Ready Player One

BiffMan

Member
TheFedora said:
So just saw the movie...WOW. Spielberg outdid himself her. No spoilers at all, but there are plenty of easter eggs throughout, lots of stuff from not only his filmography and particularly pop culture. Maybe even one or two that are of specific interest to people on this forum! ;)

Just saw it myself and without getting into the whole book/movie sub-discussion, I was rather caught off guard by how pedestrian and un-Spielberg-y the movie was. It was serviceable enough, but if I didn't already know Spielberg had directed it, I would have never guessed from watching it.

For the record, I'm still very much in the hope/denial camp where it comes to Spielberg and another Indy movie, but with every additional movie he makes, a little of that hope dies. Ready Player One, The Post, The BFG, Bridge of Spies... All perfectly enjoyable movies, but nothing that really screams "Spielberg!" about them.
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
A line from the book:
"Halliday once said that he preferred to pretend the other Indiana Jones films, from Kingdom of the Crystal Skull onward, didn't exist. I tended to agree."
How did Spielberg respond?
[Steven Spielberg] never said anything about that. You know, he's got a pretty thick skin, and that little dig is done in the context of 'the first three are a holy trilogy,' and it's also a very geek thing. That was a way to build Halliday's character. So many geeks from that era are so reverent and Halliday's maybe a little too reverent about the 1980s and the first original three came out in the 1980s, you know? So anything outside of the 1980s didn't count. It was less a dig about Steven and the movie and more about Halliday's obsession with and fixation with the 1980s.
And David Koepp?
I will tell you that David Koepp came to the set of Ready Player One to talk about Indiana Jones 5, and I really wanted to go over and say hello, but I didn't because I was like 'Oh I bet he read this book,' and he's like 'Back off.' I never met him. I didn't go over there. It's just the worst thing. I remember when I met him I was like 'I hope he doesn't bring that up.' He never did.
 

TheFedora

Active member
Moedred said:
A line from the book:

How did Spielberg respond?

And David Koepp?


This is interesting, well the Indy mention at least.

At the end of the movie when Parvizal goes to Halliday's apartment in the Oasis, right when Halliday grants him the 'easter egg'.... you can see a 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' poster on Halliday's wall.
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
As with Tintin, RPO is doing over 75% of its business overseas. Hope it holds up this weekend against Building Punching Movie.

It's fantastic, and worth rewatching on the big screen even without the pop culture references. The treasure hunt unfolds in such a satisfying way, Indy 5 will have to be able to at least match it. It could have been really solvable, for instance if Halliday was a huge Bachelor Party fan and every quest (car chase, Atari game) was Bachelor Party themed. Really short too.
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
Time to start talking Lost in Space on Netflix?

With spectacular Friday and Saturday weather here in the East and RPO losing IMAX screens, Forbes noted RPO "tumbled 55% for an $11.2m third weekend and a $114.8m 18-day cume" and is looking around a $140 Domestic box office.

Not too good for a film with a purported $175M production budget.

While the international numbers look good, getting only 25% in China takes a big bite.

My 14 year daughter saw RPO with friends and liked it. My 12 year son had ZERO interest -- somewhat ironically, all him and his buddies care about are their Fortnite stats. My 17 year old also had no interest and just wanted to know when 'Isle of Dogs' is coming out and, more importantly, she is on the 'A Quiet Place' bandwagon.

It's funny. There's a little bit of a golden age of horror going on right now that is making a lot of folks, a lot of money -- and it is hilarious how these little films keep on coming out of no where and slaying industry "visionaries" in the field.
 
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roundshort

Active member
Joe Brody said:
With spectacular Friday and Saturday weather here in the East and RPO losing IMAX screens, Forbes noted RPO "tumbled 55% for an $11.2m third weekend and a $114.8m 18-day cume" and is looking around a $140 Domestic box office.

Not too good for a film with a purported $175M production budget.

While the international numbers look good, getting only 25% in China takes a big bite.

My 14 year daughter saw RPO with friends and liked it. My 12 year son had ZERO interest -- somewhat ironically, all him and his buddies care about are their Fortnite stats. My 17 year old also had no interest and just wanted to know when 'Isle of Dogs' is coming out and, more importantly, she is on the 'A Quiet Place' bandwagon.

It's funny. There's a little bit of a golden age of horror going on right now that is making a lot of folks, a lot of money -- and it is hilarious how these little films keep on coming out of no where and slaying industry "visionaries" in the field.

RPO will not be viewed by this raven patron. But we are heading to A quiet place today. Like JB said, love the quality of horror movies these days. Seems the gore porn era has backed down and we are seeing some great ghost stories, psycho thrillers, and Posseion flicks a few times a year. Hopefully we will see a decent reboot of Friday the 13th at some point
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
roundshort said:
But we are heading to A quiet place today. Like JB said, love the quality of horror movies these days.

I'm envious. Look forward to your review.

As to RPO, if you hadn't told me it was a Steven film, I'd of never guessed. Made for a curious experience.
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
roundshort said:
RPO will not be viewed by this raven patron. But we are heading to A quiet place today.

Dude, you can post here but don't have two secs to swing by R.I.P. and pay your respects to Gunny?
 

roundshort

Active member
Joe Brody said:
Dude, you can post here but don't have two secs to swing by R.I.P. and pay your respects to Gunny?


I think my Hommage on Facebook was enough. R. Lee will have placement for sometime.
 
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roundshort

Active member
Pale Horse said:
I'm envious. Look forward to your review.

As to RPO, if you hadn't told me it was a Steven film, I'd of never guessed. Made for a curious experience.

Still no RPO - so I guess thread drift...... A Quiet Place was goodish - kinda went where you thought it would go. With that being said, impressive it can hold your attention. A few scenes that would make even R. Lee Ermey wince in pain.
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
I'm sure the studios wish they could release horror films every weekend. But are they rewatchable, are they "evergreen" properties? By the way, how about that Henry Thomas (Gerald's Game, Ouija Origin of Evil). The latter has a neat celluloid look for 1967 with cue marks, but not a beat up print (The Don't trailer was dragged around a parking lot).
 

roundshort

Active member
Moedred said:
I'm sure the studios wish they could release horror films every weekend. But are they rewatchable, are they "evergreen" properties? By the way, how about that Henry Thomas (Gerald's Game, Ouija Origin of Evil). The latter has a neat celluloid look for 1967 with cue marks, but not a beat up print (The Don't trailer was dragged around a parking lot).

I think I am at the age where nothing new is re watchable - so I am probably not the best person to ask.
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
Re-watchability?

Sure films like 'Get Out' may not rate that high on the rewatchability factor, but like Roundshort noted, there are a lot of different types of horror film and some have much higher rewatchability factors.

I'll give you one example: if I were stranded on an island, between two movies made at the same time, far and away I would prefer to be stranded with 28 Day's Later ($8M production budget) rather than Spielberg's Minority Report ($102M production budget).

At the end of the day, when it comes to Spielberg, I would not have been so quick to play the visionary card, predict the end of film and then watch my $175M film get humstrung by a $20M no-name horror film because the story of the fantastic ROI getting come-from-nowhere horror film is a story as old as Hollywood itself.

[The write-up to Gerald's Game looked creepy so I may pass but Oija looked interesting.]
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
Joe Brody said:
At the end of the day, when it comes to Spielberg, I would not have been so quick to play the visionary card, predict the end of film and then watch my $175M film get humstrung by a $20M no-name horror film because the story of the fantastic ROI getting come-from-nowhere horror film is a story as old as Hollywood itself.

Murdered by words.

As to re-watchability, I'm hamstrung by Tron:Legacy. The story is ****, the continuity is bad, but the visuals and soundtrack are perfect for playing on repeat. Not to mention Gem and Quora have a nice presence. Wick and Atomic Blonde fit that bill too.
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
Still the #2 2018 film domestically, could climb higher than #4 worldwide?
Here's the full copper key race courtesy of Warner Brothers.

 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
Just shy of the #3 film this year globally.

Blu Ray features July 24:
Game Changer: Cracking the Code
Effects for a Brave New World
Level Up: Sound for the Future
High Score: Endgame
Ernie & Tye's Excellent Adventure
The '80's: You're The Inspiration
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
Saved for posterity, on Saturday.

118530_300.png
 

Joe Brody

Well-known member
Do you know why the numbering in the chart is off?

If nothing else, the chart tells the story of the growing importance of the Chinese market.

With all the crazy talk about trade and tariffs, foreign films in China only getting what -- 25 cents on the dollar? -- is a topic worth discussing (and I think will improve). I'm pretty liberal but question the fairness of the China market restrictions.

With respect to the film, has there been any press confirming if Ready Player One broke even?
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
Spielberg on the scene which could not be discussed until now.
“It was nostalgic for me because I first met Stanley Kubrick on the set that I depict in Ready Player One. The main living area with the grand fireplace in the Overlook is where I first encountered Stanley in 1979 when I went to look at the soundstages. They were about to build the sets for Raiders of the Lost Ark in Elstree Studios. When I found out Stanley had completed a set and was planning his shots, I asked if I could meet him.”
 

Moedred

Administrator
Staff member
Ready Player Two (again read energetically by Wil Wheaton) released last year with Spielberg's input, concluding the story, except for Ready Player Zero to someday be set in the 1980s. Ernest Cline:
"As we were finishing the movie, Steven started to ask me questions about what the sequel might be about so he could get that into the ending of the first movie. ... I knew everybody would even be going into this story with expectations, including me and including Steven Spielberg. He would call occasionally and ask if it was done. ... Steven Spielberg helped shape my storytelling sensibilities from the time I was a kid just from his, his films. So getting to bounce ideas off of him and get his reaction was really valuable."
 
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