close menu
Nerdist News

All the READY PLAYER ONE Pop Culture References We Spotted in the Trailer

Heading to San Diego Comic-Con is like taking a trip down to the nerd oasis, but today Warner Bros. had us ready to log in to the Oasis, with the first teaser trailer for Steven Spielberg‘s Ready Player One. This initial look at the upcoming adaptation of Ernest Cline’s hit novel is action-packed, almost as much as it’s packed with the kind of pop culture references that fill the book. That’s why today on Nerdist News we’re sharing all the goodies we could find after combing the desert of this trailer frame by frame.

And while these aren’t a mirage, they sure are allusions.

freddy-krueger-ready-player-one

It might be hard here to miss the Iron Giant (he’s very large), but did you spot Freddy Krueger on the battle field? And while you probably didn’t miss Doc Brown’s DeLorean ripping up the streets, did you happen to see the A Team’s van ready to go?

Ready Player One stars X-Men: Apocalypse‘s Tye Sheridan as Wade Watts, who narrates the trailer. He’s joined by Simon Pegg and Mark Rylance as Oasis founders Ogden Morrow and James Halliday, with Ben Mendelsohn as head Sixer/villain Sorrento, and Olivia Cooke as Watt’s competitor and love interest Art3mis.

We might not have seen or heard from any of them in this first trailer, but that’s okay with us. We prefer getting to obsess over all the pop culture references they gave us instead.

It’s a real nerd oasis.

What did you think of this trailer? Were there any pop culture references we missed? Ready Nerdist reader, to log in to our comments section below to tell us what you spotted, and don’t miss Alpha Book Club‘s discussion of Ready Player One on Alpha!

Images: Warner Bros. Studios

Editor’s note: Today’s episode of Nerdist News is sponsored by Tor Books.

THE SENIOR CLASS is a Beautiful Animated Film with an Ugly Message (Fantasia Review)

THE SENIOR CLASS is a Beautiful Animated Film with an Ugly Message (Fantasia Review)

article
Unnecessary Information: STAR FOX’s Falco Lombardi is a Wasp-Kicking Caracara

Unnecessary Information: STAR FOX’s Falco Lombardi is a Wasp-Kicking Caracara

article
IRON FIST Episode Two Recap: A Fistful of M&Ms

IRON FIST Episode Two Recap: A Fistful of M&Ms

article