Steven Spielberg is back to tell another story about otherworldly encounters and an all-new billboard in Times Square will leave fans scratching their heads. Coming in 2026 is a project from the filmmaker currently known as “Untitled Steven Spielberg Project,” and other than knowing it’s sci-fi and will have something to do with UFOs, no other story details have been confirmed. The billboard claims, “All will be disclosed,” and features a close-up shot of an extra-terrestrial eye. Confirming its connection to the Spielberg project, the billboard also features his last name and the film’s June 12, 2026 release date.
Over on Twitter, Discussing Film shared a photo of the billboard, which you can check out below:
Spielberg’s Long History With the Galaxy
the mothership hovers above the landing strip in in close encounters of the third kindColumbia Pictures
Jaws was Spielberg’s breakout movie, despite the famously taxing shoot he suffered through. The filmmaker followed up the 1975 adventure with 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which he wrote and directed. While that adventure had plenty of mysterious elements, Spielberg approached the material from a more curious, grounded perspective, akin to the scientists in the movie who made contact with interstellar travelers.
Just a few years later, Spielberg delivered the family-friendly classic E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in 1982, an experience that was such a success, it was the top-grossing movie of all time until 1993, when Spielberg surpassed himself with Jurassic Park. In 2005, Spielberg delivered a much more harrowing adventure with War of the Worlds, a new take on the H.G. Wells novel of the same name. While that story had previously been adapted into various media, Spielberg told his version with all the signature thrills, chills, and familial warmth audiences have come to expect.
Spielberg wasn’t quite done with aliens with War of the Worlds, as he followed that with the long-gestating Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Given the anticipation and excitement surrounding his reunion with Harrison Ford after 1989’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, plot details were kept a closely guarded secret, only for the film’s release to confirm the titular crystal skull was that of an alien.
Genre fans are looking forward to this new project, as his last two films — West Side Story and The Fabelmans — were much more grounded in reality than his more ambitious experiences. In fact, outside of 2016’s The BFG and 2018’s Ready Player One, this upcoming UFO project is the most deeply Spielberg has ventured into sci-fi since 2008’s Crystal Skull.
Not only does the project bring Spielberg back to sci-fi, but it’s also a reunion with writer David Koepp, who wrote Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds, and Crystal Skull. The upcoming movie is set to star Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Wyatt Russell, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, and Eve Hewson.