Though it has lingered in the development caverns since Warner Bros. bought the rights four years ago, the adaptation of Ernest Cline’s great novel Ready Player One is still a going concern. The Incredible Hulk** screenplay man Zak Penn is now aboard to re-write the script.
Cline, who co-wrote the screenplay for Fanboys, has already had a crack himself, and Eric Eason also took a pass. But now the studio wants Penn to push the script to a point where it can be sent to directors, with plenty of filmmakers already expressing an interest. Penn and Cline already have a connection: they became friends recently, joining forces to help excavate a haul of buried E.T. video games from the New Mexico desert.
Ready Player One follows teenager Wade Watts who likes to escape his dreary, dangerous real world by logging into Oasis, a globally networked virtual utopia where users lead idyllic alternate lives.
When the game‘s eccentric, Steve Jobs-style billionaire creator dies, he offers up his fortune as the prize in an elaborate treasure hunt. Wade is pitted against powerful corporate foes and ruthless competitors who'll do anything, in the Oasis and the real world, to reach the riches first.
Warners is hoping that the film could be ready to kick off before the year is out, but first Penn will have to boil down a sprawling tale into film length. He’s also working on a potential **Pacific Rim **sequel with Guillermo del Toro, so he’ll have no time to play games himself this summer.