John Williams mentioned in Empire Magazine's Disclosure Day preview

[mrbellamy 8,072]

Nothing too descriptive but nice to see. Further confirmation the score is done. 

 

Quote

It’s late February, and Spielberg is on Disclosure Day’s home stretch. “John Williams did his 30th score for me, which we celebrated a couple of days ago,” he begins. “It was bittersweet to say goodbye to the orchestra because we did many sessions, but Johnny provided such a beautiful score.” 

 

Quote

And vital to the film’s emotional impact is, of course, John Williams. Disclosure Day represents Spielberg’s 30th collaboration with the composer (for comparison, Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Herrmann racked up nine movies — lightweights). This is cause for celebration: Williams previously stated he’d put down his pencil after The Fabelmans, but he came out of retirement just for Spielberg, writing this score at the tender age of 93. “It’s John Williams at the top of his game, exciting and poignant,” says Krieger. “It’s thrilling to be able to sit in a room and watch John and Steven’s collaborations. I get to watch one of the greatest gifts to modern American cinema that these two men are still giving us. It’s amazing.”

 

The cast are mostly in the dark about what Williams is conjuring up — “All I know is, Steven sent me a video of John Williams and the orchestra in the recording studio and I cried,” says O’Connor — but are keeping everything crossed for a Williams theme inspired by their own character. “Oh, my God, can you imagine?” laughs Blunt. “If I [get one], I will be playing it on repeat.”

 

https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/issue-preview-steven-spielberg-disclosure-day/

[Mr. Hooper 8,640]

Exciting stuff. Just 2 months away.

[Jay 45,820]

Fantastic!

 

The text that you pasted into your post is not found at that link though.  Where did it come from?

[mrbellamy 8,072]

I had to buy the issue, I don't think full Empire articles are usually available online, at least right away. 

[Bespin Copilot 10,735]

The 30th? Did they count Dial of Destiny as the 29th, or am I missing a movie?

 

Or maybe it's Memoirs of a Geisha they count?

[Jay 45,820]

44 minutes ago, Bespin Copilot said:

The 30th? Did they count Dial of Destiny as the 29th, or am I missing a movie?

 

I dunno what you're missing but yes, this is absolutely the 30th feature-length film directed by Spielberg that Williams is scoring, without question

1. The Sugarland Express
2. Jaws
3. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
4. 1941
5. Raiders of the Lost Ark
6. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
7. Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
8. Empire of the Sun
9. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
10. Always
11. Hook
12. Jurassic Park
13. Schindler’s List
14. The Lost World: Jurassic Park
15. Amistad
16. Saving Private Ryan
17. A.I. Artificial Intelligence
18. Minority Report
19. Catch Me If You Can
20. The Terminal
21. War of the Worlds
22. Munich
23. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
24. The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
25. War Horse 
26. Lincoln
27. The BFG
28. The Post
29. The Fabelmans 
30. Disclosure Day

[mrbellamy 8,072]

Now I wanna know which one Bespin forgot 

 

30 always seemed like a nice round number to shoot for and I started to doubt they'd make it as Williams was slowing down and/or needing to skip Spielberg collaborations. It's so cool they got there. The only thing that would be cooler is collaboration #31. 

[Jay 45,820]

Thanks for typing out what you saw in the printed magazine!  If you feel like sharing pictures of the relevant pages in the magazine, that'd be cool too

[mrbellamy 8,072]

Yeah it's a digital copy so easy to screencap. I was gonna bump the movie thread too when I get a chance.

 

 

[Richard P 5,246]

6 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

The only thing that would be cooler is collaboration #31. 

 

That's how you end up as a disapponted fan  

 

Looking at the list above, I haven't been truly drawn into a score from their collaboration since War Horse - I was underwhelmed by The Fabelmans unfortunately. But given DD sounds like it's a bigger piece of work with full orchestra, there's much more reason to be optimistic.

[Bespin Copilot 10,735]

15 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

Now I wanna know which one Bespin forgot 

 

[mrbellamy 8,072]

6 minutes ago, Richard P said:

That's how you end up as a disapponted fan  

 

Believe me, I was very satisfied with 29

[Quintus 6,333]

Is it only 30? I thought it was more. If there's one thing I can't stand it is bone idleness.

[Marian Schedenig 11,603]

26 minutes ago, Jay said:

Thanks for typing out what you saw in the printed magazine!  If you feel like sharing pictures of the relevant pages in the magazine, that'd be cool too

 

17 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

Yeah it's a digital copy so easy to screencap.

 

So you didn't really type it out… did you? 

[Tom 6,673]

The descriptions, while extremely general, further point to something different than the "black and white" score approach of Minority Report, at least in my mind.  

[Mr. Hooper 8,640]

Descriptors like "beautiful" and "poignant" are cause for optimism.

[Bespin Copilot 10,735]

6 minutes ago, Mr. Hooper said:

Descriptors like "beautiful" and "poignant" are cause for optimism.

 

When I was younger, people used these words a lot to describe me.

[Rachael Foley 10,028]

6 minutes ago, Mr. Hooper said:

Descriptors like "beautiful" and "poignant" are cause for optimism.

Until you remember how low aesthetic criteria has (have?) fallen these days.

 

 

[Mr. Hooper 8,640]

You guys won't get me down about this. 
 

7 minutes ago, Bespin Copilot said:

 

When I was younger, people used these words a lot to describe me.

 

Okay, I'll bite. What words do they use now?

 

[JohnnyD 1,822]

 

51 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

 

 

 

“I just want to know that it’s…it’s really happening.”

 

10 weeks to go!

[Tom 6,673]

30 minutes ago, Bespin Copilot said:

 

When I was younger, people used these words a lot to describe me.

What words do you hear now?  

 

edit: Hooper beat me to it.  

[benoitjean 106]

It would have seemed strange to me if John Williams hadn't been mentioned 
in the Empire article. Good news.

JB

[Brando 2,761]

Very exciting! I love reading that the cast is/was through the roof about being in a Steven Spielberg movie. I can't wait to see this!

[Bespin Copilot 10,735]

2 hours ago, Mr. Hooper said:

Okay, I'll bite. What words do they use now?

 

2 hours ago, Tom said:

What words do you hear now?  

 

edit: Hooper beat me to it.  

 

Vintage and Grumpy

[Xander Harris 9,558]

JW has outlived everyone else we love both literally and in a business sense. I mean, who's left? Elfman composes musical Algebra when he occasionally works and needs a haircut, Silvestri, he hardly ever works and I don't care when he does, Arnold and Gondenthal are out of the job. Don't you mean extinct. The rest are all dead. I look forward to this one, even if it turns out to be another relatively uninteresting entry into his filmography. Despite extreme old age, it's a new JW Spielberg score in 2026, or whatever the hell year this is.

[mrbellamy 8,072]

Something I just realized, was this score recorded at Sony? Is this the first John Williams score recorded in the now renamed John Williams Music Building? It happened in 2024 after Indy 5...

 

[Rachael Foley 10,028]

24 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

Something I just realized, was this score recorded at Sony? Is this the first John Williams score recorded in the now renamed John Williams Music Building? It happened in 2024 after Indy 5...

 

Maybe we'll be able to see it named in the liners

[LB Makes Stuff 365]

6 hours ago, mrbellamy said:

Nothing too descriptive but nice to see. Further confirmation the score is done. 

 

 

 

https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/issue-preview-steven-spielberg-disclosure-day/

Glad it's not so hush hush anymore, hopefully a video is released soon talking about this collaboration in the same vein as that Fabelmans featurette (which was released after the release I think) and the DoD video put out before that film's release. While I'm avoiding the album until I actually see the film, I am curious to hear at least something. I still think that SXSW reveal from February had *some* JW material in there, the vocals sound Close Encounters-y enough for me to think so at least.

33 minutes ago, mrbellamy said:

Something I just realized, was this score recorded at Sony? Is this the first John Williams score recorded in the now renamed John Williams Music Building? It happened in 2024 after Indy 5...

 

Considering the past few decades or so worth of scores have been recorded at Sony (with some exceptions), I think it's safe to say this one was too, I don't see why he'd go to Fox or any other stages to record.

[bruce marshall 1,968]

Nm

[Bespin Copilot 10,735]

11 hours ago, Xander Harris said:

JW has outlived everyone else we love both literally and in a business sense. I mean, who's left? 

 

Apart from Elfman and Silvestri I still "follow" Thomas Newman and Howard Shore too.

[Mr. Hooper 8,640]

1 hour ago, Bespin Copilot said:

Apart from Elfman and Silvestri I still "follow" Thomas Newman and Howard Shore too.

In defiance of the restraining orders?

[Tom 6,673]

3 hours ago, Mr. Hooper said:

In defiance of the restraining orders?

No, they are so old that they find him beautiful and poignant.  

[Edmilson 12,224]

19 hours ago, mrbellamy said:

It was bittersweet to say goodbye to the orchestra because we did many sessions

I may be reading too much into this, but, to me, it kinda sounded like this is a farewell, Williams' final (for real this time) Spielberg score. And maybe in general.

 

Just the vibe it gave me.

[BB-8 6,116]

7 hours ago, Bespin Copilot said:

 

Apart from Elfman and Silvestri I still "follow" Thomas Newman and Howard Shore too.

Just like Thomas Newman still follows @Mr. Hooper.

[artguy360 2,190]

These short quotes make me think the score is more than the moody, action focused stuff we got for War of the Worlds and Minority Report.

[King Mark 3,927]

yup, that's what I was thinking all along. Now I'm really excited for this .

 

I don't think Williams would have bothered with this if it was a dark action focused score or something sparce and barely noticeable like Fablemens

[Richard P 5,246]

I reckon the opposite actually - if he's done it out of a sense of duty and friendship to Spielberg, and that it's their 30th film together. By design, it's hardly going to be another Fabelmans type score (that seemed specifically tailored for being amongst needledrops), and WotW was a very textural score to reflect the overwhelming bleakness of the story.

 

Fluff pieces like this are not the place to get honest impressions of the score - I personally wouldn't put weight on anything outside of an honest review by someone who's heard the entire thing.

[LB Makes Stuff 365]

We'll be waiting for the June premiere then 

[JohnnyD 1,822]

I felt it was appropriate to share this here. In the first episode of Tim Grieving’s exclusive podcast, Why We Love Spielberg-Williams, for paid subscribers to his Substack, Behind the Moon, at the end, @Maestro mentions that, although he knows almost nothing about the music itself (he mentioned at the beginning that despite reaching out to both John Williams and Steven Spielberg’s camp, he was not allowed to attend the scoring sessions due to the secrecy in an effort to build anticipation for the project), he does know that “there is a lot of it. And from my sources on the inside, there are … moments in the film where that old Spielberg-Williams magic is absolutely back.”

[Ricard 2,540]

He mentions this at 45:30 into the podcast. Here's the link:

https://behindthemoon.substack.com/p/episode-1-why-tim-greiving-loves

 

I could listening to it without subscription.

[mrbellamy 8,072]

4 hours ago, Edmilson said:

I may be reading too much into this, but, to me, it kinda sounded like this is a farewell, Williams' final (for real this time) Spielberg score. And maybe in general.

 

Just the vibe it gave me.

 

I don't necessarily think so, at least not more than the fact that Williams is 94 and it's gotta be in the back of their minds in a general way. It becomes more of a possibility every time, and it's true we don't yet know how Williams feels about it at the end of this process. 

 

But I think the Spielberg quote seems to be referring more to the orchestra, and that they had more sessions than usual that went on for months, to accommodate Williams as we know. So I think he's just saying it was a lot of extra time spent working on this one with all their musician friends and it was sad to finish. 

[JazzyNips 181]

On 10/04/2026 at 7:53 PM, Xander Harris said:

JW has outlived everyone else we love both literally and in a business sense. I mean, who's left? Elfman composes musical Algebra when he occasionally works and needs a haircut, Silvestri, he hardly ever works and I don't care when he does, Arnold and Gondenthal are out of the job. Don't you mean extinct. The rest are all dead. I look forward to this one, even if it turns out to be another relatively uninteresting entry into his filmography. Despite extreme old age, it's a new JW Spielberg score in 2026, or whatever the hell year this is.

What? There's more film composers now than there ever have been.

[Rachael Foley 10,028]

Yeah, But they all mostly suck.

[Mr. Hooper 8,640]

40 minutes ago, Rachael Foley said:

Yeah, But they all mostly suck.

The enshittification of film scoring has opened the gates to anyone who can program a keyboard.

[filmmusic 3,214]

2 hours ago, JazzyNips said:

What? There's more film composers now than there ever have been.

Don't you know that quantity doesn't always go with quality?

[Richard P 5,246]

More composers yes, but many of the 'old guard' are now either barely working or don't seem to work on anything that challenges them. The score I'm most excited about hearing at the moment isn't even film, but Gold's newer Who material.

[JazzyNips 181]

9 hours ago, filmmusic said:

Don't you know that quantity doesn't always go with quality?

And older isn't always better.

[Rachael Foley 10,028]

Haven't you seen how aesthetic criteria has fallen in recent years?

 

 

 

[JazzyNips 181]

Well the success of Project Hail Mary makes me pine for the days when Arrival and Interstellar were the most overrated sci-fi flicks, if that's what you mean. Although I'd watch any of them over the snooze-fest that was 2001. So no, I guess not really. 

[LB Makes Stuff 365]

Universal's Cinemacon showcase had Disclosure Day stuff, five minutes of footage was shown. The IGN article has a mention of a plot beat that I guess could be spoilery if you looked at it like that, but it would appear to not be that huge considering Spielberg says none of the third act has actually made it to any marketing.

 

If you want the D-Day stuff specifically, scroll all the way to the bottom of the page:

https://www.ign.com/articles/universal-pictures-at-cinemacon-2026-everything-revealed