D&D In Ready Player One? (SPOILERS)

If you've read the novel Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, you'll know that amongst all the many 80s pop culture references featured therein, there is a big tribute to Dungeons & Dragons in the form of a virtual recreation of the Tomb of Horrors and the demi-lich Acererak. It hasn't been clear whether this will appear in the upcoming movie, however (or if it is, I've missed it!) That said, a press release has gone out listing all the companies which Spielberg was able to get permission from, and Dungeons & Dragons is on that list.

A scene from Warner Bros. Pictures', Amblin Entertainment's and Village Roadshow Pictures' action adventure "READY PLAYER ONE," a Warner Bros. Pictures release.​

You can see the list over at Comic Book Movies. Right at the bottom there, it says "Dungeons & Dragons courtesy of Wizards of the Coast". Of course, this doesn't mean the full Tomb of Horrors / Acererak scene is in the movie; it might just be a passing reference to D&D or an Easter Egg of some kind.

David Flor over on Twitter pointed out to me that the sphere of annihilation mural from Tomb of Horrors is on the back of the ambulance in the trailer:

• Atari Properties courtesy of Atari Interactive, Inc.
• Courtesy of Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. and Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc. Courtesy of Bethesda Softworks LLC
• Courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment
• Courtesy of Capcom U.S.A., Inc./Capcom Co., Ltd.
• Courtesy of CBS Television Studios
• Courtesy of Disney Enterprises, Inc.
• Courtesy of Electronic Arts
• Courtesy of Gearbox Software
• Courtesy of Hasbro, Inc.
• Courtesy of The Jim Henson Company, Inc.
• Courtesy of Kodansha Ltd.
• Courtesy of Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.
• Courtesy of Mattel, Inc.
• Courtesy of MGM Media Licensing
• Courtesy of Microsoft Corporation
• The Estate of Toshiro Mifune and Mifune Productions
• Courtesy of Mojang AB
• Courtesy of Nickelodeon & Viacom Media Networks
• “War of the Worlds” courtesy of Paramount Pictures
• Courtesy of Rare Ltd.
• Courtesy of Sanrio Company, Ltd.
• Sonic the Hedgehog courtesy of SEGA Holdings Co., Ltd.
• Courtesy of Sesame Workshop
• Courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment and Columbia Pictures
• Courtesy of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.
• Courtesy of Sunrise, Inc.
• Robot B9 from “Lost in Space” appears courtesy of Legend Pictures, LLC Licensed by Synthesis Entertainment Courtesy of Tatsunoko Production
• Mechagodzilla licensed by Toho Company Limited
• Courtesy of The Topps Company, Inc.
• Serenity, Dropship, and other Fox Properties courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation Courtesy of Universal Studios Licensing LLC
• Courtesy of Valve Corporation
• Courtesy of WEP LLC
• Dungeons & Dragons courtesy of Wizards of the Coast

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[forensicmoose]

The only reason I am at all wanting to see this movie is that Cline was supposedly involved in the scripting. They have changed a massive amount of stuff. I mean the trailers only show a passing resemblance to the book. I'm afraid if you wanted a direct adaptation of the book we should have hoped for it to land with HBO, Amazon, or Netflix for a series.

 

[forensicmoose]

Do not worry about that. No one will ever think there is a good D&D movie coming out. That Sasquatch riding unicorn will never be seen or caught.

 

[Nostalgia Ward]

FWIW, Cline rewrote the gates for the film version and states in a recent Wired interview that Tomb of Horrors is not one of the challenges. Instead, there's a car race with sci fi and movie cars and something involving an 80s horror film. My money is on Nightmare on Elm Street.

 

[kenmarable]

The only reason I am at all wanting to see this movie is that Cline was supposedly involved in the scripting. They have changed a massive amount of stuff. I mean the trailers only show a passing resemblance to the book. I'm afraid if you wanted a direct adaptation of the book we should have hoped for it to land with HBO, Amazon, or Netflix for a series.

A direct adaptation of ANY book is exceedingly rare. It is pretty much always re-interpreted for the different medium. I'd love for the books in my mind to be directly transposed onto a movie screen, but I also long ago realized it will never happen - at least until we have OASIS-level VR. (Then there's cases like Watchmen, where one of the most common criticisms was that it was TOO close of an adaptation. So making book-to-movie comparisons is always a losing fight.)

 

[lxqueen]

I saw the film recently, so I can actually tell you this (very minor spoilers below for the film).

[sblock]You have the green devil face on Aech's van (pictured above). Otherwise, one of the major magic items in the final act is a glowing d20 the size of a football.[/sblock]

On an unrelated note, the horror film scene mentioned above is really well done and probably my favourite part of the film.

 

[Pauper]

So... no one can confirm that there's anything other than the Green Devil Face we all know and love on the back of the van? Is Acererak and the Tomb in the film or no? Also, I don't care about spoilers. Bring em' on!

If you are explicitly going to see Ready Player One to see how they implement the Tomb of Horrors, you're going to be disappointed.

There are a small handful of D&D/RPG references in the movie, but they really don't do anything with them other than just use them as references.

--
Pauper

 

[Morrus]

FWIW, Cline rewrote the gates for the film version and states in a recent Wired interview that Tomb of Horrors is not one of the challenges. Instead, there's a car race with sci fi and movie cars and something involving an 80s horror film. My money is on Nightmare on Elm Street.

Can confirm. Saw it last night. Car race instead of Tomb of Horrors.

Wrong guess on the horror film which is the second key though.

 

[Celebrim]

Can confirm. Saw it last night. Car race instead of Tomb of Horrors.

Well, I guess I won't be going to the movies.

 

[Nostalgia Ward]

Can confirm. Saw it last night. Car race instead of Tomb of Horrors.

Wrong guess on the horror film which is the second key though.

I was pleasantly surprised by that. Interesting way to do flic-syncs in the film. I enjoyed the car race. It was fun and there were plenty of D & D references throughout. I'm certain I missed a few, though.

I loved the film and enjoyed how it differed from the book but maintained the spirit and story from the book while telling it in a different way.

There are some significant differences, but we already figured that would be the case.