Everything we know about Steven Spielberg’s new film

The filmmaker reunites with Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp

Simon Bland
Updated ·2-min read
Steven Spielberg and David Koepp
Steven Spielberg and David Koepp are reuniting for a new movie. (Getty)

We’ll soon be treated to a new ‘event’ film from Steven Spielberg and David Koepp, the director and screenwriting duo that brought us pop-culture megahits like Jurassic Park.

Spielberg first collaborated with Koepp while adapting Michael Crichton’s 1993 dinosaur epic and reunited with him again for its 1997 sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park. Since then, the duo have collaborated on 2005’s War of The Worlds starring Tom Cruise and Indiana Jones’s most divisive adventure, The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull, in 2008.

News of this new project marks the pair’s first collaboration since Indy came face-to-face with that squinting CGI alien so needless to say, expectations are high. Here’s what we know about this as-yet-untitled film so far…

Steven Spielberg poses with a Panaflex camera on the set of Jurassic Park
Steven Spielberg on the set of Jurassic Park, which was penned by Koepp. (Getty)

Spielberg and Koepp’s new movie will be released theatrically on Friday, 16 May 2026. While details about it are murkier than a missing MacGuffin, we know it’s being billed as an ‘event’ film — AKA something that’ll be at the same scope as the pair’s previous, big-budget spectacles.

E.T. in a scene from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
The new film is rumoured to be UFO-themed. (Universal)

Spielberg is keeping the plot details for his latest collaboration with Koepp firmly under his ever-present baseball cap. However, early reports have suggested that it's based on an original idea that the director came up with a few years back which is UFO-themed.

Any film fan will know that watching the skies has been a steady theme of Spielberg’s work that spans all the way back to 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind and 1982’s E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial. Plus, its ‘event film’ label is a good indication that it will be big in scope and likely feature the groundbreaking visual imagery and effects that you’d expect from a tentpole release.

However, at the time of writing, this is all speculation. Until Spielberg and Koepp lay their cards on the table, we won’t really know what their new project is about.

Emily Blunt wears an orange dress at the premiere of The Fall Guy
Oppenheimer star Emily Blunt is rumoured to be starring in the project. (Variety via Getty)

According to Deadline, Oppenheimer star Emily Blunt will lead the film. She will be joined by Love Actually’s Colin Firth, Challengers’ Josh O’Connor, The Perfect Couple actor Eve Hewson, Oscar nominee Colman Domingo.

Steven Spielberg and David Koepp’s new movie will be released on 16 May 2026.

Latest stories