The overly aggressive marketing campaign forReady Player Oneshot itself in the foot yesterday with an overabundance ofclassic 1980s movie poster parodiesthat sent social media into a meltdown. The big screen adaptation of Ernest Cline’s 2011 novel has been fired upon ever since it was announced that Steven Spielberg was taking over and using a bunch of Warner Bros. properties to tell the story. The never-ending Easter Eggs that are hidden in plain view are starting to get more than a little tedious and a new “rejected"Ready Player Onetheme song sums it all up perfectly.
The new theme song is the perfect take down forReady Player Oneand it’s beautifully simple. It seems that comedian Demi Adejuyigbe, the musician responsible for the masterpiece, was a bit fed up after seeing all of the posters released at once. Each poster takes on a classic movie fromThe GooniestoRisky BusinesstoBack to the Futureand they’re all horribly done, which Twitter has pointed out more than once. So, Demi takes on the movie with a deadpan song that expertly takesReady Player Onedown a notch.
Some people have stood up for theReady Player Oneposters, noting that people are so quick to hate on things, but this promotional campaign is a bit over the top, even for non-cynics. For those who have readErnest Cline’s novel, there are alot of callbacksand references to the 1980s, which has been talked about and criticized for the last 7 years. However, there’s much more to the story and it almost seems like an insult to the intelligence of the general public to reveal what the core of the story is.
The dystopian future is a common trait in movies and TV shows at the moment, butReady Player Oneisn’t really marketed that way. Instead, they’re going for the lowhanging fruit of nostalgia, which is fine. But they just might be overdoing it a bit here, which is in turn, scaring people away from a movie that they might otherwise enjoy. Is the marketing forReady Player Oneany more aggressive than any other Hollywood movie at this time? Probably not, but it’s the repetition here and the promotion of Warner Bros. properties that are starting to grate on people.
Ready Player Oneis allset to hit theaters on March 29th, so expect to see much more of the promotional campaign, whether you like it or not. Steven Spielberg is behind the big screen adaptation and if you look at the movie for what it is, it looks pretty good. Hopefully the movie can do Ernest Cline’s original novel justice when it comes out in a few weeks. In the meantime, check out the hilarious “rejected” theme song below, thanks toDemi Adejuyigbe’s Twitteraccount.
