Steven Spielberg‘s upcoming Disclosure Day is one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year. The sci-fi film has been shrouded in mystery since its announcement, with details beyond the trailers still tightly under wraps. Still, audiences are excited about Spielberg returning to the genre, as he hasn’t directed a sci-fi film since 2018’s Ready Player One. He also wrote Disclosure Day‘s story, with regular collaborator Davide Koepp (Jurassic Park, Mission: Impossible) penning the script.
Emily Blunt, Josh O’ Connor, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, and Wyatt Russell lead the cast of Spielberg’s forthcoming blockbuster, with trailers teasing UFOs and possible government cover-ups. As the world seems on the verge of learning the truth about aliens, Blunt and O’Connor’s characters appear linked to the unfolding events, with plenty of distinct concepts on display, such as mind control and projecting your presence into someone’s head. With the secrecy surrounding Disclosure Day, fans have been busy speculating about the mysteries set to be revealed, sparking rumors that it may actually be a secret sequel to one of Spielberg’s beloved sci-fi classics. The evidence is compelling, and while the movie looks like a potential follow-up, it may not be the one fans are expecting.
The ‘Disclosure Day’ Trailer Sparked Theories About a Sci-Fi Classic Sequel
The theories positing that Disclosure Day will be a sequel to Close Encounters of the Third Kind seem well-founded. The trailer features a ship bursting through clouds, reminiscent of the same image in Spielberg’s 1977 classic. The two UFOs share such a similarity that it’s easy to draw a connection, but there is further evidence throughout the trailer that points to the possibility. The white farmhouse that gets rammed through by government vehicles does look an awful lot like the home from Close Encounters, and the odd animal behavior in the Disclosure Day trailer has its own parallels. Some fans have even pointed out that Spielberg wrote the film’s story, as he did with Close Encounters, leading some to believe the narrative is something he holds dear, like a sequel to one of his most famous films.
While making a secret sequel isn’t unheard of, as M. Night Shyamalan did with Split in his Unbreakable series, it’s rare. Still, if there was a director who could pull it off, Spielberg’s clout would be an ideal way to ensure the movie remains a hit without having to divulge it’s a sequel to capitalize on the branding. Thankfully, Spielberg is his own brand, and even if Disclosure Day isn’t a sequel to Close Encounters, there’s an undeniable influence, but that also could just be Spielberg leaning into aesthetics he loves. However, Disclosure Day also bears numerous similarities to a long-forgotten Spielberg-produced sci-fi miniseries, which could be the actual project the director is revisiting.
Steven Spielberg May Actually Want Audiences ‘Taken’ by ‘Disclosure Day’
Steven Spielberg Presents Taken hit the Sci-Fi Channel in 2002, featuring 10 2-hour episodes. The miniseries follows three families across three generations, starting in 1944 before checking in with them every few years through 2002. The families are all linked to the infamous Roswell UFO incident, with each offering the audience a different avenue to explore the events. One family is at the heart of the government cover-up, another is a family of abductees, and the third finds themselves linked to an alien survivor they shelter. Taken is an astonishing achievement in storytelling, crafting generations of compelling characters who drive the human drama and feel naturally linked by their family trees. Furthermore, the show boasts impressive visuals that most TV shows of the time couldn’t even dream of, and many still hold up today.
When the Disclosure Day trailer dropped, and some fans immediately started talking about Close Encounters of the Third Kind, another subset of Spielberg fans couldn’t help but draw a direct line to the Taken miniseries. There are numerous parallels between the government conspiracy angle and the overall themes, with examples that begin to get a bit more specific. Taken deals with human-alien hybrids, which could play a factor in Disclosure Day. The alien and hybrid characters are shown to possess a level of mind control and can also project themselves into people’s minds, which looks a lot like what Firth’s character is seen doing in the Disclosure Day trailer.
There are small links, like pupil dilation, crop circles forming, and odd animal behavior, that both projects look to utilize. However, one of the most compelling links between Taken and Disclosure Day comes from children being lured in by bright lights and possible hallucinations. The miniseries uses this conceit with some of its young characters, and Disclosure Day heavily features similar imagery throughout the trailer.
There are also a few short black-and-white shots, clearly meant to be footage from the Roswell UFO crash, in the Disclosure Day trailer, letting fans know that Spielberg’s latest will be linked to the famous case. The Roswell crash fuels Taken’s narrative, serving as the impetus for much of what unfolds. While Roswell is an easily recognizable example to utilize for the movie’s thematic purposes, it is so important to the miniseries that fans were quick to make the connection. Reddit user serpentssss shared some images showing many of the links between the two Spielberg projects, noting:
“So watching the trailers, I suspect the whole thing is going to be a continuation of his series Taken in some way, which is fully about hybrids. I just rewatched it and the parallels line up like crazy — children being lured into fairytale-like hallucinations that are lit from within (screen memory over a ship), the shapeshifting, the mental control from the aliens, the pupils growing larger when powers activate, the animal magnetism (deer in the trailer, dolphins in Taken), etc.
With details surrounding Disclosure Day tightly under wraps until the film likely hits theaters, there are plenty of aspects for fans to speculate on. There are clear parallels to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, with the director possibly making a sequel, but the potential links to Taken can’t be ignored. Maybe Spielberg is throwing the cinematic world for a complete loop, with all three projects poised to become linked in the director’s own extraterrestrial-themed universe. It may seem to be an unlikely endeavor, but if someone could pull it off, it would be Spielberg. Ultimately, Disclosure Day could just be another standalone film on the director’s resume, with his nods taking on a life of their own thanks to a curiously rabid fan base. What it all means will finally be revealed when Disclosure Day hits theaters on June 12.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
