Full Disclosure: I’m As Much To Blame For This Meh Box Office As Any Steven

June 15, 2026

I had every intention of finding a way to the movies this past weekend to see DISCLOSURE DAY. I’m proudly of a generation and mindset that considers Steven Spielberg to be the greatest director of the late 20th century and the greatest one still alive. Not that I have much against the genius of a Martin Scorcese or the vision of Francis Ford Coppola, and I can certainly appreciate anyone who has won a film festival or two knowing how significant an accomplishment that is to them. But for someone whose body of work pretty much parallels my post-pubescent existence , and who has shown such uncanny versatility across a host of genres and topics even beyond his apparent core interest set that were given elevation and homage herein, Spielberg is to me the GOAT. Or maybe it’s the fact we used to belong to the same synogogue.

Regardless, I’m ashamed to report that a comedy of errors involving lost work phones, the sudden realization that the buffet restaurant my movie companion was literally craving had gone out of business and our complete ineptness in being able to follow directions resulted in our window for attending closing. So I suppose I need to shoulder some of the blame for why DISCLOSURE DAY, at least in the eyes of some objective observers, wasn’t quite the phenomenon I for one–and I suspect the beancounters at Universal–anticipated.

If one were merely to look at the hyperbole and spin eminating from the more friendly observers of box office performance that dropped yesterday, such as EN TERTAINMENT WEEKLY’s Ryan Coleman, one could infer that Spielberg’s grip on moviegoers is as potent as ever:

Take me to your leader! Steven Spielberg swept the box office this weekend with Disclosure Day, his extraterrestrial drama that beamed up $44 million domestically and $93 million globally, per Rentrak (formerly Comscore). At 79, the American master proved he can still achieve total command of the moviegoing public, both critically and commercially, even on his 37th feature in the director’s chair. His return to aliens after 12 years (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was the last Spielberg film to feature the creatures, though 2005’s War of the Worlds was the last to center on them) also marked his best box office premiere in nearly a decade. Ready Player One previously achieved $53 million domestically in its opening weekend in 2018.

But more nuanced pundits put that performance under a stronger microscope and noticed, as those who photograph reflecting pools tend to do of late, a few wisps of algae amidst the supposed brilliance. As he typically does from his beachfront hideaway on any given Sunday, THE ANKLER’s Sean McNulty pointed out a few less favorable figures in his WAKEUP missive:

Pretty good landing for this Spielberg pic, as it was above the $35M/$40M forecast range — but it wasn’t significantly above or beyond…Comps are a bit tough, but it was way below both recent sci-fi (Project Hail Mary at $81M) and previous Spielberg sci-fi (War of the Worlds $65M in 2005, not adjusted for inflation.

This one also didn’t really bring out the youth, with 60% of opening night audiences over 35 and 40% over 45.

40% under 35 is . . . fine — but once again, this is your gross-tonnage group of moviegoers.
Project Hail Mary was 46% under-35 and had a much larger turnout of moviegoers (and a broader feel-good appeal).
China was a nothing burger at $3M (essentially the same as Australia and France).

BARRON’s Janet M. Cho chimed in with a potential asterisk or two:

(D)espite competing with live sporting events....(i)t sold an estimated $44 million in domestic tickets in its first weekend, but was Spielberg’s highest-grossing opening weekend for an original film he directed, and is expected to continue drawing audiences in coming weeks.

McNulty even conceded that point in his parsing:

Having a huge NBA Finals game and first full day of World Cup action as Saturday night competition probably didn’t help — esp. given the pic skewed male at 57%.

But he also astutely noted that at least so far the buzz of actual theatre-goers isn’t all a bed of roses:

B CinemaScore here isn’t very reassuring about that, nor is a 61% definite recommend on PostTrak.

And even the typically more upbeat likes of SCREEN RANT’s Fariba Rezwan chimed in with some additional factoids that at best painted a muted picture:

Disclosure Day earned a generally positive reception, with a solid 75% score on Rotten Tomatoes from over 1000 verified ratings. On a more surprising note, Disclosure Day edges over E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (72%), while the lowest among the four is War of the Worlds (42%). The rating is also not far from the 80% critical score.

Every Steven Spielberg Alien Movie	Rotten Tomatoes Critics’ Score	Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)	91%	85%
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)	99%	72%
War of the Worlds (2005)	76%	42%
Disclosure Day (2026)	80%	75%

On the one hand, comparisons with legendary Academy Award winners may be a bit heavy-handed. But when you surname is Spielberg such comparisons are warranted. And if one asks someone who is perhaps in that demo that drives the stampede to theaters this may just be an awakening that in spite of a blitz of publicity that had him gracing just about every video feed from THE REWATCHABLES to THE ENTERTAINERS he may not be as relevant and zeitgeisty as someone in my demo might have been conditioned to believe.

Coleman conceded as much in his back grafs:

While Disclosure Day was hovering around theaters this weekend, hoovering up all the cash, the film at No. 2 domestically and No. 3 globally arguably achieved an even more impressive box office feat. Obsession, the twisty horror thriller and feature debut from 24-year-old YouTube sensation Curry Barker, surged back into the top 3 in its fifth weekend in theaters. Made on a minuscule budget estimated between $750,000 to $1 million, Obsession earned an additional $19 million at home and $34 million around the world, making for a staggering $188.3 million total gross in the former column, and $286.5 million in the latter. In a rare feat, the film has now outgrossed its own opening take ($17.2 million) every weekend since its premiere.

And since OBSESSION also falls under Universal’s corporate umbrella, those aforementioned beancounters are probably more up on those facts as anyone. As well as the others that McNulty reminded us are the barometers that real success is measured against:

The $115M budget means this still has a very long road ahead to account for all spends…This essentially needs to 3x its global opening to make the theatrical math work, or close to 4x if you include marketing .

Emojis are as much of a call to action as anything in my view. And with both the Larry O’Brien Trophy and the Stanley Cup now awarded, lost phones recovered and the realization that a never-ending salad and breadsticks offering is as filling (and even a notch healthier) than any buffet outside of Las Vegas could be, I’m out of excuses for not being able to contribute to that rebound in my own small way.

So you have my pinky promise that at some point before the next Monday morning quarterbacking starts being compiled I’ll have seen this myself. YAHOO! Entertainment’s Ethan Anderson certainly whetted my appetite even more than salad and breadsticks:

“Disclosure Day” lets Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor take the lead roles in the suspenseful sci-fi thriller about secret government files concerning unidentified flying objects and extra-terrestrial life on Earth…O’Connor and Blunt are undeniably driving the story, with the convergence of their characters resulting in a powerful third act that finally sees the release of irrefutable evidence of alien life on Earth. Each actor gives a riveting performance, especially when Daniel and Margaret discover the truth about their past, each having been abducted by aliens when they were children and imprinted with knowledge and skills that they only recently began to utilize and understand. However, the film’s climax includes a surprising supporting turn from an actress who nearly steals the entire disclosure day sequence. Her name is Courtney Grace, and before becoming an actress, she had the perfect job to prepare her for this mesmerizing performance.

Since this is a movie from Universal Pictures (who has been trying to poach directors from Warner Bros. and Paramount), and NBCUniversal is their parent company, it’s an NBC national news channel that gets the initial spotlight when the time comes for news to react to the footage. That’s where Courtney Grace (seen above) enters as the NBC anchor live on the air covering World War III, which has been unfolding in the background throughout the entirety of “Disclosure Day.” As various videos of UFOs and alien life are played live on television, Grace reacts to the footage in real time. Her performance is stirring, and it’s an integral element in creating the sense of awe and wonder that Spielberg executes throughout this sequence.

Anything that can poke even unintended fun at something like MSNOW has my full attention and yeah, the storyline sounds pretty damn relatable and compelling to me. So I’m finding a way to get my own eyeballs and opinions in front of this once and for all, World Cup soccer or Chinese media be damned. I might even be inclined to overshare my own thoughts if you ask nicely. We Stevens have to support each other, darn it.

Until next time…

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