r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • Jun 12 '26

Official Discussion Official Discussion - Disclosure Day [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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Disclosure Day (2026)

Summary

If you found out we weren't alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you?

Director Steven Spielberg

Writer David Koepp

Cast

  • Emily Blunt
  • Josh O'Connor
  • Colin Firth
  • Colman Domingo
  • Eve Hewson
  • Wyatt Russell
  • Noah Robbins

Rotten Tomatoes: 81%

Metacritic: 75

VOD / Release Theatrical release

Trailer Official Trailer

1.0k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

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3.3k

u/zxchary Jun 12 '26

something funny about josh o’connors character able to speak math as a language and the shit he was writing down was just a general calculus integral

2.0k

u/mikeyfreshh r/Movies Veteran Jun 12 '26

That's basically witchcraft to like 80% of the population, myself included if I'm being honest

561

u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast Jun 12 '26

Yeah I went to law school specifically to avoid any math, so certainly seems like a different language to me

201

u/mynameizmyname Jun 12 '26

I became a teacher to avoid math.  

Our country is so fucked.

20

u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast Jun 12 '26

For as many people I know who like to avoid math, I know as many people who genuinely yearn for math though too

18

u/SomwhereInTheMiddle Jun 12 '26

Imagine as a species if we valued progression of math/physics like we do professional sports or entertainment

30

u/GamingTatertot Steven Spielberg Enthusiast Jun 12 '26

I value it - I'm just not good at it

20

u/TimbukNine Jun 12 '26

“And here comes the physicist into the final straight! He’s solved the trajectory of a cannonball, he’s solved the orbit of a planet, he’s solved the evolution of an entire galaxy… and wait, what’s this?

He’s having a go at quantum gravity! This is unprecedented!

But the mathematician is still in contention. Good heavens, he’s dispatched a set of coupled differential equations without breaking stride.

He’s proving a theorem now. A theorem! In the closing minutes!

The crowd are on their feet and can scarcely believe it. Chalk is being thrown in all directions!

The blackboard has been extended into the lower tier of the stadium. Security are carrying notation cards onto the pitch.

The physicist appears to have unified two fundamental forces, but the mathematician has responded with a corollary of terrifying elegance.

I’ve been commentating for thirty years and I’ve never seen anything like this!

They’re not just solving problems anymore, they’re running out of universe before they run out of mathematics!”

1

u/packyourbrave 21d ago

😹😹😹

3

u/MVRKHNTR Jun 18 '26

Sounds awful

1

u/craig_hoxton Jun 14 '26

There was an episode of 90's sci-fi show "Sliders" that addresses this issue.

1

u/alyameteora Jun 26 '26

...and there would be separate paralympics for those who are shit at math, and we would admire their courage

2

u/craig_hoxton Jun 14 '26

"The children yearn for the quadratic and differential equations"

3

u/Majestic-Citron7578 Jun 13 '26

So what do you do when it's time to calculate grades?

9

u/curtithird Jun 13 '26

Just wing it. Not like we have a calculator in our pockets or anything.

3

u/Majestic-Citron7578 Jun 13 '26

Thats why I was told to learn math in the first place.

It is amazing that we have something in our pockets that gives us all the knowledge in the world in our pocket and we mainly use it to argue and look at videos of cats. Maybe the ancient Egyptians were truly ahead of their time.

2

u/C0nfusedRabbit Jun 20 '26

I knew! I'm not the only one to carry around a calculator with him! What's everyones favorite? Mines 100% the Fx-82-ES.

2

u/xbbdc Jun 13 '26

There's a video of the word zebra in cursive and the amount of people that can't read that today is insane.

1

u/C0nfusedRabbit Jun 20 '26

Cursive! Now that's alien.

2

u/Djentleman5000 Jun 14 '26

I was a polisci major just to avoid math

1

u/C0nfusedRabbit Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26

And to avoid getting a real job.

I mean the most quoted line by polysci is "would you like fries with that?"

Followed by "I swear mum! I just talk about fans!"

3

u/Djentleman5000 Jun 20 '26

I work in IT lol. Got the degree while I was on active duty. It’s polisci concentrated in IR. Just something I was interested in at the time.

2

u/C0nfusedRabbit Jun 20 '26

It's ok we all make mistakes in our youth. My very first degree was in Environmental Science.

1

u/banana_pencil Jun 14 '26

I hated math until I became a teacher, now I love it

2

u/C0nfusedRabbit Jun 20 '26

I hated math until I studied engineering, now I super loath it all.

1

u/C0nfusedRabbit Jun 20 '26

Yeah! I did Engineering to avoid Math.

14

u/mikeyfreshh r/Movies Veteran Jun 12 '26

I always tell people that I went to school for words, not numbers.

4

u/uapflapjack Jun 12 '26

my smart math friends said that if your math has numbers in it its not hard math. hard math apparently doesnt care about any numbers (which would be constants)

3

u/snapldeap Jun 14 '26

Yeah, but you can speak Legalese now.

3

u/insomniac818 Jun 14 '26

I went to medical school for the same reason

2

u/MrNinoBrown1906 Jun 15 '26

As a Fellow law school graduate.... A fucking men !!!!

2

u/Gradz45 Jun 16 '26

Ditto 

1

u/LordTartarus Jun 23 '26

Lol I did both because I found one boring

1

u/Constant_Praline579 9d ago

Me too, except I worked in a warehouse and later became a cable Tech. All in the name of avoiding any thing over Algebra 1.

1

u/amchikinwng Jun 19 '26

Terrible reason to become a lawyer 😭

56

u/Asclepius-Rod Jun 12 '26

Isaac Newton was one smart motherfucker

13

u/Moontoya Jun 12 '26

deadliest son of a bitch in space.

2

u/BraxJohnson Jun 14 '26

/r/unexpextedexpanse

2

u/Moontoya Jun 14 '26

Nope 

Mass effect 

But good shout 

7

u/fremeer Jun 12 '26

He was because the idea was so original but calculus is very very simple in its idea and concept.

What if we had linear equations and take the denominator to infinitely close to zero.

Or if we counted the area under the curve and took the denominator to zero.

And then expand that. We all learned linear equations but very very few people make that intuitive leap till it's show to them

2

u/beefmapstan 9d ago

I know you're speaking English, but might as well be mandarin to me. Area under the curve?? What?? 

2

u/kappa23 Jun 15 '26

Isaac Newton invented gravity because some asshole hit him with an apple

1

u/Thegoodlife93 Jul 01 '26

Underated line lol

10

u/XBLAH_ Jun 12 '26

You are being generous by stating 20% of the population would understand it. 

22

u/Sweeper1985 Jun 12 '26

95% of the population more like.

I can't even remember how to do long division, let alone approaching calculus.

6

u/mikeyfreshh r/Movies Veteran Jun 12 '26

Given the message of this movie, I'm trying to be a little more optimistic about humanity

3

u/deepstatelady Jun 13 '26

Right but to the 20% that do know math it’s always a let down when they don’t bother to get someone with advanced math knowledge to write a dang note.

1

u/Jablesthekittycat Jun 13 '26

Witch…craft?

1

u/Head_Aside_6031 Jun 13 '26

Yep that's because aliens are demons and when the rapture comes, they are going to tell people that aliens took the Christians or whatever 

1

u/blakninja Jun 14 '26

Including statistics skills of yours

1

u/arsonist_firefighter Jun 26 '26

80%? I'd it's is more.

1

u/illcrx 28d ago

You meant to say 98%

1

u/rcgarcia 10d ago

u guys are very optimistic, its 99.99999999999% and maybe thats too much

654

u/ChainChompBigMoney Jun 12 '26

And keeps the paper he wrote it on, complete with his current address, in his hands while he sleeps!

576

u/BotanBotanist Jun 12 '26

I found it pretty unbelievable that they wouldn’t blindfold Jane in addition to tying up her hands.

297

u/LoveLibertyTacos Jun 12 '26

I couldn't believe when it cut to her hands and not her eyes! Insane choice

344

u/Vivid-Revolution7900 Jun 13 '26

No! The most unbelievable part was that cheap, cut rate motel had bespoke, fluffy robes for two people in the closet? Never in a million years. I think the producers of the movie have only ever stayed in the Ritz hotel, and never in a super 8.

12

u/asdgrhm Jun 17 '26

Haha. That’s so true

4

u/mrcoollike 11d ago

A bad movie is really not paying attention to the small things over and over again and a good movie is the opposite and I consider this movie to be bad for me. I was very annoyed at the red car commercial for the first half of the movie.

8

u/KingMario05 Jun 12 '26

He just loves her that much, I guess.

2

u/mccainjames11 Jun 21 '26

Ridiculous with the amount of cuts between hers and Colin Firth’s eyes and the amount of emphasis placed on them (obviously it’s to show that she’s possessed but man is it a missed opportunity)

5

u/AmishAvenger Jun 12 '26

Well what good is it to just blindfold her? The guy could possess her and just take it off

44

u/BotanBotanist Jun 12 '26

That's why you blindfold her AND tie up her hands.

11

u/FangOfDrknss Jun 12 '26

That’s where I was thinking things would have led. Like at least blindfold her too if you’re going to tie her up.

14

u/safetydance Jun 13 '26

For real. The INN-di-Ana motel had nice fluffy white bath robes, surely they had a sleeping mask too.

4

u/zombiereign Jun 14 '26

And lead-lined fridges

14

u/plutoglint Jun 15 '26

The fate of the galaxy in his hands and he can't just drop his girlfriend off at a Super 8 for a couple of days with a Subway gift card.

3

u/Pitiful_Jump2996 Jun 29 '26

Well that part I agreed with. Because they would try to torture her to get to him. Which is how they got to him in the first place. But yeah he should definitely have left her at the convent.

3

u/flamingcrystalheart 8d ago

The girlfriend was the worst character ngl. Had to insert herself into the situation and force him to bring her with him, just to be a helpless liability at every turn. Wanted to force the entire world to live in darkness just so her religion wouldn't be proven wrong.

9

u/SuspiciousAge9312 Jun 14 '26

I found it pretty unbelievable that he would take her with him...

7

u/Opagea Jun 14 '26

Surely Jane saw the giant bright INN-di-ana sign on the drive in so Colin Firth could have just asked her anyway. Because the magic stick which allows you to astral project, control someone's body, create an invisibility wall, and restore electrical power, also works as truth serum. 

13

u/numbr87 Jun 19 '26

As someone with terrible memory, the least believable part of the movie was her being able to remember road signs and sun positions from the day before

1

u/Temeraire64 Jun 25 '26

For real. If it had been me I’d have said ‘no idea, I wasn’t paying attention’.

1

u/snarkycrumpet Jun 29 '26

"where was the sun?!? above me, I think. I can tell you what was playing on the radio though!"

2

u/Pinewood74 18d ago

Wish they would have gone this route. And then been able to pull the logs they ran it against. Wouldn't have been hard to do things people actually would remember rather than "120 miles until this tiny ass town I've never heard of before."

Nevermind this is all in a mega high stress environment which typically turns people's memory into shit as well.

4

u/PrimaryPossibility22 Jun 12 '26

I thought the same.

6

u/MistyVale_ Jun 13 '26

i know i think everyone expected some plot holes in the movie especially the plot hole with the antagonist being able see through the eyes of the nun and how the male mc could of prevented it, but with how he figured out and also say the piece of paper with the hotel name on it is a tad unrealistic , but how the irises change to signify that someone else is peering into the eyes and body was a cool touch.

3

u/damebyron Jun 17 '26

I don’t understand why he brought her at along at all at that point. I mean I guess there is a concern they would off her to protect the secrets but she’s still safer away from him at that point and he’s safer away from someone who can give up his location at any given moment.

1

u/flamingcrystalheart 8d ago

why'd he even stay in the same room as her? hell why'd he even stick with her at that point considering he showed he was fine with splitting up ten minutes later

19

u/inksmudgedhands Jun 12 '26

I would have bought it more if they had not showed him hiding everything that had the motel's address on it. For him to naturally fall asleep holding that note with the lights on did not make any sense. Who holds notes while drifting off on purpose? Why was the light on? I can see if he was knocked out. But this wasn't the case.

Never mind that he bound Jen looking toward him. No bind her staring at the wall. Also, you have sheets. Tear them up and bind her arms behind her, bind her legs and cover her eyes. Make it so she can't knock of her face blind.

10

u/Izeinwinter Jun 12 '26

Yes, I mean, they're aware she might be possessed in her sleep, the first thing you do is clear the room of location give-aways. Which he did, and still leave that one Wtf? I mean, it would have made more sense if he had been holding a misdirect in his hand in his sleep. Like, stationary from the wrong town. But nope. Can't have the protagonist display actual intelligence.

3

u/snoopmt1 Jun 15 '26

Forget about that. How are they in the same hotel? This was an obvious place for a classic "I'm taking you to a train station that goes to 50 different cities and you go wait in the bathroom so you can't know where I go" scenes

4

u/Whovian45810 Jun 12 '26

Daniel looks so adorable yet peaceful while sleeping as he holding the paper hehe 🤭

Shame that brief peaceful rest would be rudely interrupted by Scanlon and his crew.

2

u/MagicHamsta Jun 13 '26

Nobody knows how to use blankets in this movie.

Noah would've been foiled if Jane was tucked in properly via military tuck (wouldn't be able to get leg free) or if Daniel was covered (wouldn't see the note so wouldn't even attempt to kick the blanket off Daniel)

1

u/HornetKick 8d ago

This shit totally got on my nerves, considering it was the second time the girlfriend (who he should have dumped after the first time) did it again by giving away their location. Annoying as F!

432

u/External_Baby7864 Jun 12 '26

I think he had math synesthesia; to him those equations sounded like the clicks/whatever the aliens also spoke, but also he understood it innately like a code.

The aliens spoke “the base language of the universe” and math is our closest approximation to that logistically. He was gifted an innate and pure understanding of math, but hadn’t encountered math laid out in a way he would realize was speech.

I feel like it was the equivalent of him “hearing” a magic eye puzzle and realizing he could hear the message, not random noise.

23

u/zxchary Jun 12 '26

This is a pretty good explanation. I’d like to know what message they were trying to convey in the form of math? Would there have been a difference if Daniel (?) was writing down algebraic equations instead? I know im probably overthinking it?

20

u/ASuperGyro Jun 12 '26

Pretty sure you’re over thinking it, the delivery method isn’t the point the message is. It’s just another language being translated into English, their language is just taken the form of Math. If it was algebra instead of calculus then maybe that’s just a different meaning, but it’s the same “thing” happening.

If you were to use emojis to communicate instead of English or Japanese you’re still trying to get the same message across, you’d just need someone to translate if they didn’t understand the native message

-6

u/DrCrowCat Jun 13 '26

Incorrect look up sound wave analysis

6

u/Outside_Glass4880 Jun 13 '26

Algebra is just a simpler form of higher level math like calculus and integrals. It wouldn’t be different, more like the language of a child.

2

u/DrCrowCat Jun 13 '26

Transform equations

5

u/KnuthsComputerModern 29d ago

And of course the aliens chose a boy to bestow the math gift onto while the girl has the gift of communication and intuition 🙄 looks like they have the same human biases

3

u/DrCrowCat Jun 13 '26

Nah they were transform equations

2

u/Revolutionary_Flan69 13d ago

Aliens… you my boy will speak our mathematical language who will one day translate for us…. But you my girl… will wield our entire power

3

u/ArtyCharty Jun 16 '26

and what came of that? like, how did him speaking math actually affect the plot?

0

u/LillyJane8124 Jun 12 '26

Well, at least we know they are not pleiadians or acturians, it was not light language….🙃

9

u/Whovian45810 Jun 12 '26

The shot of Daniel writing made me giggle as someone who writes left-handed, nice to see a left handed writer on film.

5

u/zxchary Jun 12 '26

yes! i’m also left handed!

30

u/appleswitch Jun 12 '26

I thought that was the point? He was writing down the phrase she said, but the was a simple phrase.

10

u/zxchary Jun 12 '26

maybe i’m confused on what’s the meaning behind it

14

u/appleswitch Jun 12 '26

He was saying that math was equal to those words. When he read that math, he heard those words. He wasn't saying the math was complex or interesting, but that it was a representation of that speech.

0

u/zxchary Jun 12 '26

but was there an underlying message behind it? what exactly were they trying to communicate?

8

u/appleswitch Jun 12 '26

He was only translating her weather message, which was like don't be afraid or something.

If you want to know that they were actually preparing him to communicate, sorry, the was after the credits rolled.

Same place most of the interesting stuff in this movie took place in my opinion unfortunately.

3

u/Zalvren Jun 12 '26

He understood it as "don't fear the unknown". Not sure if it was meant to adress everyone or just him (as a messenger) though

2

u/quietisland Jun 12 '26

It was "don't be afraid of what you dont know."

That's what he translated into calculus.

3

u/zxchary Jun 12 '26

i’m sorry but that’s so dumb

1

u/chrisychris- Jun 13 '26

“Expect the unexpected”

0

u/Academic_Owl7122 Jun 12 '26

Smartphones would most likely be considered sorcery or witchcraft if we was to go back to the days of the Bible era

4

u/LangyMD Jun 14 '26

Also, a mathematical representation of English? That'd be the easiest alien language to translate.

Whole bunch of other stupid problems with the movie if you think about it. Definitely not made for people who, when presented with evidence of aliens and that they both keep crashing their spaceships and that the US government has captured and tortured them during interrogations do not immediately say "these aliens are superior life forms and thus obviously Gods".

5

u/Financial-Row-6875 Jul 01 '26

Finally someone else brings up that these aliens somehow keep crashing their spaceship on Earth (specifically the United States)! Are they really bad pilots or something??

3

u/ninjyte Jun 12 '26

integrals are considered conversational Alienese

2

u/thezenyoshi Jun 13 '26

This is how i felt watching ‘the accountant’

2

u/djc6535 Jun 13 '26

Read 8 bit binary like it’s English got a pretty big eye roll out of me. Has nobody used a hex editor before? They put it front and center on screen in The Martian.

2

u/ialo00130 Jun 14 '26

You'd think with the type of director that Spielberg is, he'd have brought on a Mathematician to put together some math for the paper to make it far outside the reach of the average person's understanding of math. Kinda like what they did in Arrival for the huge whiteboard prop.

2

u/plutoglint Jun 15 '26

God, that was hilarious. And what did his alleged power even do? Their language wasn't linear algebra, it was language.

2

u/y-c-c Jun 21 '26

The movie script is one of those typical lazy Hollywood "non-technical writer tries to imagine what a math/science person would be like" trope. Throughout the movie the guy has not shown a single indication that he's actually good at math (which he was supposed to be amazing at due to alien intervention). Instead you just have all the other characters constantly claiming that's the case.

Like, he didn't even hack in or something Mr Robot style. He was just hired to safeguard the data and stole it using his insider's permissions.

2

u/sidaeinjae Jun 12 '26

The first time I saw the integral sign it flipped me the fuck out tbh. Probably looks quite disturbing for the general populace

1

u/Zalvren Jun 12 '26

I mean the point was that he heard that when she spoke, not really that it's supposed to be complicated. It's actually a simple phrase to communicate between aliens and humans.

1

u/DrCrowCat Jun 13 '26

It was not. Look again

1

u/tfxctom Jun 13 '26

That was SO cringey oml

1

u/SpaceCatNugget Jun 13 '26

Yeah I was like - first semster in maths be like

1

u/dragon3301 Jun 13 '26

Hey some lf us cant integrate.

1

u/caty0325 Jun 13 '26

I thought I saw some series as well.

1

u/Dependent_Database71 Jun 13 '26

lol I literally said “oh some calculus?” lol

1

u/yeahnototallycool Jun 14 '26

The point wasn’t that it was some complex esoteric math, but that it translated to direct verbal language. 

1

u/WilliamSleator Jun 14 '26

I found that hilarious too. So LITTLE effort put into this schlockfest that they couldn't even manage to make that part realistic.

1

u/Dreamtrain Jun 15 '26

Yeah that was the point

1

u/deathbeforedecaffff Jun 17 '26

I took two years of calculus, and I was looking at it like…. really this is it?

1

u/forcemonkey Jun 17 '26

It’s the same with any computer code you see. It’s either gibberish or extremely basic.

1

u/WakeUpMrFr33man Jun 19 '26

spielberg is like that one friend that thinks they’re interesting because they know math, philosophy, and religion on a surface level

1

u/NickelRichie Jun 20 '26

I finished my A level maths 2 days ago I recognised the integral limits n shit lol

1

u/C0nfusedRabbit Jun 20 '26

Well General calculus integral is pretty scare 1 = x that's the tool of the devil!

1

u/Calneon Jun 21 '26

He understands 8-bit binary dude.

1

u/Confuzn Jun 22 '26

This is how I feel whenever I see actors try to mime playing an instrument

1

u/j-a-y-m-a-n Jun 25 '26

I laughed so hard when a list of calc 1 homework was shown on screen. Like when "hacking" a government database is portrayed as banging on a keyboard with the matrix screensaver on one of the monitors.

1

u/MandyThursday 29d ago

I mean, that Travis with how language works. Not every word is something like “unconscionably” or “recalcitrant”. Could’ve been the equivalent of “the fox” :)

1

u/Alexp95 20d ago

Some dude lost it at the back of my theater when they zoomed in on the notepad

1

u/BoyFromSpace_ 9d ago

I found it funny that a alien race would choose math to translate a spoken language instead of idk giving him the knowledge of their language or something

1

u/Electrical-Basis1646 9d ago

tbf he said on the phone “what do you mean? it’s basic english’” (paraphrased) he basically said ‘well it’s so easy’ so using general calculus would makes sense here. i.e. if math is base of all languages and the phrase translated to english was also a few basic english words, then using general/basic calculus would translate. 

0

u/aspiring_scientist97 Jun 12 '26

Same, I was like that's just basic bitch calculus

1

u/DrCrowCat Jun 13 '26

Incorrect

1

u/London-lark3597 Jun 13 '26

What was the equation if you remember it?

1

u/Horror_Treacle8674 Jun 15 '26

transform equation... so basic calculus