Steven Spielberg Sparks Concern Among Fans by Stepping Back from Sequel to 2018 Sci-Fi Blockbuster

Will Player as ready as the first time he entered the game?

Six years ago, Ready Player One, a science fiction action film based on the novel by Ernest Cline, presented a futuristic world where people prefer to escape in a virtual reality program called Oasis and fight for the prize, the clues for which were left by its rich founder. It marked Steven Spielberg’s successful directorial return to teen-oriented fantastic movies, grossing $607 million worldwide with a budget of $155-175 million.

The movie was remarkably filled with allusions to pop culture entities, which were partly present in the original book, while others were added deliberately for the movie, as its creators gained rights for callbacks to DCU, Stephen King ’s novels and other IPs.

Given the second novel, Ready Player Two, released in 2020, as the movie’s success left its author no chance but to continue the fantastic story of the Oasis, Warner Bros. didn’t forget about their massive sci-fi success, having the sequel already in the works.

In a recent interview at the Oppenheimer Oscars party, Spielberg was asked about the continuation of his banger movie, he stated it’s already in active development by the WB studio, even though he is only involved as a producer, stepping aside from its direction.

It’s quite a curious and at the same time disappointing update, as Spielberg handed over his director’s chair only twice before: in the third movie of the Jurassic Park franchise and in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which both came out controversial.

Fans, wondering why the acclaimed director made such a decision, claim that such distancing can be presumably caused by the poor content of the overlong second book, which can result in the low quality and eventual flop of its adaptation too.

When the news about the development of Ready Player Two was aired, the idea of it gained lots of criticism, mostly regarding the negative reception of the second novel.

“No no no… <…> It’s a parody of itself and it’s just poorly written and does an injustice to the first novels material,” expressed fans’ worries the X-user @crisiscrespo.

Though such a concern among the sci-fi lovers’ community is quite reasonable, it’s necessary to remember that the first movie altered some aspects of the novel adapting it, so nothing prevents the creators of Ready Player Two from making a decent sequel.

Ready Player One is now available for watching on Netflix .

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