We haven’t seen any new footage from Spielberg‘s hotly anticipated Ready Player One since San Diego Comic-Con, back in July, so this comes as something of a surprise.

The film is set in 2045, with the world on the brink of chaos and collapse. But the people have found salvation in the OASIS, an expansive virtual reality universe created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance). When Halliday dies, he leaves his immense fortune to the first person to find a digital Easter egg he has hidden somewhere in the OASIS, sparking a contest that grips the entire world. When an unlikely young hero named Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) decides to join the contest, he is hurled into a breakneck, reality-bending treasure hunt through a fantastical universe of mystery, discovery and danger.

This trailer delves deeper into the plot of the film, revealing much more of both the OASIS world and the real world. It’s packed with pop culture references; immediately obvious was the Back to the Future DeLorean and the motorcycle from Akira speeding through virtual city streets, plus the Iron Giant, you know, which is pretty awesome. All to the rocking sounds of Van Halen’s Jump. The central character, Watts, has an obsession with 80s pop-culture, which is why there is an abundance of references.

Interestingly, that final scene, that big race, is not in the book, which suggests the film is going to take a drastic turn from the original source material. Moreover, the character F’Nale Zandor (Hannah John-Kamen) is also not in the novel by Ernest Cline.

Ready Player One arrives on 30th March next year. And listen for that Back to the Future “tinkle” right at the end!

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