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This summer, Steven Spielberg returns to sci-fi with the new film Disclosure Day, the director’s latest depiction of alien contact on the big screen. Though Disclosure Day appears to be an original standalone movie, sci-fi fans can’t help but point out that it seems to have a lot in common with one of Spielberg’s most iconic films: Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Similar to Disclosure Day, Close Encounters told a story revolving around mysterious UFOs and alien activity, leading to theories that the two movies are actually connected in some way. After the latest comments from Disclosure Day star Emily Blunt, the sequel speculation will only continue to take shape.
In an interview with Empire, Blunt addressed the thematic ties between Disclosure Day and Close Encounters. “There are definitely questions posed by Close Encounters that are answered in Disclosure Day,” she said. Blunt also shed some light on her character, Margaret Fairchild. “She’s walked through life with itchy fingertips. She has this sense that she doesn’t belong where she is right now.”
Disclosure Day Isn’t an Actual Direct Sequel to Close Encounters
Those who buy into the “Disclosure Day is a stealth Close Encounters sequel” theory will find Blunt’s quotes intriguing, but they shouldn’t read too much into them. Blunt isn’t referring to specific narrative questions from Close Encounters, she’s referring more to the broader topics and themes Disclosure Day covers. These two Spielberg movies clearly share some DNA, but they go about telling their stories in very different ways. Close Encounters was more focused on Roy Neary’s personal journey, while Disclosure Day is painting on a much larger canvas with multiple perspectives. There are things about alien contact and discovery that Close Encounters couldn’t get into that Disclosure Day will be able to tackle because of its bigger scope.
It’s common for filmmakers to have certain subjects and themes that they revisit over the course of their careers (see: Christopher Nolan’s fascination with absent fathers and time). Spielberg has always been interested in alien life and contact, which is what drew him to make Close Encounters in the first place. Now, decades later, having evolved as an artist and storyteller, he’s able to approach the material from a fresh perspective, viewing it through a different lens. When he made Close Encounters decades ago, he may not have had answers to the questions that film posed, but now he’s developed new ideas and feels it’s the right time to bring them to the forefront.
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There are conspiracy elements present in Close Encounters, as the U.S. military spreads a fake news story to distract the general public from what’s really happening at Devil’s Tower. However, the film doesn’t explore this aspect in full since it’s more about Roy Neary and his quest for answers. In contrast, Disclosure Day is built entirely around conspiracies and cover-ups; Josh O’Connell’s character Daniel Kellner is a whistleblower figure who attempts to disclose the existence of aliens to Earth’s population. Meanwhile, the agency known as Wardex (led by Colin Firth’s Noah Scanlon) works to suppress that information and keep it all a secret. This means Disclosure Day is going to be able to tap into aspects Close Encounters couldn’t, such as how long the U.S. government has known about aliens, what they intend to do with them, and if the general public has a right to know about the existence of aliens.
Close Encounters and Disclosure Day may not be officially connected through story, but it looks like they’ll make for a fascinating double feature when the latter hits home media. They seem like perfect companion pieces to each other, especially since the films were made at very different points of Spielberg’s life and career. When he made Close Encounters, he was a younger man, enamored with the awe of being visited by creatures from another world. Disclosure Day looks to have plenty of the classic Spielberg wonder, but there’s also a feeling of anxiety and paranoia that’s present in some of his post-9/11 work (such as sci-fi movies Minority Report and War of the Worlds). It’ll be interesting to see how Spielberg’s view of this topic has changed over the years.
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