Steven Spielberg is venturing back into alien territory and some of those lucky enough to get a sneak preview of the director’s new sci-fi epic have declared it is his best film in years, maybe even decades.

Universal Pictures released the final trailer for Disclosure Day on Thursday (AEST) around the same time as an embargo on social media review snippets lifted ­– and the buzz is louder than an X-Files-style microchip implanted in the head of an alien abductee.

“In a shock to absolutely no one, Steven Spielberg has delivered another towering home run with #DisclosureDay,” Collider critic Steven Weintraub wrote on X.

“DISCLOSURE DAY is top tier Spielberg, as exhilarating as RAIDERS but with the emotional texture & increased ambition of his post-9/11 work,” agreed IndieWire’s Jim Hemphill.

“Disclosure Day is ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL! Truly something special… ” wrote freelance critic Tessa Smith. “Part mystery, part Twilight Zone, something new entirely. I shed a tear at the end.”

Although plot details are thin, the storyline for the film ­– opening in Australia on June 11 – revolves around the discovery that humans are “not alone”.

“If you found out we weren’t alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you?” teases the Universal Pictures promo. “This summer, the truth belongs to eight billion people.”

The film stars The Devil Wears Prada star Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor (The Crown), Colin Firth (The King’s Speech, Kingsman), Eve Hewson (The Perfect Couple, Bad Sisters) and Colman Domingo (Euphoria).

In a shock to absolutely no one, Steven Spielberg has delivered another towering home run with #DisclosureDay.
I could go on and on about what I loved, but I was lucky enough to see the movie knowing almost nothing, and I strongly recommend you do the same. Stop watching the… pic.twitter.com/a0ZJU8miYw

— Steven Weintraub (@colliderfrosty) May 27, 2026

Spielberg – the top-grossing director of all time whose previous science-fiction blockbusters include E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, War of the Worlds and Close Encounters of the Third Kind – appears himself in the trailer, speaking direct to camera.

“I am much more inclined now than I was when I made Close Encounters [in 1977], to really believe that we’re not the only intelligent civilisation in the universe,” he says.

Scenes from the film show a UFO emerging in the sky, a mysterious deer in a young girl’s bedroom, and Golden Globe and Emmy-winning actor Josh O’Connor’s character Daniel looking at secret files he stole while working for the government. Blunt plays a TV presenter who seems to be possessed by some kind of force while reading the weather, with shocked viewers watching on as strange clicking sounds emerge from her mouth.

“This is a story about us,” Spielberg says towards the end of the trailer, which had been viewed by more than 3.5 million people in the first 12 hours after it dropped.

“All of us, up against the most extraordinary event in human history.

“I used to say to myself, ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all of this turned out to be true?’ I’m now thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful for people to know all of this is true?’.”

It all sounds very enigmatic, but when it comes to Spielberg, most movie-goers are happy to take a leap of faith. As a director, writer and producer, he has been nominated for more than 20 Academy Awards over the past 48 years and won three – for Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan.

Disclosure Day is ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL! Truly something special. I was hanging onto every word, captivated by the story as it all played out. The score perfectly elevates every single scene. Part mystery, part Twlight Zone, something new entirely. I shed a tear at the end. WOW. pic.twitter.com/w7UOEpOgmh

— Tessa Smith – Mama’s Geeky (@MamasGeeky) May 27, 2026

Further fuelling anticipation for Disclosure Day is the fact that Spielberg has again teamed up with writer David Koepp and composer John Williams. Koepp has worked on a string of blockbusters, including the Spielberg-directed first two Jurassic Park films and the fourth movie in the Raiders of the Lost Ark franchise (Kingdom of the Crystal Skull).

Bill Bria of SlashFilm, another of the critics who attended a preview screening, described Disclosure Day as “the weirdest movie Spielberg’s ever made” – and he meant it in a nice way.

“Breathtaking compositions, David Koepp’s X-FILES-meets-The Bible script is one big high-wire act, Emily Blunt’s most accomplished performance, John Williams’ best score in years. Riveting, moving stuff,” Bria wrote on X.

He added that the film has “strong elements” of Close Encounters, with Spielberg recapturing some of his 1970s material.

“It’s just so invigorating and refreshing in this day and age to walk into a sci-fi thriller and have some idea of its topics and themes but no clue where it’s going. I was hooked from minute one and it never let go,” Bria wrote.

Gizmodo’s Germain Lussier also loved Disclosure Day, describing it on X as a “dense rollercoaster ride blending chase film, love story, & mystery, all wrapped in sci-fi wonder”.

“It’s Spielberg’s best film in 20 years, filled w/ all the magic that makes his films so special, plus an all-time character/performance by Emily Blunt.”

While Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated historical drama Munich was released around 20 years ago, Lussier clarified that this wasn’t the film he had in mind when he wrote his post.

“In my head, I’m going back to Catch Me If You Can [the 2002 crime caper starring Leonardo DiCaprio]. Not a slight to the other movies, most of which I love. But I really, really loved this one.”

(For the record, Spielberg’s films since then have included Oscar-nominated Lincoln, West Side Story and The Fabelmans.

More will no doubt be revealed when the embargo on full media reviews lifts on June 9.

Meanwhile, conspiracy theorists have suggested the film – which will open just a month after the Pentagon began releasing fresh files on UFOs – could be more documentary than fiction, with the trailer a kind of soft launch for a real “disclosure day”.

“So, is this how disclosure actually occurs?,” one YouTube user commented on the final trailer. “Spielberg makes a movie, and then we get home and turn on the news, and everything is true.”

Others are just excited by the teaser snippets.

“That is the most Spielbergian Spielberg direction that has ever Spielberged,” one wrote.