'Ready Player One' release date, plot news: Trailer teases action-packed race in a virtual world

A promotional image for "Ready Player One."Facebook/ReadyPlayerOneMovie

A lot of hype has been building around the movie "Ready Player One" since a new trailer came out at the San Diego Comic-Con.

The first trailer was shown to a crowd of anticipating fans who were able to witness the action-oriented science-fiction footage of "Ready Player One." The movie is based on the book of the same name which was written by Ernest Cline and published in 2011.

The book won the highly coveted Prometheus Award in 2012. It eventually got adapted into a movie directed by Steven Spielberg, who is now promoting it to the public.

The film is set in a dystopian 2045 in Columbus, Ohio where the population centers have become poverty-stricken cities. The shanties of the inhabitants are stacked one on top of the other in messy formations.

To escape their desolation, the people go to a virtual world called the "Oasis" created by the presumed-dead James Halliday (Mark Rylance), where they can work, study or just be entertained.

The stakes are raised when a contest is introduced wherein the champion will get to win and own the Oasis machine and the virtual world within it. All he or she has to do is find the digital Easter egg hidden somewhere in the Oasis. This is where Wade Owen Watts (Tye Sheridan) comes in and tries to beat hundreds of other contestants to get the prize.

The film pays homage to popular culture of the past as characters and other elements from movies to comics can be seen in the trailer. The horror character Freddy Kruger from "A Nightmare on Elm Street" can be seen charging at one point, as well as the video game hero Duke Nukem.

In another scene, the DeLorean DMC-12 from "Back to the Future" can be seen racing through the streets. This strongly suggests that contestants from the real world can get to be any character they like and ride any vehicle of their choosing in the virtual world.

Fans and viewers will get to see if Watts is able to win the prize when "Ready Player One" arrives on March 30, 2018.