Ballantine Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, announced that Ready Player Two, the much-anticipated sequel to Ernest Cline’s novel Ready Player One, will be released on November 24th. Cline’s first novel, released in 2011, was a smash hit, rising to the New York Times best seller list and staying there for over fifty weeks. Ready Player One was a success with fans all around the world, and has since been translated into over 20 languages. In 2018 it was turned into a film directed by Steven Spielberg, in which Cline was heavily involved.
Cline was working on the
film adaptation of Ready Player One with Spielberg while he was writing
the sequel, which presented challenges for him. He wanted to make sure the book
was a sequel to the original novel, and not the film adaptation. Cline held off
on watching the final cut of the film until after his first draft was finished
to avoid any unintentional influence. However Spielberg did offer some ideas to
Cline about the sequel as they were brainstorming for the movie. Cline also
clued Spielberg in on where he is going with the sequel, so Spielberg could end
the first film and create room for another film. According to Cline he did an excellent
job, and a sequel movie based on the new book would be welcome.
The big question is
whether or not Spielberg would be attached to direct. Some members of the cast
of Ready Player One mentioned they were contracted for sequel films, but
Spielberg might be a harder sell. He claimed it was the third hardest film he has
ever directed, right behind Jaws and Saving Private Ryan. He may
need a little more time away before he is ready to tackle another film in the
Oasis.
-PB
-PB