HTC Vive will be the official partner for virtual reality content, experiences, and offline activations for the highly anticipated film Ready Player One, which is coming in 2018 from Steven Spielberg.
Warner Bros. Pictures and HTC have created a strategic partnership for the theatrical release of the sci-fi action thriller, which has a video game and virtual reality theme. It is adapted from the best-selling book by Ernest Cline, and the novel’s story unfolds in VR. Warner Bros. Pictures, Amblin Partners, and Village Roadshow Pictures will release the film on March 30, 2018.
“Ready Player One is one of the most anticipated movies in the world and has tremendous potential to engage and entertain the worldwide market, showcasing the transformative nature of VR, and what it can and will be,” said Rikard Steiber, president of Viveport, in a statement. “Vive is delivering on the promise of VR and continues to be the most advanced and immersive VR experience available to consumers, and we’re thrilled to be partnering with Warner Bros. to bring these experiences to consumers, on all platforms, around the globe.”
HTC’s Vive division will produce several pieces of VR content for the the HTC VR headset based on the world of Ready Player One. This content will be available to users through Viveport, which will distribute the content globally across all VR in-home platforms, including high-end PC based VR systems and mobile solutions. In addition, Vive plans to bring Ready Player One-inspired content to its Viveport Arcade platform for location-based entertainment as well as showcase the VR experiences and games at many of the biggest global consumer events through the year.
“The virtual reality world within Ready Player One is extremely advanced, sophisticated, and engaging, and with Vive, we chose the best system to represent the future of VR. Vive is the perfect partner to bring that to life and also has the broadest reach to global markets for the use of VR in home, mobile, and offline channels,” said Blair Rich, president of worldwide marketing for Warner Bros. Pictures, in a statement. “We’re delighted that HTC Vive will be partnering with Ready Player One and very excited to work with them leading up the movie’s release in Spring 2018.”
The film stars Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, and Mark Rylance. Zak Penn and Ernest Cline wrote the screenplay. Spielberg, Donald De Line, Dan Farah, and Kristie Macosko Krieger are producing the film with Adam Somner, Daniel Lupi, Chris DeFaria, and Bruce Berman serving as executive producers.
