Steven Spielberg has warned that a future ruled by virtual reality is coming ‘whether we like it or not’.

Thousands of fans were treated to a first look at Steven Spielberg’s hotly anticipated sci-fi adventure ‘Ready Player One’ at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday, reports the AFP.

Starring Tye Sheridan, the movie is based on a 2011 novel about a teenager on a treasure hunt in a virtual reality game, in a world torn by an energy crisis.

Footage for the action adventure debuted during Warner Bros.’ presentation, showing Sheridan as teenage gamer Wade Watts, who finds himself inside VR Oasis.

The preview opened in a futuristic trailer park in Columbus, Ohio where Wade lives, as he puts on the Oasis headset and gloves and is transported into its VR world.

‘I was born in 2025, but I wish I’d grown up in the 1980s, like all my heroes,’ he says.

Wade is seen going toe-to-toe with Freddy Krueger, standing beside the Iron Giant and racing the DeLorean from ‘Back to the Future’ as he weaves to avoid huge wrecking balls.

Spielberg received a huge ovation as he hit the stage in the 6,500-capacity Hall H alongside Ernie Cline, who wrote the novel.

The filmmaker described the book as ‘the most amazing flash-forward and flashback at the same time about a decade I was very involved in, the 1980s.’

He added that he thought they were going to need ‘a younger director’ to helm the project, despite his own movies featuring heavily.

‘I grew up watching this man’s movies and studying them,’ said Cline.

Spielberg said he had relished directing a sci-fi about the ‘dystopian’ world people would be living in 30 years in the future 2045.

‘People are leaving the country and all of a sudden virtual reality gives you a choice, gives you another world to exist in,’ he said.

‘And you can do anything in that world — anything you can possibly imagine.’

He called the universe he created for the movie a ‘future that is awaiting all of us whether we like it or not.’

‘This movie is going to expose so many people to the concept of virtual reality, and I think it’s going to change the speed of adoption,’ Cline added.

Presenting his upcoming sci-fi film at this year's Comic-Con in San Diego on Friday, the acclaimed director addressed what has recently been a recurring topic for him.

Virtual reality, or VR, began its expansion in the film industry over the last year, with the Cannes Film Festival presenting its first VR entry this year.

Carne Y Arena (Meat And Sand) by Birdman director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu had its debut at the Croisette in May, opening alongside Spielberg's studio animation The BFG.

At the time, the Schindler's List director warned of the dangers virtual reality could present to the industry, reports news.sky.com.

‘I think we're moving into a dangerous medium with virtual reality,’ he said.

‘The only reason I say it is dangerous is because it gives the viewer a lot of latitude not to take direction from the storytellers but make their own choices of where to look.

‘I just hope it doesn't forget the story when it starts enveloping us in a world that we can see all around us and make our own choices to look at.’

Now he seems to have, if not changed his mind, at least embraced the future.

Ready Player One opens in the United States on March 30, 2018.