Zak Penn, the writer of the Incredible Hulk film featuring Edward Norton, will be rewriting the screenplay for the film adaptation of Ready Player One, the Ernest Cline’s science fiction novel.
According to Polygon, the novel was first published in 2011, and Warner Brothers acquired the film rights in 2010. The novel is set in 2044 and follows teenager Wade Watts. Watts spends most of his time in the online virtual world known as “Oasis,” avoiding his the horrendous nature of his real life world. Oasis’s creator, James Halliday, is rumored to have programed three keys into the game’s world. The player who collects all three keys will inherit the Halliday’s massive fortune. To make matters more challenging, all of the clues are based on the culture of the 1980s, a culture completely alien to Watts and his peers.
According to IGN and /Film, the film’s original script was written back in 2010 by Cline himself, as well as writer Eric Eason who, as Polygon notes, wrote A Better Life. According to TheWrap, Penn is tasked with revising the script to make it more appealing for potential directors, who Warner Bros. plan to court this fall.
Penn's credits, apart from Hulk, include being a storywriter for Marvel's The Avengers (2012) and X2: X-Men United (2003).
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