The Belcourt’s Spielberg Series Features Several Must-See Screenings

The Belcourt is back on its excellent programming once again — this time with a tribute to the GOAT himself, Steven Spielberg. In honor of the acclaimed director’s upcoming return to the world of sci-fi blockbusters with the UFO spectacle Disclosure Day — opening wide June 12 and starring Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor and the remaining Hollywood stars who aren’t already in fellow 2026 tentpoles The Odyssey and Dune: Part Three — our local arthouse has programmed a rollicking slate of screenings beginning March 28 and running through April 23. 

Weekend Classics: Steven Spielberg kicks off Saturday with the ultimate family sci-fi adventure, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. (Read more about Saturday’s screenings in this week’s Critics’ Picks section.) Everyone’s favorite alien will be on Belcourt screens twice March 28 and once on March 30.

Speaking of alien encounters, the meditative Close Encounters of the Third Kind (April 11 and 14) and the bleak War of the Worlds remake (April 12 and 16) were must-haves for the series as preparation for Disclosure Day. War of the Worlds — one of two underrated flicks Spielberg directed in 2005, alongside political thriller Munich, which won’t play as part of the series — will be screening in 35 mm. 

On April 4 and 9, you can catch perhaps the best example of what’s known as Spielberg Face — the director’s signature shot, in which the camera is extremely close on an actor’s awestruck face as something magnificent happens off-screen. That will come courtesy of entertainment machine Jurassic Park, a film that should be on everyone’s big-screen bucket list.

Also on that list: the 1981 action-adventure thrill ride Raiders of the Lost Ark. Arguably Spielberg’s best film (except for perhaps Jaws, which is not in this series but has seen several Belcourt showings in recent years), Raiders and Harrison Ford’s iconic performance as Indiana Jones set the template for lovable rapscallions on the silver screen. Catch the first in the Indiana Jones series on April 18 and 19.

The most recent entry in the series is the 2015 historical spy drama — and beloved icon of Dad Cinema — Bridge of Spies (April 5 and 7). Starring frequent Spielberg collaborator Tom Hanks, Bridge of Spies features one of the few scripts that legendary directors the Coen brothers wrote for another filmmaker. 

Closing out the series on April 19 and 23 is the relentless sci-fi actioner Minority Report. Adapted from a Philip K. Dick novella, Minority Report is maybe my favorite Spielberg movie. The DVD menu is ingrained in my memory, having watched the film repeatedly as a kid — it was one of the first purchases my dad and I made to watch on our brand-new DVD player. I’m looking forward to seeing Tom Cruise navigate jet-pack-donning future-crime cops, those nightmarish spider-robot things and Colin Farrell on the big screen.