'Disclosure Day,' shot locally, sets box office record for Spielberg

GREENE COUNTY―Steven Spielberg’s latest big-screen alien adventure, Disclosure Day, debuted at No. 1 at the domestic box office this past weekend with more than 10.5 million theatergoers coming out to see the film that includes scenes from around Greene County.

It marked the renowned director’s best opening weekend ever for an original movie, bringing in $44 million in the United States and $92.9 million worldwide.

Released by Universal Pictures and shrouded with extraterrestrial-themed mystery, Disclosure Day has strange deer, crop circles, car chases and suggestions of government secrecy in what Spielberg himself described as “way closer to truth than fiction.”

In April of last year, Grant Wilfley Casting, Inc. sought local extras for Disclosure Day when it was known only by the production code of “Non-View.” They were to play hotel guests, diner patrons and drivers with cars in the Catskill and Haines Falls areas.

Filming locations ultimately included Dibbles Quarry in Elka Park, Catskill Motor Court Motel on State Route 32 and Selena’s Diner & Pizzeria in Haines Falls.

Other scenes were shot around Rockland County, Long Island and New York City, as well as in New Jersey and Atlanta, GA.

The film stars SAG winner and Oscar nominee Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer, A Quiet Place), Emmy and Golden Globe winner Josh O’Connor (Challengers, The Crown), Oscar winner Colin Firth (The King’s Speech, Kingsman franchise), Eve Hewson (Bad Sisters, The Perfect Couple) and two-time Oscar nominee Colman Domingo (Sing Sing, Rustin).

The top-grossing director of all time, Spielberg has helmed such blockbusters as Jaws, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, the Indiana Jones franchise and Jurassic Park. Among his myriad honors, he is a three-time Academy Award winner, including Oscars for best director and best picture for Schindler’s List, which received a total of seven Oscars, and for best director for Saving Private Ryan.

His most recent film, The Fabelmans, was released by Universal Pictures in 2022 and received seven Academy Award nominations, including for directing, best original screenplay, best actress and best picture.

Spielberg, now 79, is no stranger to Greene County. His 2005 sci-fi thriller War of the Worlds, starring Dakota Fanning and Tom Cruise, was partly filmed in the Village of Athens.

As for Disclosure Day, Spielberg recently told The Associated Press it is his first film “considered science fiction that I do not consider to be science fiction.”

“It’s much more reflective of the world as it is evolving and discoveries that are being made as we speak,” he said.