All 5 Steven Spielberg Movies With Aliens, Ranked

Steven Spielberg has technically been making movies about UFOs and aliens for longer than most people might realize. His very first “film,” called Firelight, was purportedly feature-length, and then some, clocking in at well over two hours while being a low-budget sci-fi movie done when Spielberg was still only 17 years old. The fact that even his high school movies were actual movies, and this one at least was ambitiously part of the science fiction genre… well, it suggested promise. As for the movie itself, very little of it exists to this day, so just how Spielbergian it all felt is always going to be something of a mystery. If it were disclosed one day, though, there would be people interested enough to see it. It wouldn’t stop the world dead in its tracks or anything, but completionists and Spielberg diehards might find themselves curious.

Post-Firelight, there have been a fair few Spielberg-directed movies that featured aliens. Not all of his sci-fi movies have been alien-related, and there is also something like A.I. Artificial Intelligence, which has beings that might appear to be aliens at one point, but aren’t actually supposed to be. If a movie has a central alien character, or has a narrative about discovering aliens, or even just has an alien or two on screen at a pivotal time, all while being directed by Steven Spielberg, then it’s going to show up below, ranked from pretty decent (and maybe even over-hated) to all-out great.

5

‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ (2008)

Image via Paramount Pictures

It’s odd trying to grapple with the existence of aliens in an Indiana Jones movie. They show up at the end of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and their inclusion is divisive, to say the least. That being said, the three Indiana Jones movies before this one also had something wild happen right at their respective ends, though there, you got more fantastical/supernatural things happening. Pivoting to a sci-fi sort of thing for the finale is odd on one hand, but then Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was going for a 1950s B-movie vibe sort of thing, and you do indeed find some silly-looking aliens if you go back and watch science fiction from around that time.

There’s a difficulty in not knowing whether to defend or criticize this part of the fourth Indiana Jones, in all honesty. Also, the aliens are a pretty small part. The rest of the movie is also flawed, though, with it quite comfortably being the weakest of the Spielberg-directed Indiana Jones movies. For what it’s worth, it might well be better – and have more memorable sequences – than Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which was the pretty dismal fifth movie in the series, directed by James Mangold.

4

‘War of the Worlds’ (2005)

Image via Paramount Pictures

Undoubtedly, there are parts of War of the Worlds (2005) that prove gripping, even if “entertaining” might not be the ideal word to use. The really involving and intense parts are pretty bleak, for something with a rating that allows most people to see it. This is a science fiction movie that mirrors certain fears, trends, and aesthetics present throughout much of the 2000s, and feels a little like Children of Men, in that regard, of being a distinctly of its time sci-fi movie, but not in a bad way. Though, it should be added, Children of Men is a good deal more intense, and it’s also a higher-quality film both from that time and of that time.

War of the Worlds sits pretty neatly alongside Minority Report, if you want a slightly better comparison, science fiction-wise. Spielberg directed Tom Cruise in both, and Minority Report has some ways that it feels perhaps more ahead of its time than of its time, regarding what it has to say about surveillance. Still, no aliens in that one. But War of the Worlds is about as alien-focused as you can get, at least without making any alien a prominent or non-villainous character. War of the Worlds also stands out for featuring the meanest aliens found in any Steven Spielberg movie… really no “We come in peace” or even “We come in what might sorta peaceful” here to be found.

3

‘Disclosure Day’ (2026)

The most recent movie here is also the most pretty good movie here (if that makes sense). Disclosure Day is not a masterful Spielberg film, and yet it’s also better than lower-tier Spielberg. It is quite good, so long as you approach it as more of a thriller about disclosing information that concerns the possibility of extra-terrestrial life, more than you might a movie where, say, the titular disclosure day is the inciting incident. The movie gets off to a running start, making you think that’s the direction that might be taken, but then things slow down a bit, different characters do different things in different places for a while, and then it’s nearer to the end when people start coming together, or catching up to each other (there is a lot of chasing, and some of it’s genuinely suspenseful).

There are problems in Disclosure Day that can be found in other Spielberg films, and it’d be understandable if this movie really didn’t work for everyone. If you’re not so worried about Spielberg’s sappier side, and have some idea of what the film’s focus is, it’s possible to have a good time here. Having a great time is a little hard, as even though individual scenes are executed well, they’re strung together in a way that feels a bit choppy sometimes, pacing-wise. The sentimentalism can be a bit much, the tone’s not quite consistent, and parts of the ending may seem a bit silly and implausible. But hey, Spielberg feels passionately about aliens and the idea of extra-terrestrial life being out there, and he made a passionate and sincere movie about that. Also, it was a movie he still directed the hell out of, and considering his age, it’s impressive to see him (and some of his very long-time collaborators) put out something this passionate and energetic.

2

‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ (1978)

Image via Columbia Pictures

Okay, the introduction probably should’ve gone into Steven Spielberg and his unwavering fascination with all things aliens, but it’s also decently appropriate to talk about Spielberg and what he thinks/feels when talking about Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It has been labeled an obsession, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind is easier to single out as the beginning of that obsession, rather than Firelight, what with that 1964 movie not really existing anymore, or being actually watchable. Close Encounters of the Third Kind seems like it might be the kind of thing Spielberg wanted to make, as a teenager, but he could only do so much with limited resources and a budget that, though something for a movie made by a teenager ($500 probably would’ve felt like a lot in 1964, if you were young), wasn’t anything close to what you’d need for a “real” film about such a lofty sci-fi concept.

Also, the obsession here comes across because Close Encounters of the Third Kind is about a man who’s also obsessed with UFOs, making him a hard-to-dismiss stand-in for Spielberg himself. He feels drawn to an area, to learn more about aliens, after having a, you know, encounter with them and all. This film’s a little more patiently paced than some of Spielberg’s other big movies from roughly around this time, but it is an undeniably rewarding watch, if you’re willing to roll with the methodical pacing. The ending helps, too, since it is the most musically and visually impressive sequence of the whole film.

Image via Universal Pictures

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a perfect movie, and maybe more impressively, such a simple movie that also happens to be perfect. There are no wrong notes played here (especially not by John Williams and the musicians he’s conducting, but also, not by anyone else, either), and it’s very hard not to get invested in the whole thing emotionally. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is about a boy who’s struggling with being young and slowly growing up, with a mom who’s trying to do things as a single mother, and he lacks both a father and (it seems) a real friend group. E.T. is not a father figure, but he ends up being something of a friend, and then there’s a more mysterious bond between the pair that drives a lot of the conflict in the film’s second half.

Spielberg does get to play around with some scary government people, with there being a little more by way of antagonists than Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and then you also get the more endearing and personable alien, too. This is undeniably Spielberg’s most family-friendly alien movie, even if some parts might be a bit intense or sad for super young kids. Steven Spielberg wants you to feel those things, though, and he really does succeed remarkably well. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial gets the Spielberg schmaltz just right, laying it on thick but never becoming overbearing or detrimental to the rest of the movie. Again, everything here feels perfectly in place, and like it just works. It’s very easy to put it in the #1 spot, for present purposes.