Steven Spielberg is never going to retire.
The legendary filmmaker promised this on Thursday night in Los Angeles, speaking at an intimate and high-powered event where Universal Pictures unveiled a grand new screening room named for the director.
Before guests including Oscar-winning team Daniels, Seth Rogen, Colman Domingo, Vin Diesel, Ava DuVernay, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Jeff Goldblum and more, the much-awarded Spielberg seemed genuinely bowled over to have a theater in his name — one where many of the studio’s future filmmakers will screen and tweak cuts of what they’ll hope is their own “Jaws” or “Schindler’s List.”
“I’ve been behind the camera for so long, that a dedication like this is extraordinary,” Spielberg told the crowd. Universal Pictures gave him his first shot at film, with the 1971 project “Duel.” He would go on to make “The Sugarland Express,” “E.T.,” “Jurassic Park” and “The Fablemans” through different eras at Uni, saying “it feels like we keep getting remarried, but tonight is probably more like a bris.”
If it weren’t enough to say he’s never going out to pasture, Spielberg brought some proof. His next project, an untitled event film dated for 2026, has been shrouded in mystery save its principal cast: Emily Blunt, Domingo, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth and Eve Hewson. It’s been heavily rumored the project is a U.F.O. adventure.
Spielberg introduced a behind-the-scenes clip that didn’t quite confirm an alien theme, though plenty of menacing figures in unmarked black cars were seen chasing Blunt (who appeared in several scenes as an everywoman in a rural area). In one sequence with O’Connor, Blunt’s busted sedan collides with a speeding train. She and O’Connor attempt an escape through the broken windshield as the vehicle gets chewed alive between screeching metal and the tracks.
Hewson and Domingo’s characters weren’t clearly defined in the footage, though they’re on the business end of a cat-and-mouse game that explodes through farmhouses and terrorizes pedestrians. If we had to put money on it, Firth is our bad guy. The Academy Award winner looks sinister and well-suited as a leader in some kind of underground workspace (one that resembles a NASA control room and the like).
Donna Langley, chairman of NBCUniversal Entertainment and Studios, hosted the evening with Comcast president Mike Cavanagh and his boss, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts.
“Our hope and dream is that this is not just a place founded on Steven’s extraordinary legacy, but a place of future hopes and dreams of storytellers who are going to take this company into the next 100 years, and the 100 years after that,” Langley said in opening remarks. Roberts called the new Spielberg Theater the “heart and soul” of the lot’s stunning new film campus.
Variety asked Spielberg what up-and-coming filmmakers, who may well watch their own edits in his new theater, are on his radar.
“There are so many that excite me right now, and it’s not just that they’re young. It’s the kind of stories they have to tell. If I name one, I’ll have to name the last 50,” he said.
We pressed further, asking if something like Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” gave him faith in the future of original ideas making a big splash at the theatrical box office.
“’Sinners’ is a deeply personal film. It’s also a huge crowd pleaser and so deeply thought through. So many relevant moral points. I look forward to anything he does,” Spielberg said of Coogler.
The director was also keen to flex about his new theater’s impressive hardware. Seating 250 in green velvet chairs, the room boasts Dolby Vision 4K and Laser 4k, Dolby Atmos sound and projection for both 35mm and 70mm film.
Following the dedication, guests mingled over fresh-cut sushi and cocktails high atop the lot with sweeping views of nearby Burbank and Studio City. An exhibit was curated featuring props and items from all of Spielberg’s Universal collaborations (like Laura Dern’s iconic ‘90s-core costume from “Jurassic Park,” and the original bicycle props from “E.T.”).
Probably a bit more exciting than the last bris you attended.
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