Emily Blunt stars in Steven Spielberg’s new sci-fi movie ‘Disclosure Day. (Photo: Universal/ScreenCap)
Director Stephen Spielberg has always had a soft spot for space aliens. His new movie heralds a return to more benevolent outer space visitors, like his 1977 classic “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
“Disclosure Day,” the new sci-fi drama opens, June 12, and is expected to be a major box office hit. Oddly, both films were released during times of uncertainty and political upheaval.
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In 1977, the country was reeling from the end of the Vietnam War, the oil price shocks of 1973-74 and a sharp recession combined with rising prices. So-called “stagflation” became the new watchword.
Now, a new uncertainty is gripping the country under Donald Trump’s erratic administration, his divisive actions, and his unprovoked war in Iran. In that sense, Speilberg’s timing couldn’t be better.
The public may be ready for space aliens who are wiser and more empathetic that mere humans, after two decades where alien monsters and technology run amok have dominated the genre.
Spielberg has had his hand in those movies, too, with his dark trilogy, “A.I Artifical Intelligence,” (2001), “Minority Report,” (2002) and “War of the Worlds” (2005).
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“E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), an upbeat film, followed “Close Encounters” before Speilbert went dark.
In the end, “Disclosure Day” offers a similar upbeat message. It plays off the age-old question, “Does the public have a right know, if aliens really are trying to reach out across the universe?”
Speilberg addresses his thoughts on the matter in the final haunting trailer for the movie, which has been viewed more than 15 million times since its release. (See below)
“I am much more inclined now than I was when I made ‘Close Encounters’ to really believe we’re not the only intelligent civilization in the universe,” he says.
But does the public have the right, and the capacity, to know the truth? That’s the movie’s premise.
It explores the global fallout, political paranoia, and existential reality of the moment humanity discovers definitive proof that aliens exist, according to a movie snyopsis.
This time, the aliens aren’t necessarily the bad guys. Spielberg portrays them as” a profound, unpredictable moral test for humanity,” more like a spiritual awakening, according to reports.
Humans are the foil, specifically, government types who want to keep the aliens secret at all costs.
Like “Close Encounters,” everyday people become the conduit for the aliens’ discovery.
Emily Blunt plays Margaret Fairchild, a Kansas City television meteorologist, who has a strange connection to an alien force, which she had as a child. Delaney Cuthbert plays young Margaret.
Josh O’Connor plays Daniel Kellner, a young cybersecurity expert and whistleblower, who tries to reveal the truth about alien visitations. He also has a younger counterpart, Tyler Renaud.
Colin Firth weighs in as Noah Scanlon, the head of the Wardex Corporation, a shadowy private military and cybersecurity firm hired by the government to thwart any signs of extraterrestrial life. Colman Domingo plays Hugo Wakefield, a Wardex defector and disclosure advocate.
Spielberg was inspired to make the movie by a landmark July 2023 House Subcommittee on National Security hearing on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), the new term for UFOs.
The hearing was marked by verifyable eye-opening government encounters, including video of military interceptions provided by the government and intelligence whistleblowers, according to press accounts.
Actual groups exists that are part of the “disclosure movement,” which believe various conspiracy theories about a government coverup of “non-human intelligence.
The director turned to veteran screenwriter David Koepp, of “Jurrasic Park” fame to write the movie.
Maybe, Spielberg is giving us the movie we need during these uncertain time to restore our faith in humanity.
Check out some trailers below.