What has Spielberg said about UFOs and UAPs?

In an interview with Stephen Colbert, Spielberg said 'There is something going on that's not being disclosed to us.' He expressed interest in recent government UFO/UAP hearings and whistleblower testimony, noting that while he hasn't personally witnessed a UFO, the accumulating evidence is hard to dismiss.

Is Disclosure Day based on Spielberg's real beliefs about aliens?

Disclosure Day is Spielberg's most personal alien film yet. The movie's central question — 'If someone knows we're not alone, why haven't we been told?' — reflects Spielberg's own stated curiosity about government secrecy around UFOs. While the film is fiction, it draws directly from real UAP hearings, government whistleblowers, and Spielberg's lifelong conviction that we are not alone.

Does Steven Spielberg Believe in Aliens? His Most Revealing Quotes

Q: Does Steven Spielberg believe in aliens?

Yes. Spielberg has stated there is 'not the possibility, but the guarantee that there is life off this planet.' While he has clarified he hasn't personally seen a UFO, he finds the evidence compelling and has spent 50 years exploring alien contact through his films, from Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) to Disclosure Day (2026).

Steven Spielberg has spent five decades making films about alien contact. But Disclosure Day is different. This time, the director isn't just imagining what first contact looks like — he's drawing from a deeply personal conviction that we are not alone. And he's not being subtle about it.

Here are his most revealing quotes — and what they tell us about why he made this film.

Spielberg's Most Revealing Quotes

"Not the possibility, but the guarantee that there is life off this planet."

Source: Disclosure Day promotional material. This is the quote that's been making headlines. Spielberg doesn't hedge, doesn't say "maybe" or "probably." He uses the word guarantee. For a filmmaker of his stature — and someone who has consulted with NASA scientists and government officials over his career — the certainty is striking.

"If someone knows we're not alone, why haven't we been told?"

Source: Disclosure Day marketing. This isn't just the tagline for a movie — it's the question Spielberg has been circling for 50 years. Close Encounters asked what contact would look like. E.T. asked what friendship with an alien would look like. Disclosure Day asks the harder question: What if contact already happened, and someone decided to keep it from us?

"I've always been fascinated with things that cannot be explained, and I've made a lot of movies about things that cannot be explained."

Source: Disclosure Day featurette. Spielberg is acknowledging the thread that connects his entire filmography — from the mothership hovering over Devils Tower to the bicycle silhouetted against the moon to the warships over cities in Disclosure Day. The unexplainable is his life's work.

"When I was just a little kid, I remember developing a real curiosity about the sky at night, and what's happening up there."

Source: Disclosure Day promotional material. This one goes back to the origin story. A young Steven Spielberg in suburban Arizona, staring up at the stars, wondering. That childhood wonder — undimmed at 79 — is the emotional engine behind every alien film he's ever made.

"There is something going on that's not being disclosed to us."

Source: Interview with Stephen Colbert. This is the quote that connects Spielberg's filmmaking to real-world events. He discussed his interest in recent government UFO/UAP news and whistleblower testimony. He clarified that he hasn't personally seen a UFO — but he finds the accumulating evidence compelling. The word "disclosed" is no accident. It's the title of his film.

From Close Encounters to Disclosure Day

Spielberg's alien obsession spans half a century — and it's evolved in ways that mirror the culture.

1977

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Spielberg's first alien contact film. Benevolent aliens communicate through music and light. The government knows, but the public doesn't. Roy Neary's obsession mirrors Spielberg's own — an ordinary person drawn to the sky by something he can't explain.

1982

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

The most personal alien story of the era. A lonely boy befriends a stranded alien. The government is a threat. The emotional core is connection — not fear. Became the highest-grossing film of its time.

2005

War of the Worlds

A darker turn. Post-9/11 Spielberg imagined alien contact as invasion, terror, and survival. The wonder is gone; the fear is everything. A father tries to protect his children as civilization collapses.

2026

Disclosure Day

The synthesis. Post-UAP hearings Spielberg returns to aliens — but now the question isn't wonder or fear. It's truth. What if someone knows we're not alone and chose not to tell us? His most mature, most personal take on the subject.

Each film reflects where Spielberg was in his life and where the culture was at the time. Close Encounters was post-Watergate curiosity. E.T. was the loneliness of his parents' divorce. War of the Worlds was post-9/11 dread. Disclosure Day arrives in the era of congressional UAP hearings, Pentagon whistleblowers, and a public that increasingly believes the government is hiding something about UFOs.

Art Imitating Life?

What makes Spielberg's quotes so resonant right now is the context. Over the past several years, the conversation around UFOs has changed dramatically:

2017: The New York Times reveals the Pentagon's secret UAP investigation program (AATIP)
2021: The U.S. government officially acknowledges UAPs in a landmark intelligence report
2023: Whistleblower David Grusch testifies before Congress about alleged recovered non-human craft
2024-2025: Congressional hearings continue; bipartisan UAP disclosure legislation advances
2026: Spielberg releases Disclosure Day — a film about government secrecy around alien contact

When Spielberg says "there is something going on that's not being disclosed to us," he's not speaking in the abstract. He's speaking to a moment in history where the U.S. government is actively debating how much to reveal about unidentified aerial phenomena. Disclosure Day is a fictional film, but it's landing in a reality where the line between science fiction and congressional testimony is thinner than ever.

What Makes Disclosure Day Different

Spielberg has made alien movies before. So why does this one feel different? Because this time, the filmmaker isn't just imagining — he's stating his beliefs publicly.

His Most Personal Alien Film

Close Encounters was about wonder. E.T. was about loneliness. War of the Worlds was about fear. Disclosure Day is about truth — and the right of ordinary people to know it.

Spielberg isn't hiding behind fiction anymore. He's using his biggest platform — a summer blockbuster with Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, a John Williams score, and an IMAX release — to ask the question he's been building toward for 50 years: Why haven't we been told?

The film's central character — Emily Blunt's Kansas City meteorologist — is an ordinary person who becomes an involuntary conduit for alien contact during a live broadcast. She doesn't seek disclosure; it happens to her, publicly and irreversibly. That setup feels like Spielberg's answer to the government secrecy he's questioned: What if the truth couldn't be contained? What if it just... came out?

With Disclosure Day releasing June 12, 2026 in theaters and IMAX, audiences will finally see what five decades of alien fascination — and personal conviction — look like when a filmmaker stops hedging and starts guaranteeing.