One of Hollywood’s masters of sci-fi is making his long-awaited return to the genre after nearly a decade. This weekend sees the premiere of Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day, the Oscar-winning director’s first sci-fi film since 2018’s Ready Player One. In a month that also includes the latest Pixar film and a new entry in the DC Universe, Disclosure Day is arguably June’s most intriguing cinematic release. It’s an original UFO thriller from the man who made Close Encounters of the Third Kind that asks big, ambitious questions about humanity and the world today. A new sci-fi film from Spielberg is always an exciting prospect, even more so when it lives up to the hype.
Videos by ComicBook.com
As of this writing, Disclosure Day has a critics score of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes (from 103 submitted reviews). This makes it Spielberg’s highest-rated sci-fi movie since the original Jurassic Park (91%). So far, Disclosure Day is tied with Minority Report (89%) and tops A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (76%), War of the Worlds (76%), and Ready Player One (71%).
In addition to Jurassic Park, Disclosure Day trails E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (99%) and the aforementioned Close Encounters (91%) in Spielberg’s sci-fi filmography.
What Are Critics Saying About Disclosure Day?
For over 50 years, Spielberg has been crafting big-screen spectacle unlike anyone else, and Disclosure Day is proof he hasn’t lost his fastball all these decades later. There’s no Rotten Tomatoes critics consensus available yet, but a scan over the reviews published thus far illustrate why some people believe this is Spielberg’s best film in years. Unsurprisingly, Spielberg’s vision is one of the most praised elements. People seem to appreciate the approach he took in telling this story, using high concepts to examine the importance of connecting with each other and having empathy for one another. In addition to strong thematic material (tackling classic sci-fi ideas from a different perspective now that he’s older), Spielberg’s staging of set pieces remains one of one. Many consider Disclosure Day to be an exciting genre picture that finds Spielberg in his classic form of wowing the audience with spectacle that only he can deliver.
Spielberg fans will also be happy to hear that the performances of the Disclosure Day cast have been widely praised. Emily Blunt in particular is being singled out as a standout. Multiple reviews call her turn as meteorologist Margaret Fairchild a career best, a high bar considering some of Blunt’s previews work. Josh O’Connor has also been cited for his performance as Daniel Kellner, the whistleblower who sets the film’s events in motion. O’Connor has been steadily on the rise over the past couple of years, so it’s nice to see his headlining role in a Steven Spielberg blockbuster turned out as well as one could hope.
It is important to keep in mind that the Disclosure Day Rotten Tomatoes score could fluctuate over the next couple of days as more reviews come in. The 103 that are available on the aggregator is a large sample size, but that’s probably only a fraction of the final number. As a point of comparison, there are 442 reviews for Ready Player One on Rotten Tomatoes, so there could be literally hundreds of more Disclosure Day reviews on the way. However, one shouldn’t expect the final score to swing too drastically in one direction or another. Typically, the first wave of reviews is indicative of where the general consensus will land — especially if the film has already earned a Certified Fresh ranking.
It’ll be interesting to see what impact the reviews have on Disclosure Day‘s box office prospects. Though the film is widely anticipated amongst cinephiles, it’s perhaps one of the more notable question marks of the summer movie season; Spielberg is the highest-grossing director of all time, but he isn’t as big of a draw as he was earlier in his career, and Disclosure Day is opening at a very busy time of year. That said, positive word of mouth can only help. With The Mandalorian and Grogu and Masters of the Universe underwhelming, there could be an appetite for some old-school, big-budget spectacle, so a critically acclaimed Spielberg sci-fi film might be just what the doctor ordered.
What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
