What the Super Bowl Trailer Showed
One of the most electrifying moments in the Disclosure Day Super Bowl trailer is a high-speed car chase running parallel to a speeding train. The shot is brief but unmistakable: Emily Blunt and Josh O'Connor are in a red vehicle, tearing across terrain alongside the train at breakneck speed. Something is behind them. Something is chasing them.
The sequence lasts only a few seconds in the trailer, but it immediately signals that Disclosure Day is not just a cerebral sci-fi drama about first contact. This is a Spielberg action movie too — and he has the resume to prove it.
The Screen Rant Exclusive Image
A Screen Rant exclusive image offers a closer look at the car chase, showing O'Connor and Blunt inside the red vehicle. O'Connor appears to be driving while Blunt rides alongside him, her expression tense and urgent. The framing suggests they are moving fast — wind, motion blur, and what appears to be open landscape rushing past outside the windows.
The image confirms this is not a quick cutaway but a sustained action set piece. The car interior shots suggest Spielberg gave this sequence the full cinematic treatment — character close-ups intercut with wide shots of the pursuit alongside the train.
What We See in the Shot
Who Is Chasing Them?
The trailer deliberately withholds the identity of the pursuers, but there are three leading possibilities:
Theory 1: Government Agents
The most likely scenario. If Blunt's meteorologist has become a conduit for alien communication and O'Connor's whistleblower has evidence of a cover-up, government agents would have every reason to pursue them. "People deserve to know" implies someone powerful wants to keep this secret.
Theory 2: Military Forces
The Super Bowl trailer shows warships over cities and a world in chaos. In a state of emergency, the military might be deployed to contain anyone connected to the alien contact — especially someone who was literally possessed on live television.
Theory 3: Something Extraterrestrial
A darker possibility. What if the aliens themselves are pursuing Blunt? If she carries some form of alien message or imprint from her possession, the aliens might want her back — or want to stop her from sharing what she now knows.
Spielberg's Legendary Chase Sequences
Steven Spielberg is one of cinema's greatest directors of vehicular action. The Disclosure Day car chase joins a legendary filmography of pursuit sequences:
Every Spielberg chase has a purpose beyond spectacle. The Raiders truck chase is about retrieving the Ark. The Duel chase is about primal survival. The Minority Report chase is about escaping a corrupt system. The Disclosure Day chase will almost certainly serve the same dual purpose — thrilling action that simultaneously advances the story and reveals character.
Practical Effects vs. CGI
One of the biggest questions surrounding the car chase is how Spielberg shot it. Throughout his career, Spielberg has shown a strong preference for practical, in-camera effects whenever possible. He famously used real vehicles and real stunt drivers for the Raiders truck chase, real water for Jaws, and practical alien puppets alongside CGI in E.T.
For Disclosure Day, reports from the production indicate that Spielberg maintained this philosophy. The film was shot on location in New Jersey, Atlanta, and New York, and set photos from the production suggest extensive use of practical vehicles and real environments. The train in the chase sequence appears to be a real train, not a digital creation.
This matters because practical effects give Spielberg's action scenes a weight and tactility that pure CGI cannot replicate. When a real car races alongside a real train, the audience feels the vibration, the danger, the wind. It is the same philosophy that made the original Jurassic Park's dinosaurs look more convincing than most modern blockbusters.
What the Chase Tells Us About the Plot
Plot Clue: They're Running With Evidence
The chase strongly implies that Blunt and O'Connor's characters have something someone wants — or know something someone wants suppressed. Combined with the trailer's closing line, "People deserve to know," the chase likely represents a critical middle-act sequence where the protagonists are fleeing with proof of extraterrestrial life.
Consider the story structure we can piece together from the trailers:
- Act 1: Blunt's meteorologist is possessed on live TV. The world sees it. O'Connor's character emerges as someone who already knew the truth.
- Act 2: They join forces. They gather evidence. Powerful forces try to stop them. The car chase happens here — a desperate flight with the truth.
- Act 3: Disclosure. The truth reaches the world. "People deserve to know."
The train itself might be significant. Are they trying to catch the train? Escape via the train? Is the train carrying something — evidence, alien technology, government secrets? Or is the train simply an obstacle, and the real threat is behind them?
Fan Theories About the Chase
The Evidence Run
The most popular theory: Blunt and O'Connor have physical evidence of extraterrestrial life — possibly recovered from a crash site or leaked from a government facility. The chase is them trying to get that evidence to a journalist, a news station, or a public venue where it cannot be suppressed. This would mirror real-world whistleblower stories.
The Train Is the Target
Some fans believe they are not just running alongside the train — they are trying to get on it. The train could be carrying alien artifacts, or it could be a government transport they need to intercept. Spielberg loves combining vehicles in his action scenes (motorcycle vs. tank, car vs. truck), so a car-to-train sequence would fit perfectly.
Blunt Is Transforming
A darker theory suggests that Blunt's character is still affected by her alien possession and is exhibiting abilities or behaviors that make her dangerous. The chase might be O'Connor trying to get her somewhere safe before the government can capture her for study — linking to Colin Firth's character, who was seen with electrodes on his head in first-look images.
"People Deserve to Know"
The trailer's most prominent line of dialogue takes on new meaning in the context of the chase. If Blunt and O'Connor are fleeing with evidence of extraterrestrial life, then the car chase is not just an action scene — it is the physical embodiment of the film's central theme: the struggle between disclosure and cover-up.
— From the Disclosure Day Super Bowl trailer
They are running toward truth. Someone is chasing them to preserve the lie. The car, the train, the open landscape — it all represents the same thing. The truth is in motion and it cannot be stopped.
Where It Fits in the Film
The Action Backbone
The car chase alongside the train appears to be one of the film's signature action set pieces — the moment where Spielberg shifts from cerebral sci-fi into full-throttle thriller mode. It likely occurs in the second act, after the characters have gathered enough evidence to become targets but before the climactic disclosure event. It serves the same structural purpose as the truck chase in Raiders or the highway escape in War of the Worlds: a breathless, sustained sequence that raises the stakes and bonds the protagonists through shared danger.
This scene also confirms that Disclosure Day has range. It is not one thing. It is a first-contact drama. It is a whistleblower thriller. It is a Spielberg action movie. And if the car chase is any indication, it is going to be one of the most thrilling rides of summer 2026.