When Disney and Lucasfilm announced that Star Wars Episode VIII was being moved to December 2017, it didn’t take long for Avatar 2 to drop out of its previously scheduled opening day. And now, apparently even the Oasis is insignificant next to the power of the Force!

Warner Bros.’ adaptation of Ready Player One is moving its release date from December 15, 2017 to March 30, 2018. If Ready Player One hadn’t moved, it would have gone head-to-head with Star Wars…which is a battle that it probably wouldn’t have won even with director Steven Spielberg attached to bring Ernest Cline’s popular YA novel to life.

Potentially, this could improve Ready Player One’s box office prospects. The new date coincides with Easter weekend, and it avoids the 2018 Winter Olympics and the beginning of the World Cup. Currently, there aren’t any major releases set for April 2018, which means that Ready Player One may have a few weeks without any serious challengers.

Originally published in 2011, Ready Player One takes place in the future, as players compete for the opportunity to control a virtual universe known as Oasis. Bates Motel star Olivia Cooke will portray Art3mis, one of the female leads, while Ben Mendelsohn is reportedly playing the film’s villain. The leading role, Wade Owen a.k.a. Parzival has not yet been cast.

In addition to moving back Ready Player One, Warner Bros. is reportedly moving up the release of The Flash by a week to March 18, 2018.

How do you feel about Ready Player One getting moved back? Let us know in the comment section below!

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HT: Variety
Image: sharksden/deviantART

Catch up on everything we know about the Ready Player One movie so far with this handy episode of Nerdist News: