The next few years will definitely be some of the most prolific years of Steven Spielberg‘s career. He has Roald Dahl’s The BFG coming out in July of this year, and what was to be his next project, the science-ficiton thriller Ready Player One, was originally slated for a 2017 release. Not to mention announced films such as It’s What I Do, Montezuma, and Indiana Jones 5, coming out sooner rather than later, perhaps.
But because of Star Wars: The Force Awakens‘ massive box office draw, its sequel has now been moved from May of 2017 to December of that year, with Spielberg’s film being pushed back to March 2018. Now this may actually be a good thing for Spielberg because of the relatively empty slate that currently holds. James Cameron was even observant enough to have Avatar 2 pushed out of December to an unconfirmed date, so as not to go head-to-head with the Episode VIII.
Ready Player One is based off a novel of the same name and tells the story of a video game system inventor who passes away and a contest is held to see who will go home with his many billions of dollars in revenue. With the type of story this seems to be, it’s hard to tell if this will be a more PG-13 family-friendly film or an R-rated action film.
The only cast member officially confirmed for the film is Olivia Cooke (Bates Motel), with Ben Mendelsohn (The Dark Knight Rises, Killing Them Softly) being rumored for a possible leading role.
The BFG will be released July 1, 2016.