Acclaimed director Steven Spielberg has finally lined up his next project, reuniting with Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp for an “original event film.” And we now know exactly when audiences will get a glimpse of the filmmaker’s next work, as Universal Pictures has dated Spielberg‘s film for a theatrical release on May 15, 2026. This will mark the first turn behind the camera for the director since he helmed 2022’s widely acclaimed film The Fabelmans, based on his own life.
Details on Spielberg‘s next film remain very slim, and no cast is attached, but it has previously been reported that the film will be about UFOs. Whether this means aliens or some other type of unidentified object remains to be seen, but it will bring the director back to the genre that helped launch his career — Spielberg directed Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977. The film, starring Richard Dreyfuss, went on to become one of the most iconic extraterrestrial stories of all time and, along with Jaws two years earlier, helped make Spielberg into a mainstay blockbuster director.
The upcoming film will be based on an original story by Spielberg and a screenplay by the aforementioned Koepp, according to Universal, and will be the next major team-up between the two frequent collaborators. The writer has penned the scripts for some of Spielberg‘s most iconic films. Beyond the original Jurassic Park, Koepp also wrote the screenplay for the sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, as well as other notable Spielberg films including Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and War of the Worlds. Those three films alone earned more than $3 billion combined at the global box office.
Spielberg Is Still one of Hollywood’s Icons
Many people would probably say that Spielberg is the most influential filmmaker in modern cinema history, and they’d have a good argument. A three-time Oscar winner, Spielberg is the top-grossing director of all time and is the man behind some of the most lauded films of the last 40 years, including Jaws, Jurassic Park, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Saving Private Ryan, and Schindler’s List. The latter is often cited as one of the greatest films ever made and earned Spielberg Oscar wins for Best Director and Best Picture. Spielberg is also known for his close collaborations with Star Wars creator George Lucas, whose Lucasfilm banner produced the Indiana Jones franchise with Spielberg in the director’s chair.
Spielberg splashed back onto the screen in a big way with 2021’s West Side Story, a remake of the classic 1961 musical that introduced the world to Rachel Zegler. While that film didn’t recoup its budget at the box office, it was still massively popular and Spielberg was able to use his staying power to helm The Fabelmans, which was nominated for seven Academy Awards. He also produced a remake of his 1985 film The Color Purple last year.
Spielberg‘s next film will be released by Universal on May 15, 2026. Stay tuned to Collider for more information. In the meantime, you can watch The Fabelmans on Hulu.
via Collider