By  Published Feb 14, 2026, 4:30 PM EST Padraig is a Senior Features Writer and has been part of Screen Rant since 2017. Padraig is a writer, editor and retired Game of Thrones extra who has been writing about movies and TV online for over a decade. He has also written for The Irish Times, Den Of Geek, Little White Lies and many more. It's pronounced Paw-rick, BTW. follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

Ernest Cline got to live out his fanboy dreams with novel , but how much is the author and screenwriter worth? is set in a dystopian future where people escape their dreary lives by traveling to the OASIS, a virtual reality world created by James Halliday. In the OASIS users can be whatever they choose and they encounter any number of pop culture characters. The thrust of the story involves protagonist Wade Watts - AKA Parzival - going on an adventure as he tries to uncover a Golden Easter egg left behind by Halliday that will grant the winner ownership of the OASIS.

was later adapted into a movie by Steven Spielberg, with Tye Sheridan playing Wade. The movie proved to be a hit, but like the book before it, it proved somewhat divisive. Some consider both the book and the movie to be loving odes to pop culture favorites like or , but others find them to be exercises in wallowing in nostalgia and somewhat hollow. While both arguments have merit, Spielberg's film is invested with plenty of heart too, and he pulls off some great sequences, including an extended homage to around the midway point.

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was published in 2011 and made Ernest Cline an instant geek icon. It was clear from the book he was a rabid fan of all the movies, television and video games he was referencing, and he would later co-write the screenplay for Spielberg's adaptation alongside Zak Penn. According to , Ernest Cline is currently estimated to be worth $1 million.

Ready Player One wasn't Ernest Cline's first brush with filmmaking, however. He previously co-wrote the 2009 comedy Fanboys, which involved a group of friends who take a cross country trip to break into Skywalker Ranch so their dying pal can see before he passes. Fanboys was co-written with Adam F. Goldberg () but after suffering through a troubled production and release, it proved a disappointing experience to Cline.

The Ready Player One movie obviously went much better, and a film version of his 2015 follow-up novel Armada is currently in development too. He's also developing a sequel novel to that will feature creative input from Steven Spielberg, though the exact nature of the story or when it will be published is currently unknown.

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