- Primary Subject: Disclosure Day
- Key Update: Steven Spielberg describes Disclosure Day as his summation film, concluding an unofficial extraterrestrial trilogy alongside Close Encounters and E.T.
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: June 12, 2026
- Quick Answer: Steven Spielberg calls Disclosure Day his summation film following Close Encounters and E.T., though they share thematic ties rather than a direct narrative continuity.
Steven Spielberg returns to the world of sci-fi and considers Disclosure Day the conclusion of his unofficial trilogy, composed of his other two iconic films, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
There are theories that the three films are connected, as they all deal with extraterrestrials or aliens.
So how are these three films tied to one another?
Are Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Disclosure Day an Unofficial Trilogy?
Disclosure Day follows cybersecurity expert Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor), who learns that alien involvement on Earth has been ongoing for decades and decides to make this information public.
But as this unfolds, meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) is already experiencing a series of strange events that may be connected to the aliens. The two ultimately work together to uncover the past and reveal the truth to the world.
With its shared theme of the US government hiding UFO information from the public, similar to Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Steven Spielberg has suggested that the first film marked his initial foray into exploring how a world-changing event might unfold if revealed to humanity.
He described it as “the first time an advanced off-world civilization appeared to us and started communicating with us.”
With Close Encounters and E.T. serving as the first two acts, Spielberg has called Disclosure Day his “summation film.”
“I started getting really interested in what I would call my summation film. The first act in Close Encounters, the second act E.T., which was a very insulated, very, very insulated story, a suburban story,” he told ScreenRant. “And then finally, Disclosure Day was finally, unlike Devil’s Tower and that meeting of the minds, finally the truth is there for all of us to behold.”
How Do These Three Films Connect to Each Other?
Steven Spielberg has become known for directing visually spectacular sci-fi films, thanks to the massive success of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
For him, Disclosure Day serves as an extension of his earlier work and these two classic sci-fi films.
Close Encounters explores the public’s awe of alien life, while the government attempts to keep their existence a secret. In contrast, E.T. focuses on humans trying to understand and connect with extraterrestrial life.
Alternatively, his latest film aims to reveal the government’s secrets about these intelligent beings so that humanity can decide how to live knowing aliens truly exist.
At first glance, Spielberg appears to combine the themes of the first two films in Disclosure Day, making it a culmination of their stories, where people are both fearful of and fascinated by the idea of aliens among them.
However, the third film does not appear to be directly tied to the first two, especially since the alien species in each film differ in design. While this may suggest that aliens can take different forms, it also raises the possibility that the stories are not connected within a single continuity.
So, although Spielberg describes Disclosure Day as his “summation film,” it may not actually serve as the conclusion of an unofficial alien trilogy. It may instead simply mark his final extraterrestrial-themed film of aliens visiting Earth.
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