Disclosure Day does not deliver the sfx- and action-heavy blockbuster you typically expect from a Summer film, but it does give us an engaging thriller with some interesting sci-fi elements.
What Is It?
This movie follows a cybersecurity expert who uncovers decades of hidden evidence proving that extraterrestrial life has secretly been visiting Earth. As he joins forces with a meteorologist who begins developing mysterious psychic abilities tied to past alien encounters, the two become targets of a powerful organization determined to keep humanity from learning the truth. Racing against time, they must expose one of history’s greatest conspiracies before the long-awaited “Disclosure Day” arrives.
Release: May 29, 2026, In Theaters
Cast: Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo
Crew: Steven Spielberg (Director/Story), David Koepp (Screenplay), John Williams (Music)
Johnny Jay’s Thoughts:
Steven Spielberg is one of the key figures—along with George Lucas—involved with kicking off the Blockbuster Era. Some of his earliest and biggest films include Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, all of which relied on big budgets and grand concepts, showing that movies could be a truly immersive experience, not just casual entertainment. You can argue the good and the bad of the Blockbuster trend that Spielberg helped to start, but it has long since set the expectations for theatergoers, especially for sci-fi and fantasy films. So it is actually a nice change of pace that this director, known for sfx-heavy, epic films, took a different direction with his latest sci-fi entry, Disclosure Day.
There is definitely a grand story driving the film, and it keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat as it delivers intensity from start to finish, giving us a thriller with plenty of twists and turns that keeps the audience guessing. But Spielberg steers clear of CGI-overload territory (even though the film does have a hefty budget), with the visual effects used in more of a subtle, supplemental manner, filling out the film instead of dominating it. In addition, it is a nice change of pace that the movie is resolved without a big battle scene that relies heavily on violence. There is some violence, as well as the threat of it, but it is avoided at the end of the film. And that is not to say the use of violence makes for a bad movie; it is just nice to see a resolution without relying upon it as Hollywood does so often.
Disclosure Day draws heavily from UFO lore that has become well known over the last few decades, and that gives it a familiar, sometimes even hackneyed feel. But Spielberg keeps that mostly in the background as he focuses more on the people impacted by the consequences of it. And in many ways, this is a spiritual sequel to his 1977 film Close Encounters of the Third Kind (you can read more about that one at this link). It follows a similar pattern of focusing on people affected by alien encounters (think Roy Neary and Jillian Guiler in the earlier film), and they are driven toward something they don’t really understand. There is even one scene that echoes the final moments of CE3K, and John Williams subtly works the famous five notes from that movie into the score at times.
Since Disclosure Day relies less on special effects, it needs a good cast to carry it, and it certainly has that. Veteran genre actress Emily Blunt (Edge of Tomorrow, A Quiet Place) is up to the task of taking on the co-lead, and she does quite a good job developing her character as we learn more about her over the course of the film. Josh O’Connor (Wake Up Dead Man) may seem like an unlikely male lead, but he does a good job portraying someone thrown into events that quickly get out of control. Colin Firth (Kingsman) gives us a good antagonist who is not necessarily evil, but who will go to almost any lengths to keep the knowledge of aliens hidden from the public. Also standing out are Colman Domingo (Fear the Walking Dead), Eve Hewson (Robin Hood), and Wyatt Russell (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters), who make the most of their screen time in supporting roles.
I would not quite count this as a hard sci-fi film, but it does take its subject seriously and does a good job with it. Disclosure Day hinges heavily on the age-old debate of whether the public should know about the existence of aliens or if that should be covered up. We have seen this theme done many times in the past (most notably across multiple seasons of The X-Files), but Spielberg’s film does offer some interesting twists on the concept, and I believe that it succeeds for the most part.
This may not be your typical summer blockbuster with tons of special effects, heroic leads, and nonstop action, but it still delivers an engaging movie that seems to move along quite briskly despite its two-hour-and-twenty-five-minute runtime. It has not received glowing reviews thus far (though it does have a 79% Tomatometer Score and 70% Popcornmeter Score on Rotten Tomatoes), and I believe it should be getting more recognition than it has so far. I would put this down as a must-watch film from the current Summer offerings, and I believe it will go on to be counted as yet another genre classic from Spielberg.
What’s Next?
Disclosure Day wraps up with a rather ambiguous final scene that certainly seems to suggest a sequel could follow. And it would be interesting to explore this story further while possibly also establishing a clearer link to CE3K. But as of now, this one is not tracking to turn a profit in its theatrical run. It should not end up as a flop like several other of this Summer’s blockbusters, but with only $200 million in worldwide ticket sales so far versus a budget of $115 million, it will likely come up short (a film usually needs to make roughly about two-and-a-half times its production budget worldwide to break even after marketing and the theater’s share of ticket sales). This one could find a second life in streaming and home video, though, so perhaps that will justify a sequel at some point down the road. Look for this one to hit VOD and streaming probably sometime around September or October.
Did you watch Disclosure Day and do you think it counts as a strong entry in Steven Spielberg’s catalog of films? Chime in with your thoughts in the comments below.
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