Aliens have always lived somewhere between wonder and warning. We often imagine aliens as something outrageously absurd… and every now and then, something comes along that makes you question whether this absurdity could actually make an appearance.
According to THR, Steven Spielberg took the stage at CinemaCon for the first time in his career to promote his upcoming sci-fi project, Disclosure Day. And if the first footage shown at CinemaCon is anything to go by, this is more than just another alien movie. Spielberg has always held a deep fascination of the potential for extraterrestrial life. And in Disclosure Day, gives you the sense that he is circling back to the question he’s been asking his whole career… what if they’ve already been here, and we just weren’t ready to hear it?
According to early footage descriptions shared at CinemaCon, the film is framed as a story around the exploration of what contact with creatures from outer space might truly look like. During a panel at CinemaCon, the director explained that the project is not just a fantasy theory. He sees it more as something that is highly possible. This project has been inspired by ongoing public conversations and the recent governmental attention surrounding UFO’s. He added that Disclosure Day aims to explore the balance between mystery and revelation while leaving audiences with as many questions as answers.
Emily Blunt plays Margaret Fairchild, a woman experiencing strange, yet subtle involuntary behaviour. And by the look on the face of the nun, you may think that an exercosim is on the card. But the patterns and signals, pull you toward something bigger, a character named Daniel Kellner, played by Josh O’Connor. A man who claims to possess hidden truths and secrets so unbelievable that need to be witnessed to understand. Think of Kellner as the knight of the dark. He brings with him darker elements, including disturbing footage that makes you question whether the discoveries are really about extraterrestrial beings or human experimentation.
And that’s where the film starts to unravel. This is more about control than just aliens crashing into cities. The movie speaks to something more intimate and invasive. There’s a suggestion that whatever is happening didn’t just arrive overnight. It is something that has been building… quietly threading itself into human lives long before anyone thought to ask questions.
The preview leaves you with a creeping sense that something is already in motion… and there’s no stopping it. It cuts between frantic chases, glitching tech, and memories that don’t quite hold together anymore. There are glimpses of a non-human hand reaching out to a child, almost like a presence that feels familiar but shouldn’t. And the thing that makes this even more interesting is the intention behind it. Spielberg is stepping back into a genre he helped define, more than 20 years after War of the Worlds, and asks a much heavier question, “what happens if we already know the answer to whether we are alone or not?”
The connection between Blunt and O’Connor’s characters hints at something that goes deeper. Is there a possibly of something being tied to their pasts or their memories. Maybe even something they don’t fully understand yet. This is definitely something personal. With that, you get the sense that Spielberg is deliberately holding the final act close to his chest. Leaving you with just enough curiosity that keeps gnawing at you. The point of Disclosure Day is not to overwhelm you. It is to make you realise that maybe the truth isn’t something that arrives with a bang. It is something that’s been waiting patiently for us to catch up. And if that’s the case, then this might not just be a return to form for Spielberg. It might be him finishing a conversation he started decades ago… only now, the answer feels a little less comforting.
Be sure to catch Disclosure Day in theatres on June 12, 2026.
