist of Rooster Teeth Productions' "RWBY," Ruby Rose, can be briefly seen wielding her scythe/sniper rifle, Crescent Rose.
- #085
Sorrento is the only character who does not bother to think of an avatar name and instead uses his real name. This also shows his contempt for the Oasis and for popular culture in general.
- #086
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In the scene where Halliday awards the Easter egg in the house where he spent his childhood, the young Halliday is playing a console game nearby. The system he is playing is the Colecovision, the game is Gorf, and the level is the final boss, the Flag Ship. And yes, he beats the boss, so we see that he has 1 life left, and even though we immediately see the words "game over" appear before he stands up, he dodges the projectile fired from the enemy ship.
- #087
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Wade's outfit for his first date is Prince's jacket, worn on the album covers of Dirty Mind, Controversy and Purple Rain. Prince's song "I wanna be your lover" is also heard early in the film.
- #088
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As Wade gives his speech before the final battle for the Oasis, the emblem of The Greatest American Hero (1981) can be seen on the side of his headset.
- #089
The character F'Nale Zandor was not in the book.
- #090
Wade Watts names his OASIS character Parzival, after the Arthurian knight Percival, famous for his quest for the Holy Grail, and devotes his life to finding James Halliday's Easter egg. Parzival's jacket has a knight's sword on the back.
- #091
In Greek religion, Artemis was the goddess of wild animals, the hunt, vegetation, chastity and childbirth; the Romans identified her with Diana. Artemis was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and the twin sister of Apollo.
- #092
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Around the time Anorak/Halliday gives Parzival/Wade the Big Egg, he says: "I was terrified my whole life until the day I knew my life was over. That's when I realized that reality, however terrifying and painful it may be, is also the only place where you can get a decent meal." This is a quote from Woody Allen (not from Groucho Marx, as many report), who said, "I'm not crazy about reality, but it's still the only place to get a good steak."
- #093
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In the novel, Helen (Aech) is revealed to be gay. Although it is never mentioned in the film, considering the Shining scene in Room 237, it is referenced retroactively in the scene where the "naked woman in the bathtub" comes up to Aech and Aech responds with "You know what? I'm gonna go with it." At this point in the film, Aech is still assumed to be male.
- #094
It has been noted that Family Ties (1982) had a major influence on Ernest Cline when he wrote the book. The series was set in a suburb of Columbus, where this film takes place.
- #095
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Despite being a major subject in the book and a significant part of the first trailer, Rush has no role in the film other than a character's T-shirt and a poster in Halliday's room.
- #096
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In the book, the person captured by IOI is not Samantha but Wade, and he does it deliberately in order to infiltrate their databases.
- #097
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When the camera pulls away just before Sorrento is arrested, an elderly man in a brown jacket appears in the center of the frame among the cheering crowd, looking like James Halliday without his glasses.
- #098
Halliday's final words near the end of the film are "Thank you for playing my game." This is a possible nod to Super Mario 64 (1996), in which Mario says the same thing after the final title sequence: "Thank you so much for playing my game."
- #100
Wade's address is Unit 56K, Columbus Stack. 56K refers to a 56K modem.
- #101
Michael Keaton was considered for J. D. Halliday.
- #103
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In the novel, Wade Watts lives in Oklahoma City and then moves to Columbus, Ohio. In the film, he lives in Columbus from the start.
- #105
Art3mis uses a device that looks like the "Lawgiver II" from the 1995 feature film adaptation of Judge Dredd.
- #106
Ernest Cline drew heavily on the anime Summer Wars (2009) for his novel, but despite the other anime references, it is not mentioned in the film.
- #108
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In the book Ready Player Two (the sequel to the novel this film is based on), Wade compares Ogden Morrow to Simon Pegg's character in Shaun of the Dead (2004). In this film, Ogden Morrow is in fact played by Simon Pegg.
- #109
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The shield of Perseus from Clash of the Titans (1981) appears twice. First, it covers the box containing the Osuvox Sphere, and again near the end of the film, as part of I-R0k's dropped loot.
- #110
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When Wade first meets Samantha (Arty's real-life counterpart), he discovers that Samantha has a birthmark on her face. At first she hides it under her hair out of embarrassment. But when she and Wade fall in love, her hair gradually moves away from her face. First it is tucked behind her right ear. Later it is in a low ponytail. In the final scene (after Wade takes control of the OASIS and he and Samantha live happily together), her hair is tied up in double buns.
- #111
When Z, Artemis and Aech first enter Aech's shop, Pee Wee's Bike from Pee Wee's Big Adventure is standing in front of the wall.
- #112
A passage from the source novel describes Wade's obsession and his 'research' into Anorak's Almanac, Halliday's journal filled with references to 1980s books, films, TV shows, music and video games. One of the filmographies Wade studied from the Almanac was Steven Spielberg's.
- #115
Halliday's company is called 'Gregarious Games'. The word 'gregarious' means being part of a community and enjoying the company of other people, which is the essence of the OASIS.
- #119
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The Iron Giant is Chekhov's literal (if reluctant) gun and the embodiment of his axiom: 'If you say in the first act that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, then in the next act it must be fired. Otherwise don't put it there.'.
- #120
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In the video revealing that Halliday is dead, there is a quarter in his eyes. Later in the film, the Curator gives Parzival a quarter that grants its user an extra life in the OASIS. This is a hint in the film about Halliday's fate: although his body is physically dead, his spirit will continue to live in the OASIS until a worthy heir is found.
- #121
One critic described the novel the film is adapted from as 'The Matrix meets Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory'.
- #122
It is the first Steven Spielberg film to have a 70 mm film print made since Hook (1991).
- #123
When 'H', as the Iron Giant, falls into the lava, the Giant gives a 'thumbs up'. This directly recalls the Terminator's death in T2, who also raises his thumb as he is destroyed by the molten iron vat.
- #124
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The password written on Nolan Sorrento's (Ben Mendelsohn) yellow Post-it note is B055man69. Ben Mendelsohn was born in 1969.
- #125
VR did not only help the filmmakers plan the virtual environments; they also had a digital preview of the physical sets they planned to build. "When you build a giant set for a normal production," Stockhausen explains, "you build models and you do sketches to make sure everyone agrees. You do everything you can to make sure everyone understands the space before you build it." So before a single hammer hit a nail, the team created virtual walkthroughs of planned real-world sets such as the villainous Nolan Sorrento's office or the IOI rig room.
- #126
At the IOI headquarters, a screen in the "fanboy" control room shows a digital Manhattan Island. It is the same as the one at the beginning of Escape from New York (1981).
- #128
The IOI hardware room is an example of how real sets and CG technology are combined in modern films like Ready Player One. It was built as a traditional physical set, but the resulting shot was later enhanced with a digital set extension to make it look bigger (and cooler). And before the real-life set was even built, the filmmakers prepared a VR version to preview how the real thing would look.
- #130
Before we see Aech/Helen's truck hidden away, a grey Renault AVANTIME passes across the screen from right to left. The Avantime was a futuristic car brought to market by Renault in 2000. Its name comes from the French word "avant," meaning "ahead," and the English word "time." Only 8,450 units were produced at the Matra factory, and slightly more than 5,000 were sold. In 2045 it still looks futuristic.
- #132
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When I-R0k meets with Sorrento about the orb, he reveals the skull of the Steampunk Pirate King from beneath the shield used by Perseus in Clash of the Titans (1981).
- #133
This is the first film Steven Spielberg directed for Warner Bros. since A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001).
- #135
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Aech warns Wade (as Parzival) that Art3mis (a girl) might be a man in the real world, foreshadowing that Aech will turn out to be a woman named Helen in the real world.
- #138
Sorrento's avatar's eye colour changes with his mood. His eyes glow blue in a normal state, but under extreme emotions such as frustration, unease and anger they turn yellow and eventually red.
- #139
One of the first action scenes features a big race through a virtual version of the Big Apple that film fans may recognize. Stockhausen recalls, "We had a lot of fun seeing which iconic buildings and billboards from films set in 80s New York we could put in just for fun." To give a random example, if you look closely you can see the building from Dustin Hoffman's 1982 comedy Tootsie. Or, elsewhere in the film, see if you can find references to the library setting of The Breakfast Club in the design of the Oasis archive.
- #140
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While Parzival talks with Halliday in Halliday's attic bedroom, we see a photo of young Halliday playing his Atari 2600, and a Big Trak can be seen on the floor. Big Trak was a toy vehicle from the 80s that could be programmed to follow entered coordinates to a final destination. With its trailer attached, it could go to the kitchen, place a sandwich in the caravan and then return to you with your lunch.
- #141
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Sho turns out to actually be an 11-year-old boy named Xo. As is rare for a child character to be the same age as the actor, principal photography took place in the summer of 2016. Young actor Philip Zhao was indeed 11 years old when filming began.
- #142
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The scene where Wade meets with Sorrento. Sorrento offers Wade the Millennium Falcon to help him find the Golden Egg. Ben Mendelsohn (Sorrento) played Orson Krennic in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016).
- #143
The virtual reality racing vehicles perform the same corkscrew jump that James Bond did in live action in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).
- #144
Aech's theory about who Art3mis might really be is almost identical to what Wade tells himself in the novel to keep his feet on the ground (or at least to try to). He also tells Art3mis, while chatting and flirting with her, that he himself might be that person.
- #145
It is Steven Spielberg's first film since Lincoln (2012) to gross over $100 million domestically.
- #146
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The pistols Wade and Daito hold on Sorrento while hacking his avatar are a suppressed IMI Desert Eagle Mark VII in .44 Magnum and a Heckler & Koch Mark 23.
- #147
Whenever Sorrento or his avatar wears a tie in the film, the tie bears the text "NSIOI." "NS" stands for "Nolan Sorrento," and IOI is his company.
- #148
The Oasis's startup screen looks very similar to the startup screen of the Nerve Gear in the anime Sword Art Online (2012), with colors flying toward the viewer and the logo appearing. Sword Art Online has a concept very similar to Ready Player One, but it is unclear whether this is a reference or just a coincidence.
- #149
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During the artifact hunt at the beginning of the film, Aech uses Halo's assault rifle.
- #150
"Ready Player One" is an expression dating back to the days of classic video games.
- #153
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After winning the first key, Parzival goes shopping for great items at a store called "Avatar Outfitters," a clear reference to the major US retail company "Urban Outfitters."
- #154
The tiny cars in the stacks were Zagato Vulpes, the smallest electric car on the market; in front of IOI there was a row of Renault Twizys, also electric but large enough for two people to sit in.
- #155
Jane Douglas of the video game YouTube channel Outside Xbox (2012) is one of the extras in this film. In the first trailer she sits directly behind a man with the number 665312 on his helmet.
- #156
Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks, both frequent collaborators of Steven Spielberg, were considered for James Halliday.
- #157
New Order's "Blue Monday" plays in the scene where i-R0k in the dance club tells the girls to leave the booth. In The Wedding Singer (1998), another film built on 80s trivia, the same song plays while Adam Sandler and his co-stars are in a nearly identical booth in a very similar dance club.
- #158
Aech/Helen's truck is a Utilimaster Aeromaster 'Drone Spitter.'.
- #159
VR, used to plan films such as this one and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), looks set to become a tool whose popularity among filmmakers will only grow. "It's in the early days," Stockhausen says, "but I think it's going to become a routine part of the process."
- #160
At 1 hour 20 minutes, as the oologists try to work out which game must be played to obtain the Crystal Key, a list of fictional castles is visible behind them. Most notably, Hyrule Castle from the Legend of Zelda video game series.
- #161
The typeface on the "Extra Life" coin Parzival uses is the same one used for the title of the Ready Player One novel.
- #162
This was the fourth Steven Spielberg film not scored by John Williams, after Duel (1971), The Color Purple (1985) and Bridge of Spies (2015).
- #163
When Parzival throws the time machine to the ground, it transforms, much like the vehicles in Disney's Tron: Legacy (2010).
- #164
Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) says he was given his name because his father thought it sounded like a superhero name such as Bruce Banner (Hulk) or Peter Parker (Spider-Man). Coincidentally, Sheridan also plays a hero with an alliterative name, Scott Summers (Cyclops), in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) and X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019).
- #165
James Halliday died in 2040, and the coin placed over his eyes was minted in 1972, meaning he was 68 years old when he died.
- #166
This is the third collaboration between Sir Mark Rylance and Steven Spielberg, after Bridge of Spies (2015) and The BFG (2016).
- #167
In the opening scene, as Wade leaves his spot with Van Halen's "Jump" playing, David Lee Roth sings "gotta roll with the punches" just as the camera passes a woman in OASIS gear throwing punches.
- #168
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When Artemis disguises herself as Goro (from Mortal Kombat), she bursts out of the "Goro suit" using a puppet from Alien and then cuts it. The puppet on her arm has a design very similar to one of the puppets used by Corey Feldman's character in Friday the 13th Part IV. Corey Feldman, of course, appeared in Spielberg and Donner's The Goonies. Jason, the killer of the Friday the 13th series, plays a small role in one of the battles.
- #169
The Overlook Theatre in the film resembles the Senator Theatre in Baltimore, MD, where director Barry Levinson has premiered many films and is a good friend of Steven Spielberg.
- #170
The name "Sixers" comes from the number six. It is the first digit found on the chest of every avatar playing for IOI.
- #171
Kong and Mechagodzilla would appear three years later in Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) and also in Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021).
- #172
The 'Ready Player One' logo is a labyrinth, and the prize is an egg.
- #174
Art3mis's real-world surname is Cook, which is similar to that of Olivia Cooke, the actress who plays her.
- #175
Ernest Cline's book Ready Player One was the subject of a podcast called "372 Pages We'll Never Get Back," in which comedians Mike Nelson (of Mystery Science Theatre 3000 and RiffTrax) and Conor Lastowka (a writer and employee of RiffTrax) read and reviewed chapters each week and concluded they didn't care for it. After the film's premiere, they did an episode discussing how the film failed to meet their standards. In the end, the film was officially riffed on RiffTrax by Mike, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett.
- #177
Steven Spielberg's surname literally means Game Mountain in German (game as a recreational activity rather than an animal hunted for sport or food), quite fitting for a film about video games.
- #178
In binary, 5 is 101. Hi-Five is grounded in reality, while Sorrento's IOI is entirely concerned with the digital world.
- #179
Contains a major spoiler — show
Two first-generation Nissan Leafs (2011-2017) appear in the film. Near the end of the film, Sorrento and F'Nale are put into a police car and a blue-burned vehicle.
- #181
In the elementary school scene, Mckenna Grace and Lulu Wilson appear to be sitting in the same row; Wilson appeared in Annabelle: Creation (2017), while Grace starred in the sequel Annabelle Comes Home (2019).
- #182
Tye Sheridan plays a character who spends a significant portion of the film with a device over his eyes, just like his Cyclops character in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016).
- #183
The player tags Daito and Shoto are a reference to the Japanese terms used for swords. In Japanese, daito means long sword, while short sword is shoto.
- #184
Five of the avatars shown in the film were selected in an online contest.
- #185
In Ready Player One, T. J. Miller appears alongside a character named Wade Watts. In Deadpool, Miller appears alongside a character named Wade Wilson. In the first they are enemies, in the second they are allies.
- #186
Before his date with Art3mis, Parzival tries on different outfits and skins, including one resembling Buckaroo Banzai, whom he says is his favorite character. Buckaroo Banzai is the main character of the 1984 film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, about a crime-fighting neurosurgeon/rock musician/adventurer.
- #187
Recognizable car brands: Land Rover (IOI vans), Citroën (police cars), Renault (electric cars outside IOI headquarters).
- #188
Violet McGraw and Sydney Brower's debut.
- #189
Michael Wildman and Asan N'Jie play father and son in the British series Emmerdale Farm (1972), and they share a scene together when Michael tells Asan to 'play the adventure' in the war room.
- #190
Parzival's real full name is Wade Owen Watts, which shortens to WOW.
- #191
When Parzival thinks he has seen Art3mis for the first time in the race, he tells Aech that he has watched "all her Twitch streams." Ready Player One was published in 2011, the year Twitch was introduced. This was a reference made at the time, but it seems unlikely that a media platform would still be popular more than 30 years later (YouTube is not even 20 years old and is under constant competition).
- #192
Steven Spielberg's first science fiction film since Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).
- #193
Sorrento's employee number, 655321, is Alex DeLarge's inmate number in A Clockwork Orange (1971).
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