Spielberg's "Disclosure Day" pre-release Speculation

[Ann K]

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),

I've had great horned owls in my woods for years, supplanted in the last few years by the slightly smaller barred owls (the central one in your lineup of images). Trust me, there is nothing like the sound of owls to delay sleep, especially when there's more than an hour of frantic hooting back and forth between parents and the young'uns who had just learned to fly the nest that was eight feet from my window! I heard them as they dispersed over about a quarter of a mile through the night. The experience was worth losing a bit of sleep.

 

[Giddierone]

In addition to @John J. 's post above the notion of trickster aliens manifesting as animals in order to interact with humans features often in the UFO literature, several authors like Vallee, Keel, David Jacobs, and Mike Clelland, have written on the topic of "screen memories". John Mack was so enamored by the tales he heard from Budd Hopkins that mentions several cases in his writings. In one of my favorite passages he writes:

The aliens appear to be consummate shape-shifters, often appearing initially to the abductees as animals – owls, eagles, raccoons, and deer are among the creatures the abductees have seen initially – whie the ships themselves may be disguised as helicopters or, as in the case of one of my clients, as a too-tall kangaroo that appeared in a park when the abductee was seven."

 

[purpleivan]

A kangaroo in an urban setting (assuming it is if there's a park involve in the story) seems like a strange disguise, if smaller, less threatening animals are a choice. My niece was at a bus stop in Melborne, during the one uni year she spent there and was more than a bit shocked to turn round and one of those things, standing just 2-3 metres behind her. If I was an alien, a roo seems about the last thing I'd pick to look inconspicuous, even in Australia. Those things can be huge.

Better to go with a wombat, or at a push a koala.

 

[Todd Feinman]

A short time after my first UFO experience in 2010, I discovered that an incredibly large moth had taken up residence on the back door of my house. Never was able to determine the species; eventually it left. Didn't conflate it with the UFO experience, however. The other synchronicities around the experience were plenty enough. I love animals as long as they are not actively consuming me, and the UFO experiences gave me more of an appreciation for all types of life; every creepy critter I find indoors is rescued and put outside, now.

I hope Spielberg's film is not based on the banal stoner theory that UFOs are from future humans... But that's what I've heard.

It's interesting from my perspective to see a bunch of folks who are well-versed in the UFO phenomenon, with such a drive to understand it, yet have no personal experiences with it. Before my experiences, I was interested in the phenomenon, but just a bit --I'd read an occasional book if I ran across it, but I didn't have a drive to get to the bottom of it. I looked for meaning and mystery in other arenas.

 

[elvenwear]

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

It could be a reference to the Twilight Zone's episode 'To Serve Man.'

I'm going with Spielberg has finally made a movie about eating, or being eaten by aliens.

 

[John J.]

If I was an alien, a roo seems about the last thing I'd pick to look inconspicuous, even in Australia.

A kangaroo might not be inconspicuous as such, but there are millions of them.
The Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water estimates over 35,000,000 in 2024, and that's not including Northern Territory and Tasmania. Northern Territory doesn't have commercial "harvesting" of kangaroos, the subject of the document, don't know why Tasmania isn't included.
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/kangaroo-statistics-states-2024.pdf

This map from the Brilliant Maps website, https://brilliantmaps.com/kangaroos-vs-humans/ appears to show figures for 2020 if we compare them to the DCCEW document linked to above (I've added state names):

An ET could hide in plain sight...
That said, a substantial chance of being "harvested" might dissuade an ET from disguising itself as a kangaroo.

(It's just dawned on me I've spent time rationalising why an ETI might disguise itself as a kangaroo).

 

[John J.]

It ["The Dish"] could be a reference to the Twilight Zone's episode 'To Serve Man.'

I'm going with Spielberg has finally made a movie about eating, or being eaten by aliens.

Spielberg won't be able to match Peter Jackson's 1987 film Bad Taste, which has aliens landing in New Zealand with the intent of using humans as food.

 

[Giddierone]

Reading that Mack quote again it dawned on me that he's considering the UFO, rather than the alien, to be disguised as a Kangaroo. Which leaves me with so many questions, the first of which is what is exactly is a "too-tall kangaroo," and what kind of working knowledge of Kangaroo heights would one (seven year old) need to say one in particular is "too-tall"?

Bad Taste

"I got a crunchy bit!"

 

[purpleivan]

A kangaroo might not be inconspicuous as such, but there are millions of them.
The Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water estimates over 35,000,000 in 2024, and that's not including Northern Territory and Tasmania. Northern Territory doesn't have commercial "harvesting" of kangaroos, the subject of the document, don't know why Tasmania isn't included.
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/kangaroo-statistics-states-2024.pdf

This map from the Brilliant Maps website, https://brilliantmaps.com/kangaroos-vs-humans/ appears to show figures for 2020 if we compare them to the DCCEW document linked to above (I've added state names):

View attachment 87083

An ET could hide in plain sight...
That said, a substantial chance of being "harvested" might dissuade an ET from disguising itself as a kangaroo.

(It's just dawned on me I've spent time rationalising why an ETI might disguise itself as a kangaroo).

Also, having a pocket for keeping stuff in would be handy for visiting aliens, like keys the to their ride

 

[John J.]

Which leaves me with so many questions, the first of which is what is exactly is a "too-tall kangaroo," and what kind of working knowledge of Kangaroo heights would one (seven year old) need to say one in particular is "too-tall"?

@Giddierone, do you know if the witness was in Australia (or New Guinea) at the time?
If not, as @purpleivan points out, a kangaroo disguise is a bit counter-productive. Particularly a too-tall kangaroo;

Large mature males can stand more than 1.8 metres (5 ft 11 in) tall, with the largest confirmed one having been around 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in) tall

Wikipedia, Red kangaroo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_kangaroo

I think you might have identified a possible example of Budd Hopkins' interviewing techniques not always producing reliable results.
Alternatively: A seven year-old sees a giant kangaroo, but can tell it's a disguised alien craft, and Budd Hopkins has recorded this amazing fact for the benefit of all mankind.
-Where were the kid's parents/ other responsible adult(s) at this time? What did they see?

 

[Giddierone]

do you know if the witness was in Australia (or New Guinea) at the time?

Like with many of the anecdotes in Mack's writings there's no footnote, so I don't know any more about it, it's just a story he'd heard (like the one of of children being transported into the sky in a small craft disguised as a carnival ride).
Oh...but wait a minute, we have a number!

One young woman, not written about in this book, recalled at age seven seeing a fifteen-foot kangaroo in a park,
which turned out to be a small spacecraft.

 

[jdog]

It could be a reference to the Twilight Zone's episode 'To Serve Man.'

I'm going with Spielberg has finally made a movie about eating, or being eaten by aliens.

They're coming for our vindaloo.

 

[Mendel]

(It's just dawned on me I've spent time rationalising why an ETI might disguise itself as a kangaroo).

The made the understandable mistake of thinking that it's the dominant life form in Australia.

Also, having a pocket for keeping stuff in would be handy for visiting aliens, like keys the to their ride

Or their towel.

I think "too tall kangaroo" could have Bigfoot beat, especially considering the kangaroo's natural advantage there. Can someone please get Ross Coulthart on this?

 

[purpleivan]

The made the understandable mistake of thinking that it's the dominant life form in Australia.

Or their towel.

I think "too tall kangaroo" could have Bigfoot beat, especially considering the kangaroo's natural advantage there. Can someone please get Ross Coulthart on this?

Yes, if cartoons have taught me anything, it's that kangeroos are excellent boxers.

 

[jarlrmai]

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

My guess is Cardinal, it's distorted by the angle in the building I presume there is no flat version of it anywhere?

 

[flarkey]

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

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

The left and right eyes are the same eye from the same person but with the colours adjusted..

(brown eye flipped horizontally)

 

[Mendel]

Yes, if cartoons have taught me anything, it's that kangeroos are excellent boxers.

I was thinking in terms of foot size.

 

[Giddierone]

(brown eye flipped horizontally)

with a big reflection added

 

[JMartJr]

He's going to fool us all and it's going to be a romantic comedy about an albino ornithologist who finds love when she meets a fighter pilot.

 

[Ann K]

Like with many of the anecdotes in Mack's writings there's no footnote, so I don't know any more about it, it's just a story he'd heard (like the one of of children being transported into the sky in a small craft disguised as a carnival ride).
Oh...but wait a minute, we have a number!

One young woman, not written about in this book, recalled at age seven seeing a fifteen-foot kangaroo in a park,
which turned out to be a small spacecraft.

We have seen some wildly inaccurate sizes/distances/speeds from adults. Do we expect any better from a seven-year-old? It was probably a normal sized kangaroo.

 

[Giddierone]

I presume there is no flat version of it anywhere?

Someone posted a flat version of the LA poster on Reddit.

So, why is the eye upside down? Is it supposed to be a camera eyepiece?

EDIT: While i'm disappointed they didn't go with a Woodpecker (a better choice IMO because of the story) it seems @Ann K, and others are correct and a cardinal wins by a beak.

 

[JMartJr]

Or just to look a bit strange/eerie/alien?

I'm in a Close Encounters fan group, they REALLY want it to be a sequel, with grown-up Barry, or Roy comes back alienized, or even Roy's offspring by some comely alien visits Earth. I'm betting against all of that...

 

[John J.]

Someone posted a flat version of the LA poster on Reddit.

I hadn't really considered how much the change of angle in the OP picture might influence the shape of what we were seeing (the image sort of bends around the corner of the building).

Viewed flat, the beak might be more like the stout triangle of a cardinal than the slightly slenderer beak of a blue jay (though I'm not familiar with either bird, and looking at assorted photos there is some variation within species- but to me it looks like most cardinals have stouter beaks than most blue jays). L-R, detail from "flat" poster, northern cardinal, blue jay.

Had a quick look online to see if cardinals, or the word/ title "cardinal" had any significance in UFOlogy.

Found this, which is very much from the "believer" end of the spectrum- perhaps the work of one person.
From the "Unidentified Phenomena" website, " Cardinal-3 UFO" https://unidentifiedphenomena.com/topics/cardinal-3-ufo/

I'd be surprised if this has much weight even within UFOlogy/ amongst UFO enthusiasts. No explanation of how the author came by this information is given (there's more description of the Cardinal-3 on the webpage), or why- if this material can be shown to be true- "disclosure", a theme repeated by the author, is necessary. Other pages on the website carry other extraordinary, uncorroborated claims.
I'd be surprised if this material has had any influence on Steven Spielberg (Close Encounters used tropes from Ufology, but relatively well-known tropes).

Found this on IMDB about Mark Christopher Lee's 2023 documentary God Versus Aliens, https://www.imdb.com/news/ni64588462/, quoting Lee:

"The Vatican has been studying UFOs for decades and even has its own Cardinal appointed to deal with first contact. From my research I believe that this new guidance on apparitions is proof that they know that UFOs are more than just physical crafts from other worlds and that they have a paranormal side to them."

After the success of The Conclave (2024), largely set amongst the Catholic Church's College of Cardinals, maybe Spielberg has decided to make a Close Encounters/ Conclave mashup

Of course, though its fun to investigate possible hidden meanings/ allusions in materials like this promotional poster, there might not be any connection between the imagery used and well-known UFO cases/ theories in UFOlogy.
Successful SF/ Techno thriller movies can establish their own original tropes; there seems to have been an increase in reports of gray-like ETs resembling the Close Encounters aliens after that film (although conceptually they weren't wholly original, reportedly being an amalgam of some witness descriptions).
Benevolent aliens have been visiting Earth to warn us about the arms race etc. since 1951's The Day The Earth Stood Still*, released over a year before George Adamski met the Venusian Orthon in the California Desert, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Adamski

The poster design itself has already been at least partly successful, as it has attracted interest and online discussion, raising the film's profile.


*The theme of wise, peace-loving (or at least, "on our side") aliens in SF pulp fiction predates this, e.g. the Arisians in E.E. "Doc" Smith's Triplanetary (Amazing Stories, 1934), but The Day The Earth Stood Still must have been vastly more influential in propagating the idea.

 

[jdog]

I hadn't really considered how much the change of angle in the OP picture might influence the shape of what we were seeing (the image sort of bends around the corner of the building).

View attachment 87109

Viewed flat, the beak might be more like the stout triangle of a cardinal than the slightly slenderer beak of a blue jay (though I'm not familiar with either bird, and looking at assorted photos there is some variation within species- but to me it looks like most cardinals have stouter beaks than most blue jays). L-R, detail from "flat" poster, northern cardinal, blue jay.

View attachment 87110

Had a quick look online to see if cardinals, or the word/ title "cardinal" had any significance in UFOlogy.

Found this, which is very much from the "believer" end of the spectrum- perhaps the work of one person.
From the "Unidentified Phenomena" website, " Cardinal-3 UFO" https://unidentifiedphenomena.com/topics/cardinal-3-ufo/

View attachment 87114

I'd be surprised if this has much weight even within UFOlogy/ amongst UFO enthusiasts. No explanation of how the author came by this information is given (there's more description of the Cardinal-3 on the webpage), or why- if this material can be shown to be true- "disclosure", a theme repeated by the author, is necessary. Other pages on the website carry other extraordinary, uncorroborated claims.
I'd be surprised if this material has had any influence on Steven Spielberg (Close Encounters used tropes from Ufology, but relatively well-known tropes).

Found this on IMDB about Mark Christopher Lee's 2023 documentary God Versus Aliens, https://www.imdb.com/news/ni64588462/, quoting Lee:

"The Vatican has been studying UFOs for decades and even has its own Cardinal appointed to deal with first contact. From my research I believe that this new guidance on apparitions is proof that they know that UFOs are more than just physical crafts from other worlds and that they have a paranormal side to them."

After the success of The Conclave (2024), largely set amongst the Catholic Church's College of Cardinals, maybe Spielberg has decided to make a Close Encounters/ Conclave mashup ))

Of course, though its fun to investigate possible hidden meanings/ allusions in materials like this promotional poster, there might not be any connection between the imagery used and well-known UFO cases/ theories in UFOlogy.
Successful SF/ Techno thriller movies can establish their own original tropes; there seems to have been an increase in reports of gray-like ETs resembling the Close Encounters aliens after that film (although conceptually they weren't wholly original, reportedly being an amalgam of some witness descriptions).
Benevolent aliens have been visiting Earth to warn us about the arms race etc. since 1951's The Day The Earth Stood Still*, released over a year before George Adamski met the Venusian Orthon in the California Desert, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Adamski

The poster design itself has already been at least partly successful, as it has attracted interest and online discussion, raising the film's profile.


*The theme of wise, peace-loving (or at least, "on our side") aliens in SF pulp fiction predates this, e.g. the Arisians in E.E. "Doc" Smith's Triplanetary (Amazing Stories, 1934), but The Day The Earth Stood Still must have been vastly more influential in promulgating the idea.

Of course, in the extended version of James Cameron's The Abyss (1989), the "non-terrestrial intelligences" living under the ocean emerge just in time to prevent a nuclear war between the United States and Soviet Union (and hold off on wiping out humanity with giant waves).

 

[John J.]

Completely by chance, found this SF novella, This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar, Max Gladstone, 2019.
I hadn't heard of it, but it's won several SF literature prizes including the 2019 Nebula Award for best novella and the 2020 Hugo Award for best novella, Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_How_You_Lose_the_Time_War.

It has what appears to be a northern cardinal on the front cover, which might be the same bird as the silhouette on the Spielberg poster.

Quickly read the summary on Wikipedia, I don't think there's anything obviously in common to anything we know about the forthcoming Spielberg film (though we don't know much about it).
Wikipedia article, Disclosure Day, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disclosure_Day

I think it's interesting this colourful little bird has cropped up as a UFO enthusiast's name for a supposed type of craft, on the cover of an award-winning SF story and now (possibly) on the promotional poster for an SF film, probably independent of each other.
Almost evidence of morphic resonance... well, perhaps not. Coincidences happen.

I've been trying to decide if the eye in the image might belong to either of the two women known to feature in the film (Emily Blunt, who might be playing the lead character, or Eve Hewson), if so I think it's perhaps more likely to be Eve Hewson, but it's clearly a stylized, manipulated image, making comparisons difficult.

 

[jdog]

Teaser trailer for Disclosure Day just dropped -- looks weirder than you'd expect for Spielberg, leans heavily into supernatural/religious vibes. Emily Blunt is a TV meteorologist who starts speaking in tongues/creaking out alien noises during a newcast after some sort of encounter in nature with what looks like a cardinal, lots of chatter about people needing the truth of their reality disclosed to them, Blunt's character going on the run from government types:

Source: https://youtu.be/UFe6NRgoXCM?si=iw5uSD4kcYCGXGCL

 

[Giddierone]

I've been trying to decide if the eye in the image might belong to either of the two women known to feature in the film (Emily Blunt

Here's your answer... EDIT: replaced duplicate.

as mentioned above "screen memories" often involve deer...

 

[Giddierone]

So, from watching the trailer, I see there's going to be a dose of the argument (or principle) of plenitude (later called the argument of mediocrity by Carl Sagan). We see a woman in Catholic dress and her saying in voiceover: "why would he make such a vast universe... yet save it only for us?"
I quite like the idea. It's an old—ancient—one. It seems silly that if there were a creator that it would put all it's worshiping souls on one miniscule rock amongst the rest of creation.

 

[JMartJr]

I quite like the idea. It's an old—ancient—one. It seems silly that if there were a creator that it would put all it's worshiping souls on one miniscule rock amongst the rest of creation.

I'm not sure -- assume an omnipotent creator for a moment: it is essentially no harder to make a huge vast universe than to make a flat earther's snow globe. It might be just to make the sky pretty at night, no harder to do than any other decoration scheme He might have used!

I'm also not impressed by the idea that the Universe is, from the point of view of a creator God, all that huge. It's huge to US (perhaps that was the whole point of making it and us the sizes we are) but is it all that impressively huge to God? (Dunno, if I get a chance to talk to Him about it I'll see what He says and report back to y'all -- though that may require at least on committed MB skeptic to show up at the seance! ^_^)

Teaser trailer for Disclosure Day just dropped

Oh. Sadly, to me that looks more than a bit silly. But it's just the teaser trailer, we'll see what the film actually is...

 

[Mick West]

after some sort of encounter in nature with what looks like a cardinal,

Yeah, that's a cardinal.

 

[RTM]

For a while I thought it may have been a Stratton Jay.

 

[Montauk]

Might we want to make a more general thread about the movie, or is this good for now until we get closer to the release date?

 

[Giddierone]

I wonder if it will have any "orbs"..

Photo by Scott Taylor.
EDIT: literally the only thing I could find with Cardinals in UFO reports is this:

 

[Mendel]

Might we want to make a more general thread about the movie, or is this good for now until we get closer to the release date?

it's enough to have one thread about the movie that isn't actually about the movie, we don't need two

 

[Ann K]

Yeah, that's a cardinal.

I have six inches of snow in my back yard. Everything looks black and white outside ...except for the flock of cardinals in the shrubs, like glowing gems decorating for Christmas. They're at my bird feeder early in the morning and again near dusk.

Fun factoid, that I've heard before but cannot verify: cardinals are shy and retiring, and live for about 25 years. Bluejays are loud and excitable, and have a lifespan of about four years. Draw your own conclusions about that.

 

[jackfrostvc]

Complete with crop circles.

I wonder how much UFO lore is crammed into the film

In other news , guesses of a whistleblower being chased by MIB seem to be somewhat accurate

 

[RTM]

I may be way off; but the religious angle and the animals sensing something off makes me think this may have been a script about some religious revelation, then the UFO buzz in recent years got the UFO element get worked into it.

 

[Calter]

I wonder how much UFO lore is crammed into the film

I found a gimbal reference, but I think they could have been more subtle about it.

It's been interesting seeing the ufology circles react to the teaser, seems like a few people just read "disclosure" and assumed it would be documentary of sorts, so now they are disappointed that it just looks like an actual movie.

 

[Giddierone]

Who is this guy and why is he the only one without the flashlight activated on his phone? Suspicious....

 

[JMartJr]

Complete with crop circles.

I wonder how much UFO lore is crammed into the film

In other news , guesses of a whistleblower being chased by MIB seem to be somewhat accurate

From that trailer, I suspect it is going to be much more general-woo oriented and less UFO-centric than many had assumed.