If there's one thing you probably know about upcoming sci-fi blockbuster Disclosure Day, it's that the new movie is directed by Steven Spielberg. But if there's another thing you know about Disclosure Day, it's that the new movie is about aliens, making it something of an unofficial follow-up to Spielberg classics Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.
"I don't want to speak for Steven, but I think there is an element of it being the third in a sort of trio: Close Encounters, E.T., and this," Disclosure Day star Josh O'Connor tells GamesRadar+. "Obviously, War of the Worlds is in there as well, but Steven's talked about those three."
While the nature of the aliens in Disclosure Day is still a closely guarded secret, screenwriter David Koepp has at least denied the wild theory doing the rounds online that the movie is part of a deep-state plan to reveal the truth about aliens. Disclosure Day, if you didn't know, is also based on a story by Spielberg, who previously wrote Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and played a key role in the inception of E.T., which may explain the thematic and spiritual connection between the three movies.
Disclosure Day is arriving at an opportune moment, as the real-life disclosure movement picks up steam in the wake of congressional hearings about UAPs and the release of a tranche of UFO documents by Pentagon in May, with O'Connor noting it's "surreal" to be part of a film that chimes so closely with contemporary concerns.
Co-star Eve Hewson even turned to interviews with people who claim to have had close encounters with non-human lifeforms as part of her research for the film, turning her into something of a disclosure convert. "People keep ignoring it, somehow" Hewson says, incredulously. "It's really weird. [Whistleblowers] keep being like: 'This is real, these are facts,' And everyone's like, 'Say what?' [laughs]"
"It's a really strange thing," adds O'Connor. "But it's nice that there's that feeling around the film."
In the new movie, Challengers star O'Connor plays Daniel Kellner, a whistleblower on the run from an extra-governmental agency doing all it can to keep the existence of alien life under wraps. Hewson plays Kellner's ex-novitiate girlfriend, Jane, who reckons with the existence of non-human life through a religious lens. Emily Blunt, Colman Domingo, Wyatt Russell and Colin Firth also star.
Disclosure Day releases in US theaters on June 12, and is in UK cinemas from June 10. For more movies still to come this year, check out our guide to the upcoming movies heading your way throughout the year.
