The Top 19 Pop Culture Easter Eggs in 'Ready Player One'

The story of Ready Player One is about finding Easter eggs, and the whole movie is also a big Easter egg.

1、The Shining that Stephen King doesn't like

The Shining is the biggest surprise in Ready Player One, which was not seen in any of the trailers before the movie was released. It appears in the second mission of the film.

The treasure team enters the movie, and the screen changes to a grainy, old movie. The hotel lobby, Room 237, the axe, the twin sisters, the ghost in the bathroom, the flood of blood, the maze garden at the end, and of course, the classic element of "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" on the typewriter (except that these words are shaped like keys in the movie, which is very cool) are all from The Shining.

It is worth mentioning that the film's cinematography is still Steven Spielberg's old partner, Janusz Kaminski. His signature Kodak noise plays great in this retro footage.

In the movie, Aech says, "I watched it through my fingers," which comes from the true story of the actor. Phillip Zhao, who played Aech, was asked by Steven Spielberg to familiarize himself with The Shining, and the little guy really watched the movie in this way.

The movie mentions that Stephen King doesn't like this movie, and that's true. Although The Shining is a classic, Stephen King felt that it deviated too much from the original book, unlike his own works, and therefore did not approve of the movie. But he approved of another version of The Shining, the 1997 TV movie, which is 273 minutes long and directed by horror movie director Mick Garris, who also directed the horror TV series Tales From The Crypt and Masters of Horror.

In fact, the last scene of The Shining mission in Ready Player One, the zombie dance party, is a scene from the original book that was not in Kubrick's version (actually, it did appear, but it didn't turn into a zombie, it was just Jack "returning to 1921" to see the dance party). However, Garris' version filmed this scene in great detail, and this change is exactly what Ready Player One points out, from disapproval to approval.

2、King Kong

In the final level of the car racing scene, there is King Kong, and there is a shot indicating that King Kong came down from the top of the Empire State Building, with a biplane on the side. All of this is a segment from the 1933 version of King Kong. The appearance of this King Kong, with a bootjack face, is a trademark of the old version of King Kong.

3、Iron Giant

This super classic animation can make people laugh and cry with the heartwarming Iron Giant. The film particularly showcases several characteristics of the Iron Giant, such as its head, which can summon the body parts to combine. This is how the animation ends.

4、Fitting

Parzival wears a suit and a crooked pink tie before attending the dance, and the dialogue explains that it comes from The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.

Before Parsifal wore this outfit, he tried several outfits, including the red leather jacket from Michael Jackson's Thriller, the costume from Prince's semi-autobiographical film Purple Rain, and Duran Duran's blue uniform.

5、Back to the Future

The first DMC-12 was born in 1976 and stopped production in 1982 because the company's boss was arrested for drug use (actually framed) and went bankrupt. Therefore, only 9,000 DMC-12s were produced, but they became popular due to the 1985 Back to the Future, but it is difficult to find the car now because it is out of print.

The car that appears in the movie is the DMC-12 from the second part of Back to the Future. In the chase scene, the four wheels of DMC become flying power, symbolizing the second part.

In addition, Artemis calls the main character who drives the car McFly, which is the name of the main character in Back to the Future.

6、John Hughes and The Breakfast Club

In the movie, Watts uses this reference to test the villain. The latter passes it with the remote prompt of a group of otaku reserve soldiers, which represents popular culture in the 1980s.

John Hughes is a famous popular culture director in the United States. Home Alone is one of his masterpieces, but his other work, the 1985 The Breakfast Club, is more famous in the Western community. In other words, he is the spokesperson for American youth and pop culture.

Fast Times was filmed in 1982, directed by Amy Heckerling. This film is also an American youth film, with young Sean Penn and Nicolas Cage. It is considered the pioneer of American youth films.

The character Bender from The Breakfast Club also makes an appearance as one of the crowds between the cars in the car chase sequence.

7、The Three Horror Characters

The three major horror characters from the 1980s, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Kureger, and Chucky, appear in the movie.

Freddy from A Nightmare on Elm Street appears in the trailer and is beaten by Art3mis.

Jason from Friday the 13th also appears in the melee and is also defeated.

When it comes to Chucky from Child's Play, he is thrown out and hacked to pieces by Parzival on the spot. The extra who catches Chucky also says the only swear word in Ready Player One: "Fxxking Chucky." (It is a PG-13 movie, and only three swear words are allowed.)

8、Saturday Night Fever

The scene where Watts and Artemis dance together in the dance hall pays tribute to John Travolta's dance with the female lead in Saturday Night Fever. It has the famous shoulder-shaking move, and if it weren't for Bee Gees' famous song Stayin' Alive, I almost thought it was a scene from Pulp Fiction.

9、Famous Cars on the Racetrack, eg:

- Mach 5, from the animated series Speed Racer, a classic animated work by the master animator Tatsuo Yoshida, which was later adapted into a movie version, Speed Racer, by the Wachowskis.

- Christine, is a passing shot, but the red body is extremely eye-catching, and Laura is standing beside the car. Adapted from Stephen King's novel, Christine, directed by John Carpenter.

- Batmobile, specifically from the 1966 TV series Batman, is the classic first-generation Batmobile.

- V8 Interceptor, from the Mad Max series, is Max's car and also appears in the opening of Mad Max: Fury Road. The prototype is the 1973 XB Ford Falcon Coupe.

10、Terminator and Schwarzenegger

In the movie, when the iron giant falls into the lava as a human bridge, he raises his hand to make a thumbs-up gesture, which is a tribute to the iconic scene of T-800 in Terminator 2. Apart from pleasing the fans, this scene has significant meaning. It is the first true collaboration between Spielberg and James Cameron.

Also, we can't ignore Schwarzenegger. There are three instances in the movie that refer to him. The other two are:

- Last Action Hero, during the car chase scene, there is an obvious movie billboard showing Jack Slater 3, a fictional movie in which Schwarzenegger starred.

- Eraser, during the opening scene on Death Planet, Azzi picks up an electromagnetic gun from Eraser and uses it to defeat the Duke.

11、Superman

In the archive hall, the movie satirizes Superman's glasses, saying that wearing glasses makes people unrecognizable.

Harry Di's favorite quote is Lex Luthor's famous line:

“Some people can read War and Peace and come away thinking it’s a simple adventure story; others can read the ingredients on a chewing gum wrapper and unlock the secrets of the universe.”

12、Skeleton Soldiers

In the final battle scene, there are many skeleton soldiers.

Skeleton soldiers are a popular element in fantasy movies and anime games. They can be found in many places, such as Warcraft, Heroes of Might and Magic, and movies like Ghost Playman 3, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, and The Mummy 3.

In this film, the skeleton soldiers likely pay homage to the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts or the earlier The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. The latter was among the first to feature skeleton soldiers, while the former is famous for its innovative stop-motion effects by Ray Harryhausen.

Steven Spielberg, an ardent fan of Ray Harryhausen's work, may be honoring these cinematic predecessors with the skeleton soldiers in this movie.

13、 Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune

In the movie, the handsome Japanese guy, Daito, is dressed as a Japanese samurai in the Oasis, which is inspired by Toshiro Mifune's portrayal of Takeda Shingen in Akira Kurosawa's film Kagemusha. Daito's real name in the real world is Toshiro, which is a tribute to Kurosawa's frequent collaborator, Toshiro Mifune. Daito's face under his avatar in the game is modeled after Mifune's character, Takezo Kensei, in Throne of Blood. Therefore, this is a double tribute.

Steven Spielberg is a fan of Kurosawa, and his own works are deeply influenced by Kurosawa. He once said, "Akira Kurosawa is Shakespeare of the film world."

14、There's Something About Mary

Artemis runs her fingers through Wade's hair and lifts it up. She says he has There's Something About Mary which is a 1998 sex comedy:

Ben Stiller's character is preparing for a date with Mary (played by Cameron Diaz) and is afraid that he might not be able to perform, so he masturbates at home. When Mary arrives at his door, she notices something in his ear and assumes it's hair gel, so she wipes it off and rubs it into her own hair, lifting it up. As a result, her hair ends up looking like a mess.

This hairstyle was named Best Movie Hairstyle of the Year at the MTV Movie Awards and even sparked a trend. Therefore, Artemis is definitely flirting with Wade, which is why he falls for her.

15、 Alien

There are three references to Alien in the movie, in addition to the chest-burster scene:

The first is the mining spacecraft Nostromo from Alien, which appears among a pile of models in Hache's workshop.

The second reference is the gun that Artemis uses in the dance club battle, which is the classic M41A Pulse Rifle from the United States Colonial Marine Corps (USCM) in Aliens.

16、Rosebud

Paying tribute to the Easter egg, Rosebud is a famous quote from Citizen Kane, spoken by Kane (played by Orson Welles) before he dies. The entire story revolves around the meaning of Rosebud.

The film does not provide an answer, or perhaps it is the journalist's guess in the film that Rosebud is something that Kane never had or lost. In fact, Rosebud represents a very personal thing from both the perspective of the film and the story. It's "my own thing, you can't take it away, don't try to find out, everyone is looking for the answer but it's impossible to find."

In connection with the story of Ready Player One, this Rosebud represents Halliday's private interests, and Watts must find the key to these private exclusives.

17、Mecha vs. Monster

The most exciting part of the film is the battle between Gundam and Mechagodzilla. The mecha that appears in the film is the RX-78 prototype Gundam from Mobile Suit Gundam, which was first introduced in the 1979 anime and is the originator of the realistic mecha genre. The Gundam image in this film is the first time a Gundam machine (not a figurine) has appeared in a live-action work in history.

Mechagodzilla is a monster fighting against Gundam. The scene of Gundam fighting Godzilla has been fantasized by countless fans and has finally become a reality.

Mechagodzilla first appeared in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla in 1974 the last year of the Showa Godzilla (1954-1974). The initial height was 50 meters. It has also appeared in various other films about large-scale battles, and its height has increased with the setting of the times. The highest height was 120 meters in Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993).

However, the Mechagodzilla that appears in Ready Player One is the 50-meter first-generation Mechagodzilla.

18、Music

All music in the film are famous songs from the 1980s. Here are my three favorite songs (plus Stayin' Alive, a total of four).

The first song at the beginning is Jump by Van Halen, the champion single in 1984.

I Hate Myself for Loving You by Joan Jett, released in 1988.

Take on Me by the Norwegian band A-ha, released in 1985, is recommended for everyone to watch the music video. It tells the story of a girl entering a comic book and meeting the characters in the book, which is very good!

It is worth mentioning that the soundtrack of this film is by Alan Silvestri, not John Williams, who is the old partner of Spielberg. Alan is the designated composer of Robert Zemeckis, and the theme song of The Avengers is also from his hand.

19、Regrettably

Of course, there are regrets, mainly due to copyright issues, and no characters under Marvel, Star Wars, and Mickey Mouse appeared.

Therefore, in the conversations between the characters in the movie, the names of Jedi apprentices, the Millennium Falcon, Peter Parker, and Bruce Banner were mentioned, just like verbal tribute to Mario, without any visual Easter eggs, which is a pity.

In the wave of paying tribute to 80s movies in this film, the figure of Ghostbusters is missing, and The Fly, Scarface, Full Metal Jacket, Dune, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, and so on are all verbal tributes.