The Greatest Partnership in Film History
John Williams and Steven Spielberg have worked together since 1974's The Sugarland Express. Thirty feature films. Five decades. Every major Spielberg film carries a John Williams score — from the two notes of Jaws to the soaring bicycle flight of E.T. to the haunting violin of Schindler's List.
No composer-director partnership in the history of cinema comes close. Not Hitchcock and Herrmann. Not Leone and Morricone. Not Nolan and Zimmer. Williams and Spielberg have defined what movies sound like for half a century, and Disclosure Day is the latest — and possibly final — chapter.
— Steven Spielberg
Why This Score Matters
Disclosure Day brings Williams back to alien territory — the genre where he created some of his most transcendent work. His Close Encounters of the Third Kind five-note motif is one of the most recognizable pieces of music ever composed for film. The flying theme from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial remains the gold standard for cinematic wonder.
With Disclosure Day, Williams has the chance to create a third defining alien score — a new musical vocabulary for humanity's encounter with the unknown. The question on every film music fan's mind: will this score join Close Encounters and E.T. in the pantheon?
The Close Encounters Connection
Williams composed the iconic five-note communication sequence for Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) — a melody so famous it has become shorthand for alien contact itself. Those five notes (G, A, F, F-octave-lower, C) are embedded in popular culture worldwide.
With Disclosure Day's spaceship design reportedly echoing the Close Encounters mothership, fans are already speculating about musical callbacks. Could Williams weave fragments of the five-note motif into his Disclosure Day score? A direct musical connection between the two films would be an electrifying moment for audiences.
The Super Bowl trailer's Close Encounters-style spaceship only fueled this speculation further. If Spielberg is visually connecting the two films, it stands to reason that Williams might do the same sonically.
Williams' Alien Scores Ranked
Williams has scored three Spielberg alien films before Disclosure Day. Here is how they rank — and where the new score might fit:
What We've Heard So Far
The Score Remains a Mystery
The December 2025 teaser trailer used generic trailer music — not Williams' compositions. The Super Bowl LX trailer similarly featured atmospheric sound design over score. This is not unusual for early marketing, but it means the actual John Williams score for Disclosure Day remains one of the film's biggest unrevealed elements.
Fans noted that Williams attended the "E Pluribus Unum" festival at Boston Symphony Hall in January 2026, where the program included his Suite from Close Encounters. Many interpreted this as a deliberate nod to the upcoming Disclosure Day score.
The first official listen to Williams' Disclosure Day music will likely come in a later trailer or the film itself — making opening night an event for film music fans as much as for sci-fi audiences.
A Living Legend
Every New Score Is Precious
John Williams is in his 90s. He has won five Academy Awards, composed over 100 film scores, and created themes that billions of people can hum from memory. Disclosure Day could be among his final film scores — making it an event unto itself, regardless of the film surrounding it.
Williams came out of retirement for this project. When Spielberg calls, Williams answers — that has been the constant for over 50 years. But there is no guarantee there will be another call after this one. For fans of film music, Disclosure Day is not just a movie. It is a farewell performance from the greatest film composer who ever lived.
Williams & Spielberg — The Filmography
Thirty features spanning every genre Spielberg has touched. Here are ten landmark collaborations: