Legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg expressed his opinion on the developing influence of virtual reality (VR) to a crowd at San Diego Comic Con as he presented Ready Player One, a film that deals with VR as an escape from a dystopian world.
Ready Player One is an adaptation of a book by Earnest Cline that tells the story of a young man who escapes from the awful future of 2044 by immersing himself in 1980’s pop culture while searching for a mysterious ‘Easter Egg’ that may just be his way out of his current situation.
“It’s the most amazing flash forward and flashback at the same time – to a decade I was very much involved in as well as a future that I think is out there awaiting all of us whether we like it or not,” Spielberg said.
Spielberg previously warned of the ‘danger’ of VR at the Cannes Film Festival, where some VR films where making their debut. Spielberg said at the time: “I think we’re moving into a dangerous medium with virtual reality. “The only reason I say it is dangerous is because it gives the viewer a lot of latitude not to take direction from the storytellers but make their own choices of where to look. I just hope it doesn’t forget the story when it starts enveloping us in a world that we can see all around us and make our own choices to look at.”
Being involved with directing Ready Player One seems to have changed Spielberg’s mind somewhat, as at SDCC he referred to VR as a blank canvas of opportunities where people can: “Do anything you can possibly imagine”.
Ready Player One is due to be released on 30th March, 2018.
VRFocus will bring you further news on Ready Player One and other VR-related projects as it becomes available.