Spielberg’s latest blockbuster Ready Player One gets a character coin series from the Perth Mint

One of the most successful and well regarded movie makers of all time, Steven Spielberg has a repertoire of films second to none. His latest blockbuster is called Ready Player One and is a large-scale science-fiction movie, one picking up some decent reviews and some equally healthy box-office numbers. With the current popularity of popular culture coins on the market, it has surprised nobody that there would be collectible coins based on the movie.

Today sees the second pair of coins after two were released in March, which wraps up the four-coin set. Each coin depicts a character(s) from the movie and each shares a fundamentally identical layout. The movie title in its own font sits at the bottom and there’s a maze-like pattern in the background. The main artwork on each of the four coins is a depiction of the character in a limited colour pallette along with the characters inscribed name. Design-wise these are a little underwhelming. This is a mint that has produced some quite superb numismatics in recent years and we’d like to see a little more of that imagination applied to coins like this.

Packaging comprises the increasingly popular solid acrylic frame that we like so much and it comes in a coloured themed shipper box with a serialised certificate of authenticity. The mintage of each coin is set at 5,000 pieces and all are available now. These are standard fare to be honest. A one-ounce fine 0.9999 silver coin with selective colour on the reverse and the Queens effigy on the obverse, there’s nothing out of the ordinary on the specification front. Priced at $115.00 AUD each, we’d suspect these will appeal to fans of the movie rather than outright coin collectors.

MINTS DESCRIPTION: Directed by Steven Spielbirg, and based on Ernest Cline’s bestseller of the same name, “Ready Player One” is set in 2045, with the world on the brink of chaos and collapse. But the people have found salvation in the Oasis, an expansive virtual reality universe created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday. When Halliday dies, he leaves his immense fortune to the first person to find a digital Easter egg he has hidden somewhere in the Oasis, sparking a contest that grips the entire world. Those who decide to join the contest are hurled into a breakneck, reality-bending treasure hunt through a fantastical universe of mystery, discovery and danger.

These exciting new coins feature Parzival and Art3mis, avatars adopted by two of the movie’s main characters and strongest Oasis contestants – Wade Watts and Samantha Evelyn Cook.

Wade/Parzival bands together with Samantha/Art3mis – a tough, fearless, and confident Gunter who is a legend within the Oasis – along with his best friend Aech, a fellow Gunter and warrior with unmatched mechanical skills, and Daito and Sho, an inseparable duo fashioned after samurai warriors and ninjas. Together, they are the “High Five.”

DESIGN: The Parzival coin’s reverse features Parzival in vivid colour holding a gun used to help him fight off ‘gunter’ rivals. It also features the inscriptions PARZIVAL and READY PLAYER ONE.

The Art3mis coin’s reverse features Art3mis in vivid colour holding a gun used to help her fight off ‘gunter’ rivals. It also features the inscriptions ART3MIS and READY PLAYER ONE.

The Aech coin’s reverse features Aech in vivid colour holding a gun used to help him fight off Gunter rivals. It also features the inscriptions AECH and READY PLAYER ONE.

The coloured coin’s reverse features Daito & Sho in vivid colour holding weapons used to help them fight off Gunter rivals. It also features the inscriptions DAITO & SHO and READY PLAYER ONE.

PACKAGING: Each coin is presented in a clear acrylic case, allowing both sides of the coin to be displayed, and is packaged within a themed shipper. The coins are accompanied by a numbered Certificate of Authenticity.

Ready Player One is a 2018 American science fiction adventure film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, and written by Zak Penn and Ernest Cline, based on Cline’s 2011 novel of the same name. The film stars Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, Simon Pegg, and Mark Rylance.

The film is set in the year 2045, when much of humanity, escaping the desolation of the real-world, uses the virtual reality software OASIS to engage in work and play. Wade Watts (Sheridan) discovers clues to a hidden game within the program that promises the winner full ownership of the OASIS, and joins several allies to try to complete the game before indentured players working for a large company, run by Nolan Sorrento (Mendelsohn), can do so.

Ready Player One premiered at South by Southwest on March 11, 2018, was theatrically released by Warner Bros. Pictures in the United States on March 29, 2018, and has grossed $181 million worldwide, making it the tenth highest-grossing film of 2018. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for its visuals and brisk pacing, and noting it an improvement over the book, while criticism was directed at the lack of character development and “achingly regressive” view of pop culture fans. (Source: Wikipedia)