For a guy who still has two movies waiting to be released — this fall’s drama, "Bridge Of Spies," and next year’s family flick, "The BFG" — Steven Spielberg sure is lining up a bunch of potential projects. In the past little while we’ve seen him linked to the PTSD drama "Thank You For Your Service," "Indiana Jones 5," possibly with Chris Pratt, and war photographer biopic "It’s What I Do," possibly with Jennifer Lawrence. Now comes another movie, which Deadline says will be next after "The BFG," but given how quickly things change for Spielberg, we wouldn’t place a bet on it.
Regardless, the filmmaker is attached to helm an adaptation of Ernest Cline‘s novel, "Ready Player One." Zak Penn ("X-Men: Last Stand," "The Avengers") is tackling the script, and the project is set up at Warner Bros., but the big issue will be clearing the rights for this story, which heavily references 1980s video games (I guess Adam Sandler‘s "Pixels" is kicking the floodgates open on that). Here’s the book synopsis:
But when Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade’s going to survive, he’ll have to win — and confront the real world he’s always been so desperate to escape.
The last time Spielberg was ready to go sci-fi, it was with "Robopocalypse," which he was supposed to direct after "Lincoln," but it collapsed. While he promised to get back to it, it looks like that will no longer happen. Hopefully, this one has a better fate. Has anyone read the book? Is Spielberg the right fit? Let us know below.