Pick any time that Steven Spielberg had a film coming out and chances are that it was one of your most anticipated movies of the year. Even when it’s announced the buzz begins. But at a certain point — and not to get sad here — that will be no more. And only then will we truly realize that we took it all for granted.
Appearing on the Talking Pictures podcast, Jason Reitman recounted to host Ben Mankiewicz going to the set of Jurassic Park and watching a scene being shot (hey, your dad being Ivan Reitman has some perks) and being blown away long before audiences were. On Spielberg as a whole, Reitman made the case, “We take for granted being in the hands of a master. And when Steven is making E.T. or Indiana Jones or Jurassic Park, yeah, they’re movies that you can – nowadays, you can literally just stream any of them any time you want. But when those movies first come out and you’re in the hands of a genuine master, like Hitchcock-level master – in my opinion, Shakespeare-level master…We take for granted in real time that there was a moment that [Jurassic Park] hit theaters and no one had ever seen anything like it. And he’s a guy who…proved it by making it back to back with [Schindler’s List] that he can actually use not 100% effort and still crush you.”
It’s true — we shouldn’t take the filmmakers we love for granted. And yet we kind of do, just figuring that every few years we’ll get another touch of — if not a full-on — masterpiece from Spielberg. Look at it with just his two most recent films: he gave us one of the best-shot musicals maybe ever with West Side Story and then a genuinely human portrait of the/his American family in The Fabelmans. As well-received as they were, did we even fully realize how special those releases are?
And while this is undoubtedly a compliment to his mastery, we really do just expect someone like Spielberg – a guy nearing 80 – to continue to give us personal and profound works. Whether he’s giving his own twist on a classic or channeling his childhood or going back to the well, we can’t wait to see it on the big screen (heck, we even take the movie theater experience for granted!). It’s like the quote, “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve left them.” This will come once again in 2026, with Spielberg releasing an untitled movie that is currently full of mystery but in some way centered around UFOs. That he gets the honor of helping kickstart the summer season – which he is no stranger to – is yet another high compliment. The cast so far features Wyatt Russell, Emily Blunt, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, and more.
What is your favorite memory of seeing a Steven Spielberg movie on the big screen?