LOS ANGELES, June 10, 2026 - The first wave of Disclosure Day reviews suggests Steven Spielberg has not quietly wandered back into alien science fiction. He’s back with a big, expensive, emotionally direct event movie — the kind people will argue about in theater lobbies, often before they’ve even seen it.
Universal Pictures will release the film in U.S. theaters on June 12, 2026. Ahead of opening weekend, it holds an 84 percent Tomatometer score from 138 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. A verified audience score has not yet been posted, so for now the conversation belongs to critics. For now, that means critics set the tone.
What is Spielberg’s new sci-fi film about?
Universal is positioning “Disclosure Day” as an original event film created and directed by Steven Spielberg, from a screenplay by David Koepp based on Spielberg’s story. Koepp’s history with the director is not exactly casual: his previous Spielberg credits include “Jurassic Park,” “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” “War of the Worlds” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”
The film stars Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson and Colman Domingo. Its premise sits squarely in Spielberg territory: alien contact, government secrets, ordinary people caught in something much bigger than they are.
The story follows Daniel Kellner, played by Josh O’Connor, a whistleblower trying to reveal evidence of extraterrestrial life. Emily Blunt plays Margaret Fairchild, a Kansas City meteorologist pulled into the mystery after an impossible on-air event. Critics have largely avoided spoiling the film’s deeper secrets, but several describe it as a chase thriller, a conspiracy drama and a spiritual cousin to Spielberg’s earlier stories about awe, fear and first contact.
Why are critics largely positive so far?
Critics mostly agree that Spielberg has made a polished, emotionally sincere blockbuster — the kind he still knows how to deliver. Rotten Tomatoes’ editorial roundup described the first reviews as “very positive,” with many critics framing the film as a hopeful thriller that revisits familiar Spielberg themes without feeling like a reheated museum piece.
The themes are familiar Spielberg territory: citizens pushing back against secrecy, truth colliding with power and the old unease of not being alone. Several reviewers argue that the film feels pointedly contemporary, less a nostalgia exercise than a Spielberg story filtered through today’s distrust of institutions and information systems.
The Associated Press’ Lindsey Bahr was one of the film’s admirers, giving it three stars out of four and calling it a “classic, big-hearted Spielberg adventure.” Bahr wrote that the movie reaffirmed her belief not so much in aliens as in Spielberg’s filmmaking instincts, which is a tidy way of saying the flying objects may vary, but the craft remains familiar.
How does Emily Blunt fit into the praise?
Emily Blunt has emerged as the most consistently praised performer in the film. Critics repeatedly point to her work as Margaret Fairchild as one of the movie’s strongest anchors, especially as the story expands from local mystery into global consequence.
In The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw called Blunt’s performance a “career-topper.” He described the film as energetic, entertaining and packed with chases and set pieces, while also noting that some of its mystery fades once the alien imagery becomes more visible. That’s always the trade-off: once you show the alien, some of the wonder slips away.
Rotten Tomatoes’ roundup similarly highlighted Blunt as the standout, with several reviewers calling the role one of the best showcases of her career. The praise matters because “Disclosure Day” appears to lean heavily on human reaction, not just spectacle. If audiences do not buy Margaret’s fear, curiosity and moral urgency, the larger machinery risks becoming very expensive weather.
What are reviewers saying about the action?
Spielberg’s handling of movement, suspense and spatial geography has also drawn strong notices. Even some critics with reservations about the script acknowledge that the action filmmaking is unusually clean and muscular by current blockbuster standards.
Multiple reviews singled out the film’s chase sequences, including car chases and a high-speed train sequence. Rotten Tomatoes’ roundup identified those moments as major set pieces, while The Atlantic noted the film’s breakneck pace, “great driving” and freight-train sequence.
At RogerEbert.com, Brian Tallerico praised the film’s scale and ambition, arguing that it proves a summer blockbuster can still be “morally and thematically complex” while remaining mainstream entertainment. Tallerico was not unreservedly glowing, though. He wrote that Koepp’s script “sometimes trips over itself” while trying to handle the movie’s many ideas, conspiracies and character threads.
That tension appears central to the critical response: critics like its momentum and emotional force, but some think it’s trying to juggle too much.
Where do the reservations begin?
The less enthusiastic reviews tend to focus on the screenplay’s density and the final act. For some critics, “Disclosure Day” works best in its first two-thirds, when the mystery is expanding and the chase structure is still tightening. The ending, however, has become the main fault line.
Time Out argued that the film resembles “The X-Files” more than “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” saying the script strains to fit philosophical questions, action spectacle and conspiracy mechanics into one package. The review found the ending powerful but said the film lacks the effortless tension and charm of the classics it clearly evokes.
ScreenCrush critic Matt Singer gave the movie 7 out of 10, calling its first two-thirds fun, spooky and clever. His main objection was the third act, which he found predictable and unsatisfying. Singer still described the film as the kind of character-driven effects blockbuster that rarely gets made now, but said its mythology and payoff do not fully equal its setup.
Why is the movie being called timely?
Several critics argue that “Disclosure Day” is not simply Spielberg revisiting aliens because the genre section was open. In The Atlantic, David Sims called it an alien movie for a “post-truth” era, noting that it is Spielberg’s first film set in the apparent present day since 2005’s “War of the Worlds.”
That present-day setting matters. The film’s core question is not only whether extraterrestrial life exists, but whether a fractured public can still process a shared revelation. The story’s ingredients, including a whistleblower, a local meteorologist and a defense contractor determined to suppress evidence, place the alien mystery inside a familiar modern anxiety: what happens when proof arrives in a world that’s already trained itself to doubt everything?
The Wrap’s William Bibbiani was divided on that point. He called the film a propulsive summer thrill ride but argued that its ideas about truth, public revelation and conspiracy feel naive in the 2020s. In his view, Spielberg’s apparent belief that a world-changing disclosure could unite people becomes the movie’s most fragile assumption.
How divided is the critical response?
The movie is not being panned, but the approval is not uniform. The Daily Beast offered a more skeptical view, calling Spielberg’s return to alien science fiction handsome but disappointing. Its criticism centered less on visual craft than on narrative complications, arguing that the film does not fully deliver the emotional and cosmic payoff it seems to promise.
The South China Morning Post landed closer to mixed-positive, giving the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and calling it a flawed but fun ride. That review praised the early momentum and set pieces, while saying the final act weakens the overall effect. Similar complaints appear across several reviews: the ending is either underdeveloped, emotionally overstated or too burdened by the film’s larger mythology.
On the other end of the spectrum, Tom’s Guide gave “Disclosure Day” 4.5 out of 5 stars, calling it an “instant Best Picture contender.” That review argued that the final act overwhelms many smaller reservations, praised the movie’s sense of wonder and suggested it may be Spielberg’s best film in more than two decades.
So yes, the same ending is being treated as both a problem and a triumph. Cinema is very good at making arguments messy.
What is the larger debate around the film?
Early roundups have emphasized a clear pattern: critics are impressed by Spielberg’s command of spectacle, Blunt’s performance and the film’s emotional reach, while skeptics question whether the script can sustain its many threads about faith, public trust, government secrecy and collective belief.
The Motion Picture Association’s The Credits roundup collected praise from outlets including Empire, The Hollywood Reporter, Vulture, IndieWire, RogerEbert.com and The Atlantic, presenting the reception as a strong endorsement of Spielberg’s return to science fiction spectacle.
But the bigger argument is not only about plot mechanics. It is about Spielberg’s optimism. Supporters see the film’s belief in empathy, truth and human connection as its entire point, a late-career statement from a filmmaker who has long treated wonder as a serious dramatic force. Detractors see that same optimism as a weakness, especially in a media climate where shared facts often struggle to survive first contact with the internet.
That divide gives “Disclosure Day” a sharper charge than many summer releases. It is not just asking whether audiences want aliens again. It is asking whether Spielberg’s humanism still feels persuasive when mistrust is practically a background app.
What happens next?
For now, the verdict is broadly favorable but plainly not unanimous. “Disclosure Day” is being received as a major Spielberg event: visually assured, emotionally open and powered by a heavily praised Emily Blunt performance. It is also drawing criticism for an overstuffed screenplay, dense mythology and a finale that seems built to divide the room.
The film’s standing may shift once general audiences begin weighing in after its June 12 U.S. opening. The verified audience score will add another layer to the conversation, and possibly a few more arguments about whether hope is profound, naive or simply unfashionable.
What is already clear is that Spielberg’s latest alien story is not arriving quietly. It has critics debating truth, awe, disclosure and belief, which is more than many event movies manage after spending the equivalent of a small nation’s infrastructure budget. For a blockbuster about hidden knowledge becoming public, that seems unusually on brand.
