Ever since 2008’s “War of the Worlds,” Steven Spielberg has largely stayed away from sci-fi, only returning once with “Ready Player One”—just a single film in 17 years. Spielberg has mostly focused on prestige dramas, including “Lincoln,” “Bridge of Spies,” “War Horse,” “The Post,” and “The Fabelmans.”
That will soon change with “Disclosure Day,” Spielberg’s return not only to sci-fi but, more importantly, to the UFO genre that propelled him to the A-list with “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “E.T.”
A trailer for the film has now been released, which doesn’t reveal too much—Emily Blunt delivers a weather forecast interrupted by disturbing extraterrestrial sounds—and conceals enough of the plot to leave us wondering: what the hell is going on?
Here’s Universal’s tease so far: “If you found out we weren’t alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you? This summer, the truth belongs to seven billion people. We are coming close to … Disclosure Day.”
“People have a right to know the truth—it belongs to seven billion people,” Josh O’Connor’s character declares in the teaser trailer, which, fair warning, offers no actual glimpses of aliens or UFOs, though it hints at them in numerous ways. Another character adds, “Why would [God] create such a vast universe, only to save it for us?”
The ensemble cast includes Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo, Wyatt Russell, and Henry Lloyd-Hughes, with Steven Spielberg crafting the film’s original sci-fi concept alongside longtime collaborator and screenwriter David Koepp.
Universal will release “Disclosure Day” in theaters on June 12.
Edward Berger seems to have settled on what comes next. His Lance Armstrong biopic, starring Austin Butler, is now holding casting calls, with production eyed for January.