Steven Spielberg’s ‘new original event film,’ set for release in May 2026, is called The Dish.
Steven Spielberg’s next film – his first since 2022’s The Fabelmans – is due out in May 2026, and it now looks as though it has a title. During a recent IMAX presentation for investors, a slide showed a string of upcoming releases from various Hollywood studios, and there, sandwiched between the next Avengers film and The Mandalorian And Grogu is a film called The Dish.
As first noted by World Of Reel, this is undoubtedly Spielberg’s previously untitled project, vaguely billed by Universal Pictures as a “new original event film.”
The Dish title also sounds of a piece with the report going around that Spielberg’s cooking up some sort of UFO-themed movie with screenwriter David Koepp. Certainly, the title brings to mind his friend Robert Zemeckis’ terrific 1997 sci-fi film Contact, in which Jodie Foster’s scientist discovered signs of alien life via a whole array of big dishes. Or maybe Spielberg’s film is just about a kid desperately wanting Sky TV in the early 90s so he can watch The Simpsons – we don’t really know for sure.
One thing we do know, though, is that Emily Blunt has been in talks to play one of the leads in the movie. There’s also a report, via Production Weekly, that Josh O’Connor, who recently played some sultry games of tennis in Challengers, is also set to star alongside Blunt.
If those casting stories are true, we should have official confirmation on those pretty soon, seeing as though The Dish’s release is less than two years away. Spielberg’s selection of Koepp as screenwriter, and its presence on an IMAX slate that also includes James Cameron’s Avatar: The Seed Bearer, The Super Mario Bros Movie 2, Toy Story 5 and Shrek 5, suggests that it really is going to be a genre film on a similar level as Jurassic Park, which Koepp originally wrote (based on Michael Crichton’s novel, of course).
We must say, it’s also refreshing to see an original film on a slate otherwise packed with sequels. The only other non-sequel on there is MGM’s Project Hail Mary, directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller and adapted from Andy (The Martian) Weir’s novel. Filming on that one is currently underway ahead of its release in March 2026. With The Dish due for release on the 16th May 2026, we suspect Spielberg will be rolling cameras on that film pretty soon, too.
