Is it game over for good or are we going to get to play again? That's the question pondered by those hoping to see a sequel to this year's blockbuster, Ready Player One. Steven Spielberg's return to blockbuster filmmaking racked up a solid score at the worldwide box office earlier this year alongside overall positive reviews. The premise seems ripe for a sequel with the infinite worlds of the OASIS yet to be explored. As of yet though, no sequel has been announced. However, if we get to press start on this game once more, it looks like Art3mis will be back because Olivia Cooke is contracted for sequels, as she explained:
I've signed my life away, so I'm contracted to sequels but I don't know [if they're happening]. I haven't heard anything. We'll see.
It sounds like Olivia Cooke doesn't know much more than we do about whether or not Ready Player One will get a sequel, but just because she hasn't heard anything doesn't mean it isn't going to happen. If it does, she is signed on to return so Art3mis and Samantha would be back. The fact that she told Digital Spy that she has signed her life away also makes it seem like she is contracted for multiple sequels should they come to fruition.
In this day and age of franchises and sequels, it makes sense that Olivia Cooke would be contracted for multiple films just in case Ready Player One gets a sequel. Felicity Jones was contracted for more than just Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but given that film's ending, her return seems... unlikely. If Olivia Cooke is contracted for sequels, you have to imagine that the other stars (or at least Tye Sheridan) are as well.
Olivia Cooke also noted that the Ready Player One novel does not have a sequel yet and speculated that perhaps a movie would have to wait until a sequel is written. While Ernest Cline's 2011 novel does not have a sequel, the author has stated that he is working on one, and the end of the film opens up some interesting avenues for a sequel book and film to explore.
The real deciding factor on a sequel to Ready Player One is probably, as it often is, money. Around the film's release, we found out that on top of its lofty, but not unheard of, budget of around $175 million, Ready Player One also had a costly marketing campaign and the film would need to make $420 to $500 million just to break even. Domestically, Ready Player One did okay, making $137 million, but over three-quarters of its box office came from overseas where it racked up $445 million, for a worldwide total of over $582 million, good for sixth-best on the year. That is over the $500 million reported it needed to break even, but whether it is enough to justify a sequel remains to be seen.
Given the success with foreign audiences and the fact that a sequel film wouldn't be an original blockbuster, but part of an existing franchise with name recognition, I would think that a sequel could perform really well overseas again. For the moment, we'll have to wait and see if and when we get to play again. To see movies that definitely are happening, and soon, check out our 2018 release schedule.
