Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One is primarily set in the year 2045.
The film depicts a future in which many people escape an environmentally and economically troubled world by using the OASIS, a vast shared virtual-reality platform. Wade Watts enters the contest for control of the OASIS after its creator hides an Easter egg inside the system.
The 2045 setting allows the story to combine futuristic technology with extensive references to popular culture from earlier decades. Contestants search virtual worlds for three keys, while the corporation IOI tries to gain control of the platform.
Ready Player One was released in 2018 and was adapted from Ernest Cline’s 2011 novel. Tye Sheridan plays Wade Watts, also known in the OASIS by his avatar name, Parzival. Mark Rylance plays OASIS creator James Halliday.