Steven Spielberg is returning to the question of whether we’re alone in the universe.

While Jaws made him a promising name to watch, it was Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial that cemented the legendary filmmaker as a household name across the globe.

Now considered all-time classics of the science fiction genre—and cinema as a whole—the two depictions of benign alien visits inspired profound wonder in audiences, while directly flying in the face of the malevolent invasion flicks of the early Cold War years. Spielberg eventually tried his hand at the latter with the 2005 adaptation of War of the Worlds, framing it as a haunting allegory for post-9/11 America.

And now, a little over two decades later, following several forays into real historical events (and even his own life), the Oscar-winner is set to deliver a brand-new close encounter of…some kind.

For More on Steven Spielberg:

How Steven Spielberg Used a Guitar String to Create One of Jurassic Park’s Most Iconic Moments
How Did Steven Spielberg Blow Off Steam During the Stressful Jaws Shoot? By Playing Video Games!
The Moment Spielberg Came Up with E.T.’s Iconic Spaceship Design: “Like a Victorian Christmas Tree Ornament…”

What is Steven Spielberg’s new UFO movie about?

Well, to be quite frank, there are no plot details available just yet. We don’t even have a title, though the film has previously been called The Dish by several outlets like World of Reel. Whether that’s just a working title or not, we’ll have to wait and see.

All we know for certain—as reported by Variety last spring—is that Spielberg came up with an original UFO-based story that led to a script by his longtime collaborator, David Koepp (Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull).

“What he does so brilliantly is he combines a vast spectacle with really honest human emotion—unlike, I think, any other director. It’s a very emotional experience, this movie,” Koepp told Deadline in June. “[Steven] wrote it up in a treatment, 40 or 50 pages, said, ‘Read this and tell me what you think.’ So I did and I said, ‘I think it’s great. I would do this and move that.’ Then we started the process. So he came up and wrote the whole story, and I wrote the script. But he was constantly involved in the script, changing lines and things [like that]. He was the most involved on this as he’s been on any movie I’ve written for him to direct.”

Based on those comments, this project marks Spielberg’s first writing credit since A.I. Artificial Intelligence over two decades ago.

Who stars in Steven Spielberg’s upcoming science fiction film?

The film boasts an impressive ensemble comprised of Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Wyatt Russell, Eve Hewson, and Henry Lloyd-Hughes.

Filming kicked off under the codename “Non-View” in Atlanta, northern New Jersey, and Long Island, NY last winter, with casting calls reportedly put out for background extras, MRI technicians, wrestling fans, hotel guests, diner patrons, car drivers, and North Korean soldiers. Koepp confirmed to Deadline that principal photography wrapped in late May 2025.

Spielberg subsequently showed off some mysterious footage this past summer during a dedication event held by Universal Studios, which christened a screening room after the celebrated director.

The footage, which didn’t contain any over sci-fi elements, seemed to hint at a Men in Black-type conspiracy with “plenty of menacing figures in unmarked black cars were seen chasing Blunt (who appeared in several scenes as an everywoman in a rural area). In one sequence with O’Connor, Blunt’s busted sedan collides with a speeding train. She and O’Connor attempt an escape through the broken windshield as the vehicle gets chewed alive between screeching metal and the tracks,” wrote Variety.

The description continued: “Hewson and Domingo’s characters weren’t clearly defined in the footage, though they’re on the business end of a cat-and-mouse game that explodes through farmhouses and terrorizes pedestrians. If we had to put money on it, Firth is our bad guy. The Academy Award winner looks sinister and well-suited as a leader in some kind of underground workspace (one that resembles a NASA control room and the like).”

When does the new Steven Spielberg movie come out?

Universal Pictures has the film slated for a wide theatrical release on June 12, 2026.