With 'Disclosure Day,' the director returns to a longtime preoccupation. Two Times staffers explore his ongoing fascination with extraterrestrials.

Steven Spielberg’s fourth film about alien encounters is “Disclosure Day,” following “ET: The Extra-Terrestrial,” “War of the Worlds,” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” That inspired us to take another look at what Roger Ebert thought about some of the most famous and infamous alien movies,

With Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day” due in theaters this week, we give props to the best space invasion movies of all time.

Is Close Encounters of the Third Kind on Netflix? Where to stream Spielberg’s sci-fi classic in 2026.