Spielberg's "Disclosure Day" pre-release Speculation

[Giddierone]

This chain of thought occured today.
Someone commented on social media about the bird-like shape on the poster for the forthcoming Spielberg film (coming 06.12.26) about UFOs.
I replied that I thought it looked like a Woodpecker — which it does.

So, I searched for UFOs and Woodpeckers to see if there was a connection.
There is.
The Pileated Woodpecker is considered almost mythical and anyone claiming to have seen one is likened to a UFO witness. Also, no-one has provided photographic evidence that they (still) exist.
I think the film might include some allusion to this as a way to start talking about UFO ontology.

But then as I continued my search I kept seeing newspaper stories about UFOs and Flying Saucers appearing on the same page as stories about Woodpeckers. For those looking for patterns in this seemed too good not to comment on. The stories are often completely unrelated, but are just there sharing the same space in newsprint. I haven't had time to check but I wonder if other keywords (seagull etc.) might have the same kind of "hit" rate.
Some random examples from around the world, and across a number of decades.

Times Record, 9 Jan, 1969

Dothan Eagle 21 Feb, 1952 (unrelated stories running over two adjacent columns)

Palm Beach Post, 18 Oct, 1953

Daytona Beach News Journal 27 Aug, 1958

Richmond Times Dispatch 18 Feb, 1988

Anniston Start 20 Mar, 1989

 

[Ben Harris]

Freaky!

 

[NoParty]

Nice work!

I could have saved you some trouble, though:
I've got a northern pileated right outside my bedroom window, who simply will not shut up about Rendlesham!!

 

[NorCal Dave]

I replied that I thought it looked like a Woodpecker — which it does.

Indeed!

Though I guess one could argue it could be a variety of crested birds. Up in the mountains from here we see Steller's Jays (Cyanocitta stelleri):

I don't think it's a case of pareidolia, the poster seems intentionally designed that way.

But then as I continued my search I kept seeing newspaper stories about UFOs and Flying Saucers appearing on the same page as stories about Woodpeckers.

Do you think it's because both subjects fall into similar categories? If not complete puff pieces, they might be termed "human interest" stories. Not just filler for a news paper, but not quite news either, rather something interesting, something strange, something weird, something entertaining. At least with most woodpeckers, we know they exist.

 

[Ann K]

The Pileated Woodpecker is considered almost mythical and anyone claiming to have seen one is likened to a UFO witness. Also, no-one has provided photographic evidence that they (still) exist.

No, that's the similar Ivory-billed Woodpecker that is thought to be extinct, although a sighting seems to be claimed every few years. Pileated ones are not too uncommon, although they're a lot easier to hear than to see in many cases. I once sat outside watching one for half an hour as it worked its way down the tree line at the edge of my property, revisiting all the older holes (which it had created in the first place) to see if there were any more juicy grubs to eat.

 

[Ann K]

Though I guess one could argue it could be a variety of crested birds. Up in the mountains from here we see Steller's Jays (Cyanocitta stelleri)

Jays (and woodpeckers) have skinnier beaks. The one on the poster looks more like a cardinal, with their short thick seed-cracking beaks.

 

[jackfrostvc]

From the rumours etc. it sounds like it could be a Radio Dish employee stumbling on alien life(signal) , whistleblowing about it then being chased by the men in black. That's my wild guess anyway. Maybe just whisleblower and then getting chased by MIB rather than radio dish employee
In regards to what Spielbergs movie . Here was some guess work done last year about it

https://www.imdb.com/news/ni64723772/

And some more: https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/steven-spielberg-new-ufo-movie-everything-we-know-so-far

 

[John J.]

But then as I continued my search I kept seeing newspaper stories about UFOs and Flying Saucers appearing on the same page as stories about Woodpeckers.

That's really interesting! Can we rule out an ingenious viral marketing campaign, or a strategy to manufacture fake UFO: woodpecker "coincidences" and making them appear to be authentic newspaper stories?
We know Spielberg is interested in UFO lore; he's probably aware UFO enthusiasts and skeptics might investigate cryptic imagery etc. in the film's publicity materials.
It's probably difficult to insert fake material into genuine online newspaper archives, but he's a resourceful chap.

That said, the bird silhouette on the poster looks a bit more like a blue jay than a woodpecker to me (proportionately shorter neck and beak than either the ivory-billed or pileated woodpecker), but it might be none of these.

YouTube user Skywise Observations thinks it's a blue jay, and he seems fond of them, but his video (10 December 2025) is strictly in the context of the movie poster and doesn't give us any new information...

"Whaaat? Blue Jays & UFO's?? 12/10/2025; 9:00 p.m."

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiwMO9MpgTk&t=131s


...but the YouTube description has a link to this website, "The Obscurantist", https://obscurantist.com/oma/aviary/ and an article (well, just a list really) titled "The Aviary", whose first line states

UFO performance art disinformation campaign. Credited to William Moore.

No idea what that means. Other material on the sight seems to be from the more conspiratorial fringes of Ufology.

"The Aviary" is said to consist of

Alleged members:

• BLUE JAY: Dr. Christopher "Kit" Green, MD, Ph.D; Chief, Biomedical Sciences Department, General Motors, former head of the CIA's UFO files at the Weird Desk.
• PELICAN: Ron Pandolfi, CIA Deputy Director for the Division of Science and Technology and current custodian of UFO files at the Weird Desk"
• SEA GULL: Bruce Maccabee, Ph.D., research scientist in optical physics and laser weapons applications at the U.S. Naval Surface Weapons Lab, Maryland; MUFON physics/photo-interpretive consultant
• OWL: Hal Puthoff, physicist with the Institute for Advanced Research in Austin, Texas, who specializes in Zero-Point Energy.
• PENGUIN: John Alexander, Ph.D. in Death Sciences; Lt. Col. U.S. Army Intelligence, director of the Non-Lethal Weapons Department, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Neuro-Lingustic Programing trainer
• CHICKADEE: Cmdr. C.B. Scott Jones, Ph.D., USN (Ret.), OSI, DIA, DARPA. former aide to Sen. Clairborne Pell.
• PARROT(?): vallee jacques , Ph.D., astrophysicist prolific UFO author, venture capitalist
• CHICKEN LITTLE: Dan Smith, civilian UFO research/volunteer
• CONDOR: Capt. Bob Collins, USAF (Ret.); Special Agent, Air Force Office of Special Investigations
• BUZZARD(?): Gordon Novell, reportedly reportedly involved in free energy schemes
• FALCON; Sgt. Richard Doty , USAF (Ret.); Special Agent, Air Force Office of Special Investigations
• HARRIER(?): Dale Graff, UFO-related technology specialist
• NIGHTINGALE(?): Jack Verona, shadowy liaison
• HAWK: Ernie Kellerstrauss, reportedly lived with an extraterrestrial for a while
• WOODPECKER(?): majestic-12 conspiracy industry.

("Blue Jay" emphasized by me, note "Woodpecker" also features on the list).

I don't know anything about Christopher "Kit" Green, but vaguely recalled reading his name on Metabunk; found this post by @NorCal Dave on the Elizondo's Implants thread:

If Will is Kit Green, why the subterfuge? It was known a couple of years ago that Green wrote one of the DIRDs for EarthTech that went to BAASS and onto AWWSAP:

Dr. Christopher "Kit" Green is well known among those with an eye to the UFO genre for reasons including his work with the CIA and corporations controlled by Robert Bigelow. In approximately 2010 he provided a paper to Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies for inclusion in the Advanced Aerospace Weapon Systems Application Program. The AAWSAP contract was awarded to BAASS by the Defense Intelligence Agency. Green's paper, one of some 38 collected by BAASS at the time, is titled Anomalous Acute and Subacute Field Effects on Human Biological Tissues.

http://ufotrail.blogspot.com/2022/04/the-ufo-injury-study-that-wasnt.html?m=1

But (1) I don't think we know if the silhouette on the publicity poster is meant to be a blue jay; (2) the source linking the codename "Blue Jay" to Christopher Green is, um, perhaps not totally reliable; (3) even if the poster is meant to depict a blue jay and "The Aviary " makes some sort of sense to some people interested in UFOs, the "connection" between the movie poster blue jay and the name "Blue Jay" [supposedly identifying Green] on the "The Aviary" list] might very well still be coincidental.

 

[Giddierone]

Jays (and woodpeckers) have skinnier beaks. The one on the poster looks more like a cardinal, with their short thick seed-cracking beaks.

I was momentarily deflated by this disconfirming observation, but then I discovered that this thing goes deeper than thought...

Cardinals!

Toronto Star 1 October, 1919 (the pre-1947 "U.F.O." here is for United Farmers Organisation...allegedly)

But more seriously I think this might be one way conspiracy theories propagate. It seems almost any supposed connection can be found with enough keyword searching.

 

[Easy Muffin]

From the rumours etc. it sounds like it could be a Radio Dish employee stumbling on alien life(signal) , whistleblowing about it then being chased by the men in black. That's my wild guess anyway. Maybe just whisleblower and then getting chased by MIB rather than radio dish employee

The Duga was a Soviet OTH radar site that became known in the West as the 'Woodpecker' due to the characteristic noise it would produce in the shortwave band whenever they turned the thing on. Triangulation pointed towards a location near Chornobyl in today's Ukraine, at which point it became the 'Russian Woodpecker.' Wikipedia has more info on it plus a recorded sample - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duga_radar#"Russian_Woodpecker"

How's that for a tenuous connection to the bird in the movie ad!

 

[Dave51c]

The Duga was a Soviet OTH radar site that became known in the West as the 'Woodpecker' due to the characteristic noise it would produce in the shortwave band

You beat me to it! Maybe the OTH radar was actually a UFO detector.

 

[Harabeck]

Do you think it's because both subjects fall into similar categories? If not complete puff pieces, they might be termed "human interest" stories. Not just filler for a news paper, but not quite news either, rather something interesting, something strange, something weird, something entertaining. At least with most woodpeckers, we know they exist.

That was my thought. If the paper is having a slow news day, you reach for reliable standbys.

Also, you can search for "ufo <woodland animal>" and usually find something. The UFO community is large and long-lived enough to produce material of remarkable breadth. The UFO racoon memes are kinda cute.

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

Rotated 180 to show human face right side up. Looks to me like a maiko/ geisha/oiran etc. but with flawed makeup.

Out of left field:

There's no way that's a woodpecker. That's a blue jay.
Project Blue Book... Project Blue Jay... get it? The left-handed, supersecret sub-agency? Or reboot?

And/Or

Japanese white make-up: Traditonal lore is full of demons, ghosts, fox spirits taking on the guise of beguiling women. What if the Aliens are taking on human form?

The Kitsune (fox), Jorōgumo (spider), and Hone-onna (bone woman) disguise themselves as women to seduce and exploit men in some horrifying way. But they can't maintain a perfect illusion forever. Or a Rokurokubi who just seems to exist to scare travelers of the night.

A fox spirit can look like a human woman, but its shadow or reflection in water can reveals its true fox shape. The most common reveal is the fox tail(s) suddenly popping out in some way, especially when the Kitsune is drunk, distracted, or startled or just doesn't give a damn anymore and wants to reveal itself in a cynically amused way.

The Hone-onna is a ghost who creates an illusion of flesh to look like a beautiful woman. But to those who are religious or unclouded by desirous/earthly emotion, she appears as a rotting skeleton wearing a kimono. See the classic movie Ugetsu for a good example.

(I lived in Japan and studied Japanese literature.)

 

[GM4AJK]

I'm more inclined to take the more straightforward route... the "message" to me reads "birds are not real and neither are UFOs"

 

[enilc]

It is a little 'sign of the times' when someone like Spielberg has to ride on the coattails of the 'Disclosure' production for marketing.
But it'll have a John Williams score, which is enough to make me go see it.

 

[jdog]

Back in my print newspaper days, before full pagination and layout programs were common, when you had to manually fill empty column inches with type you'd often resort to the feature feed where these sorts of stories would be at least chronologically near each other in the flow.

(The amount of available pages in a print newspaper is driven by the amount of advertising, not the amount of news, so if you had a bumper crop of display ads you'd need to find something to fill pages with.)

The copy desk also kept a stash of short, evergreen one- or two-paragraph items that one editor generically called "spider bites," because he liked that particular genre.

 

[Giddierone]

This is just getting silly...

 

[NorCal Dave]

"The Aviary" is said to consist of

Alleged members:

• BLUE JAY: Dr. Christopher "Kit" Green, MD, Ph.D; Chief, Biomedical Sciences Department, General Motors, former head of the CIA's UFO files at the Weird Desk.
• PELICAN: Ron Pandolfi, CIA Deputy Director for the Division of Science and Technology and current custodian of UFO files at the Weird Desk"
• SEA GULL: Bruce Maccabee, Ph.D., research scientist in optical physics and laser weapons applications at the U.S. Naval Surface Weapons Lab, Maryland; MUFON physics/photo-interpretive consultant
• OWL: Hal Puthoff, physicist with the Institute for Advanced Research in Austin, Texas, who specializes in Zero-Point Energy.
• PENGUIN: John Alexander, Ph.D. in Death Sciences; Lt. Col. U.S. Army Intelligence, director of the Non-Lethal Weapons Department, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Neuro-Lingustic Programing trainer
• CHICKADEE: Cmdr. C.B. Scott Jones, Ph.D., USN (Ret.), OSI, DIA, DARPA. former aide to Sen. Clairborne Pell.
• PARROT(?): vallee jacques , Ph.D., astrophysicist prolific UFO author, venture capitalist
• CHICKEN LITTLE: Dan Smith, civilian UFO research/volunteer
• CONDOR: Capt. Bob Collins, USAF (Ret.); Special Agent, Air Force Office of Special Investigations
• BUZZARD(?): Gordon Novell, reportedly reportedly involved in free energy schemes
• FALCON; Sgt. Richard Doty , USAF (Ret.); Special Agent, Air Force Office of Special Investigations
• HARRIER(?): Dale Graff, UFO-related technology specialist
• NIGHTINGALE(?): Jack Verona, shadowy liaison
• HAWK: Ernie Kellerstrauss, reportedly lived with an extraterrestrial for a while
• WOODPECKER(?): majestic-12 conspiracy industry.

Good lord! That could almost use a thread of its own. It's a lot of the usual suspects, many of whom have been part of Vallee's Invisible Collage, with some others thrown in. If the list is a piece of, or part of, some "UFO performance art disinformation campaign" it's mildly entertaining.

It's something we could have come up with. A list of UFO people lumped in with a "shadowy liaison" (Nightengale), a "free energy schemer" (Buzzard) and some other questionable (Hawk) claimants in the form of a secret cabal. As it's The Aviary instead of the Invisible Collage, it allows for the use of silly sounding code names that produces silly sounding secret interactions:

We all know OWL and BLUEJAY were involved with PARROT and PENGUIN at a secret ranch location in Utah, but we don't know if CHICKEN LITTLE was ever there.

And with all this talk about what kind of bird is on the poster, where the hell is @jarlrmai ?

 

[Giddierone]

You beat me to it! Maybe the OTH radar was actually a UFO detector.

Brad Steiger's Conspiracies and secret societies: the complete dossier (2006), has a related entry on p.505

WOODPECKER
The tap-tap-tap of the secret Russian "wood-pecker" beamed ELF at U.S. coastal cities, causing anxiety, depression, and suicides among the populace.
In 1975 and the years following, conspiracy theorists were greatly concerned by warnings that Soviet submarines were beaming ELF at U.S. coastal cities. (ELF, extremely low frequency, is the band of radio frequencies from 3 to 300 Hz.) According to conspiracists, the low frequency caused a general malaise, headaches, depression, even suicides among the coastal population. Listening devices had picked up the ELF transmission, which was described as a "tap, tap, tap, tap, tap," sound-ing very much like a woodpecker knocking his beak against a tree trunk.
Secret Russian neuromedical research dis-covered that there are specific brain frequencies for each mood, thought, or emotion that humans experience. An extensive catalog of these brain actions with their distinctive frequencies was established by Russian scien-tists and psychologists. From the shadowy waters off the U.S. coast, the submarines could beam ELF waves for anger, suicide, hys-teria, lust, paranoia, or depression at hun-dreds, perhaps thousands, of unaware victims. The Soviet subs weren't trying to blitz the entire nation. If they could cause residents in the coastal areas to have nervous break-downs, that would be sufficient to prove that the human brain can be controlled, even at a distance, by the utilization of ELF carried by pulse-modulated microbeams. Eugene, Ore-
gon, was one of the cities where people were greatly affected by the Soviets pulsing "wood-pecker" ELF waves at key brain-wave rhythms.
It was no secret that the U.S. Navy used ELF to communicate with submerged sub-marines. Undersea craft are blocked from most electromagnetic signals because of the electrical conductivity of salt water. ELF is not used for ordinary communications because its extremely low transmission rate requires a very large antenna, many miles in length.
According to conspiracists, U.S. military scientists began to realize that the "wood-pecker" was considerably more than cold war paranoia, and the navy eventually invested more than $25 million into ELF research. It wasn't long before America had a fleet of its own "woodpeckers" cruising the coasts of Soviet-bloc nations.
U.S. senator Gaylord Nelson later forced the navy to reveal its findings demonstrating that ELF transmissions can alter human blood chemistry. In 1976 Dr. Susan Bawin and Dr. W. Ross Adey proved that nerve cells are affected by ELF fields.
In the summer of 1977, strange anomalous sky glows, weird lightning, and eerie plasma effects were seen in the skies near the woodpecker transmitter sites in the USSR. The Washington Post (September 23, 1977) carried a report that cited "a strange, star-like ball of light" seen in the sky over Petrozavodsk in Soviet Karelia, "spreading like a jellyfish and showering down shafts of light."
The U.S. government constructed and maintained two sites in the Chequamegon National Forest, Wisconsin, and the Escanaba
State Forest, Michigan, each utilizing power lines as antennae stretching from fourteen to twenty-eight miles in length. Ecologists became concerned about environmental conditions and human health problems resulting from the great amounts of electricity generat-ed and emitted by ELF, and in 1984 a federal judge ordered construction halted until further studies could be made and evaluated.
At the height of the great floods that inundated the Midwest in 1993, people saw "mysterious flashes of light" that streamed from "the tops of storm-clouds into the upper atmosphere" during the heavy rains. The Kansas City Star reported that the mysterious flashes of light resembled "jellyfish." On September 24, 1993, the newspaper report-ed that the flashes of light were "brightest where they top out-typically about 40 miles high-so you have the jellyfish body at the top with tentacles trailing down."
In 2004 the antennae at the
Chequamegon and Escanaba ELF installa-tions were ordered dismantled. Conspiracy theorists say that it really doesn't matter whether the government tears those two sites down. HAARP far surpasses those pesky Russian and Yank woodpeckers in its potential for weather control and military domination of the world.
Sources
"H.A.A.R.P, Part II." The B.B. http://www.cyberspace orbit.com/haarp-le.htm.
"HAARP Unveiled." http://umf.net/umf/library/1haarp.htm.
Manning, Jeane, and Nick Begich. "Angels Don't Play This HAARP: Advances in Tesla Technology." www. 2012.com.au/HAARP html.

It's a lot of the usual suspects

It's just missing the trans-medium Cormorant.

 

[FatPhil]

This is just getting silly...

If P(A)>0 and P(B)>0, and A and B are independent, then P(A^B) > 0; so if N is large enough, such as everything that's ever been scanned, then hits will be found.

In fact, if the inferred estimates for P(A), P(B), and P(A^B) are such that P(A^B) ~ P(A)*P(B), then that's supporting evidence for the hypothesis that A and B actually are independent.

 

[Giddierone]

If P(A)>0 and P(B)>0, and A and B are independent, then P(A^B) > 0; so if N is large enough, such as everything that's ever been scanned, then hits will be found.

In fact, if the inferred estimates for P(A), P(B), and P(A^B) are such that P(A^B) ~ P(A)*P(B), then that's supporting evidence for the hypothesis that A and B actually are independent.

Yes, it works with most things. For example Cardinals AND UFO, or "Jelly Baby" AND UFO (or "Flying Saucer") Etc...

 

[RTM]

Brad Steiger's Conspiracies and secret societies: the complete dossier (2006), has a related entry on p.505

WOODPECKER
The tap-tap-tap of the secret Russian "wood-pecker" beamed ELF at U.S. coastal cities, causing anxiety, depression, and suicides among the populace.
In 1975 and the years following, conspiracy theorists were greatly concerned by warnings that Soviet submarines were beaming ELF at U.S. coastal cities. (ELF, extremely low frequency, is the band of radio frequencies from 3 to 300 Hz.) According to conspiracists, the low frequency caused a general malaise, headaches, depression, even suicides among the coastal population. Listening devices had picked up the ELF transmission, which was described as a "tap, tap, tap, tap, tap," sound-ing very much like a woodpecker knocking his beak against a tree trunk.
Secret Russian neuromedical research dis-covered that there are specific brain frequencies for each mood, thought, or emotion that humans experience. An extensive catalog of these brain actions with their distinctive frequencies was established by Russian scien-tists and psychologists. From the shadowy waters off the U.S. coast, the submarines could beam ELF waves for anger, suicide, hys-teria, lust, paranoia, or depression at hun-dreds, perhaps thousands, of unaware victims. The Soviet subs weren't trying to blitz the entire nation. If they could cause residents in the coastal areas to have nervous break-downs, that would be sufficient to prove that the human brain can be controlled, even at a distance, by the utilization of ELF carried by pulse-modulated microbeams. Eugene, Ore-
gon, was one of the cities where people were greatly affected by the Soviets pulsing "wood-pecker" ELF waves at key brain-wave rhythms.
It was no secret that the U.S. Navy used ELF to communicate with submerged sub-marines. Undersea craft are blocked from most electromagnetic signals because of the electrical conductivity of salt water. ELF is not used for ordinary communications because its extremely low transmission rate requires a very large antenna, many miles in length.
According to conspiracists, U.S. military scientists began to realize that the "wood-pecker" was considerably more than cold war paranoia, and the navy eventually invested more than $25 million into ELF research. It wasn't long before America had a fleet of its own "woodpeckers" cruising the coasts of Soviet-bloc nations.
U.S. senator Gaylord Nelson later forced the navy to reveal its findings demonstrating that ELF transmissions can alter human blood chemistry. In 1976 Dr. Susan Bawin and Dr. W. Ross Adey proved that nerve cells are affected by ELF fields.
In the summer of 1977, strange anomalous sky glows, weird lightning, and eerie plasma effects were seen in the skies near the woodpecker transmitter sites in the USSR. The Washington Post (September 23, 1977) carried a report that cited "a strange, star-like ball of light" seen in the sky over Petrozavodsk in Soviet Karelia, "spreading like a jellyfish and showering down shafts of light."
The U.S. government constructed and maintained two sites in the Chequamegon National Forest, Wisconsin, and the Escanaba
State Forest, Michigan, each utilizing power lines as antennae stretching from fourteen to twenty-eight miles in length. Ecologists became concerned about environmental conditions and human health problems resulting from the great amounts of electricity generat-ed and emitted by ELF, and in 1984 a federal judge ordered construction halted until further studies could be made and evaluated.
At the height of the great floods that inundated the Midwest in 1993, people saw "mysterious flashes of light" that streamed from "the tops of storm-clouds into the upper atmosphere" during the heavy rains. The Kansas City Star reported that the mysterious flashes of light resembled "jellyfish." On September 24, 1993, the newspaper report-ed that the flashes of light were "brightest where they top out-typically about 40 miles high-so you have the jellyfish body at the top with tentacles trailing down."
In 2004 the antennae at the
Chequamegon and Escanaba ELF installa-tions were ordered dismantled. Conspiracy theorists say that it really doesn't matter whether the government tears those two sites down. HAARP far surpasses those pesky Russian and Yank woodpeckers in its potential for weather control and military domination of the world.
Sources
"H.A.A.R.P, Part II." The B.B. http://www.cyberspace orbit.com/haarp-le.htm.
"HAARP Unveiled." http://umf.net/umf/library/1haarp.htm.
Manning, Jeane, and Nick Begich. "Angels Don't Play This HAARP: Advances in Tesla Technology." www. 2012.com.au/HAARP html.

It's just missing the trans-medium Cormorant.

No Tits, either.

 

[Montauk]

I was planning to make a thread about this movie, but I had no idea about this woodpecker thing. I'm glad I waited! I wonder though if it might be good to make a more general thread about the movie, but keep this deep dive.

 

[Mendel]

Article:

Specific details about the plot are still tightly controlled, but early footage shown in June 2025 gave a sense of its tone and scope. The clip featured Emily Blunt as a woman living in a rural setting who becomes the target of pursuers driving unmarked black cars. A major sequence reportedly shows Blunt and co-star Josh O'Connor in a chase that ends when their car collides with a moving train. While UFOs appear central to the story, the preview suggested themes of government pursuit and secrecy more than direct alien contact. The imagery recalled the suspense and sense of wonder that defined Spielberg's earlier films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

Production began in February 2025 under the working title Non-View, though other rumored titles surfaced, including Disclosure, The Dish, and War of the Worlds 2: The New Chapter.

Source: https://bleedingfool.com/movies-tv-film/inside-stephen-spielbergs-secret-ufo-film-for-2026/

There's a wikipedia page at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Untitled_Steven_Spielberg_film .

It's also pointed out that Spielberg's company Amblin made Encounters for netflix recently.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCY08bvbe0M

 

[Giddierone]

Spielberg's company Amblin made Encounters for netflix recently.

Oh, yes I wrote about Encounters recently (two years ago) https://skepticalinquirer.org/2025/...mencounters-em-and-the-ariel-school-sighting/ (unfortunately it's behind their paywall).

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

Specific details about the plot are still tightly controlled, but early footage shown in June 2025 gave a sense of its tone and scope. The clip featured Emily Blunt as a woman living in a rural setting who becomes the target of pursuers driving unmarked black cars. A major sequence reportedly shows Blunt and co-star Josh O'Connor in a chase that ends when their car collides with a moving train. While UFOs appear central to the story, the preview suggested themes of government pursuit and secrecy more than direct alien contact.

Jesus. That sounds hackneyed and boring. I've lost all interest.

 

[jackfrostvc]

The Dish could be a reference to a radio Dish or it could be just a reference to a UFO disk I guess

 

[John J.]

I've got a northern pileated right outside my bedroom window, who simply will not shut up about Rendlesham!!

It's singing like a canary?

 

[NorCal Dave]

Jesus. That sounds hackneyed and boring. I've lost all interest.

Right? Is it just a chase movie with the MiBs? Looking back, I think CE3K still holds up 40+ years later. Yes it used some tropes like the Bermuda Triangle, but the 3 narrative arcs of the Valleesque led scientists, Barry and his mom, along with Roy's decent into madness are woven together to create the tension without a bunch of chases or overpowering SFX. The chases and SFX are there, but they're part of the story, not the excuse for it.

 

[jdog]

Would be kind of interesting if the silhouette were more like a cuckoo, the bird that tricks other species into raising their young.

 

[Mendel]

The Dish could be a reference to a radio Dish or it could be just a reference to a UFO disk I guess

It reminds me of the excellent movie The Dish (2000) starring Sam Neill, which is about Australia's Parkes Observatory's radio telescope's contribution to the moon landing.
It does not feature a car chase, but I'm confident the Metabunk crowd would enjoy watching it.

 

[FatPhil]

Yes, it works with most things. For example Cardinals AND UFO, or "Jelly Baby" AND UFO (or "Flying Saucer") Etc...

I've long believed that a gelatinous form might be optimal for any species that masters interstellar travel, so the latter one comes as no surprise.

 

[Dave51c]

It reminds me of the excellent movie The Dish (2000) starring Sam Neill,

Seconded. Definitely worth a(nother) watch.

 

[JMartJr]

Is it just a chase movie with the MiBs?

I can't imagine anybody attempting to make the MiB a dramatic serious threat to be taken seriously after the cultural impact of the Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones films.

Buy people do stuff I can't imagine fairly frequently...

Maybe a grown up "version of ET," with the MiB chasing our frightened alien who now fir some reason is somehow connected with birds?

 

[Giddierone]

Maybe it'll be a film of gritty realism in the style of Ken Loach's Kes: a young boy, picked on at school, finds a hybrid alien ejected from a crashed interstellar orb, and after stealing a copy of Communion from a second-hand bookstore learns ti nurture it in his garden shed, astonishing his teachers at school by speaking with passion and conviction about his new hobby. But, it ends in tragedy as his bully of an older brother pushed the young lad who sits on the creature, extinguishing the potential lessons to be learned from first contact....

 

[purpleivan]

The discussion of the upcoming Spielberg movie and it's subject matter, reminded me of the movie "Midnight Special", which features government forces trying to catch an alien (of an unusual kind) that's protected by a semi-religeous cult.
imdb.com/title/tt2649554/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_7_nm_1_in_0_q_midnight%2520sp

 

[Ann K]

Maybe a grown up "version of ET," with the MiB chasing our frightened alien who now fir some reason is somehow connected with birds?

I saw "The Birds" (Hitchcock) on the first week of its release, which had plenty of spooky bird action that was unspoiled by actual explanations. It was also memorable for its intentionally ungrammatical ad line, "The Birds is coming".

 

[Todd Feinman]

Woodpeckers? Hmmm... Owls have been said to have a UFO connection by some:

"The owl has held a place of reverence and mystique throughout history. And as strange as this might seem, owls are also showing up in conjunction with the UFO experience."

Amazon books here

I actually think the woodpecker reference comes from the book UFOs: A Scientist Explains What We Know, and at least partially concerns the stigma associated with UFO research:

"

 

[Montauk]

While not related to the woodpecker aspect, here's something interesting that Steven Greenstreet found by flipping and combining the LA and NYC billboards:

Flip the NYC and LA Spielberg billboards, combine them, and you see a female fighter pilot?

#Dietrich #TicTac

Back to more aviary talk, he also believes it could be a bluebird or a cardinal:

 

[John J.]

Owls have been said to have a UFO connection by some:

Novelist Whitley Streiber's Communion and its sequels, supposedly true accounts of the author encountering aliens, feature owls;

"Whitley Strieber wrote eloquently about owls in decades past", Hidden Experience blog, Mike Clelland 09 Nov. 2016 https://hiddenexperience.blogspot.com/2016/11/whitley-strieber-wrote-eloquently-about.html which has some examples, also

Screen memories emerge. After the experience, Strieber awoke with a vivid, yet false, memory of seeing a barn owl outside his window. This "screen memory" served to mask the traumatic events, a psychological defense mechanism noted by Freud.

SoBrief website, which has a wholly uncritical precis of Communion, https://sobrief.com/books/communion last updated 21 July 2025.

Streiber's (and some similar) accounts have an inherent weak point: A genuine owl (or other critter) might be seen, and only later under hypnosis or in dreams is it "revealed" to be an alien. But the accuracy of evidence gathered under hypnosis is highly questionable.
The SoBrief article says

Strieber sought help from UFO researcher Budd Hopkins, who connected him with psychiatrist and expert hypnotist Dr. Donald Klein.

Budd Hopkins was well-known for his use of hypnosis in documenting claimed encounters with aliens; some critics think his techniques may have created false memories or otherwise validated/ reinforced fanciful interpretations by claimants; Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budd_Hopkins.

The Kelly-Hopkinsville "encounter" of 1955, with its hobgoblins, might have been triggered by sightings of great horned owls
(Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly–Hopkinsville_encounter), a theory proposed by several people including @Brian Dunning. The Wikipedia article states

In the late 1970s, Steven Spielberg used the event as the basis for Night Skies, an unproduced science fiction horror film.

-although it might be unlikely that the owl explanation was part of the plot (Wikipedia article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Skies).

Owls are most active at dusk and at night, when our vision is less effective and cognition might be slightly less efficient (particularly if sleep has been delayed),

Reduced cognitive function (e.g., alertness, mood, social activities, physical performance) has been associated with circadian misalignment. Chronic shift workers display increased rates of operational error, impaired visual-motor performance and processing efficacy...

Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circadian_rhythm
A disproportionate number of paranormal encounters (with e.g. ghosts, UFOs, alien abductors, folkloric beings) seem to happen at night.
As @Todd Feinman says, Owls are well-represented in folklore and mythology; in European traditions the owl is associated with wisdom and vigilance (think Athena, who had an owl companion), in many cultures the owl is associated with death or is seen as an ill omen (several examples under "Symbolism and mythology", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owl).
It might not be coincidence that those other nocturnal fliers, bats, often have negative connotations in folklore.

Having said all that, I don't think the design on the December 2025 film poster shows an owl; the bird is approximately seen in profile, but it doesn't look like it has the broad/ deep skull and flattish face of most owls (and most owls appear to have stockier legs).

Woodpeckers convey messages from the spirits (I guess of the deceased) in some Native American folklores, and are associated with prosperity in China; The World's Rarest Birds website, "The Ultimate Guide To Woodpecker Symbolism: What Does It Mean When You See Them?", Kristen Albert, 19 Dec. 2023 [/H1]https://theworldsrarestbirds.com/woodpecker-symbolism/; a woodpecker was said to have fed the infant Romulus and Remus (mythological founders of Rome), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodpecker.

Most pictures of woodpeckers with a crest that I've seen show a proportionately longer beak than the poster silhouette, though.