Ready Player One World Premiere
SXSW – Paramount Theater, March 11, 2018
Article by Stacey Lovett
Technology undoubtedly has been a wide-spread conversation at SXSW 2018 with panelists and attendees both embracing it as a tool and generating some ‘tech-lash’ in its unbarred ubiquity. It has definitely encouraged creativity in both lights. Steven Spielberg’s new sci-fi action adventure movie Ready Player One explores the duality of the tech world in its creation and subject matter and SX audiences had the pleasure of reveling in this esteemed director’s new project with the addition of its world premier Sunday night at the Paramount Theater.
It strays from Spielberg’s usual style of filmmaking with its lurid visual effects in a virtual piece thematically challenging the embrace of technology as the characters take salvation in a virtual reality universe on a quest for hidden fortune within the game world.
In the year 2045 people can escape their harsh reality in the OASIS, an immersive virtual world where you can go anywhere, do anything, be anyone — the only limits are your own imagination. OASIS creator James Halliday left his immense fortune and control of the OASIS to the winner of a contest designed to find a worthy heir. When unlikely hero Wade Watts conquers the first challenge of the reality-bending treasure hunt, he and his friends — known as the High Five — are hurled into a fantastical universe of discovery and danger to save the OASIS and their world.
Technology itself had some commentary during the premiere as the projection underwent some technical difficulties during the screening, but the director’s unannounced appearance outperformed any hitches that night for the sold-out theater. Fellow director, Robert Rodriguez, also sat in on the premier to which he later tweeted, “it was so kick ass it blew the speakers” Spielberg joined Ernest Cline, Austinite, and author of the novel behind the film’s adaptation, and screenplay co-writer Zac Penn with Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, Win Morisaki and Philip Zhao who starred in the movie, at the red carpet premiere.
To further promote the movie which opens in theaters on March 29th, a full block of Austin’s prime downtown festival real estate was transformed by VIVE VR into a virtual reality experience for SX goers to geek out and grab some promotional swag in celebration of the premiere.
To premiere this film in a tech-driven city, that of which is the home to the story’s creator, was a special experience for this year’s film attendees, and Steven Spielberg himself attending to reveal his latest masterpiece continued the buzz at SXSW 2018 furthering the dialogue of technology’s place both in the arts and in our social context.
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