Why Steven Spielberg's 'Disclosure Day' feels like the most exciting sci-fi release of the year
(Image credit: Universal Pictures)
Nobody has done more for extra-terrestrial PR than Steven Spielberg.Even before he hit paydirt with blockbuster smashes "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", "ET" and "War of the Worlds", the filmmaker's rookie, teenage self was watching the skies in "Firelight" (1964), the first movie he directed. He's since described the latter as "one of the five worst films ever made" — a claim we can't verify, seeing as only a few minutes of footage still exist — but it proves how long the director has been interested in little green men. (Other extra-terrestrial archetypes are, of course, available.)A new Spielberg alien movie is therefore always going to be worth getting excited about, though that's not the only reason "Disclosure Day" feels like the most important sci-fi movie release of 2026.Along with Christopher Nolan, JJ Abrams and — following the success of last year's brilliant, genre-bending "Sinners" — arguably Ryan Coogler as well, Spielberg is now one of the few filmmakers in Hollywood with the commercial clout to make an original, standalone genre movie with blockbuster scale. ("Project Hail Mary" is another exception that proves the rule, though that did arrive with the advantage of being based on Andy Weir's already-beloved bestselling novel.)It hasn't always been this way. Although the 21st century box office charts have been dominated by mega-franchises such as Marvel, DC, Star Wars and Harry Potter — not to mention James Cameron's extended mission to Pandora — you don't have to go back too far to find a time when original sci-fi movies were a significant force in Hollywood."Independence Day", "Men in Black", "Armageddon" and "The Matrix" were all among the top 20 highest-grossing films of the 1990s, as were "Ghost", "Forrest Gump" and "Home Alone". All of them achieved their success without relying on prior audience awareness, yet would be the outliers at the modern box office, just as likely to debut on a streaming platform as in multiplexes.
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