Steven Spielberg likes to stay busy. He's regularly deep into production on a new directorial effort – often completing two movies within a single year – and at the same time he's always planning his next steps. It seems that at all times he's both prepping his next massive blockbuster or riveting historical drama. And on top of all of that, Spielberg's also usually busy producing something that you're watching and enjoying immensely.
It always feels like a new Steven Spielberg project is right around the corner, and we've put together this guide to help you keep track of everything that he has cooking. There are numerous projects that Steven Spielberg has said that he's directing, and others that he's shepherding along through the rigors of the development process. Here are the films we expect Steven Spielberg to deliver in the next few years, along with all of the information that we know about them.
Steven Spielberg has a bit of a history when it comes to signing on to direct projects and then vacating the helm later down the line. As such, it's never extremely easy to always tell which films he is totally committed to – but these are the titles that are on his slate right now.
West Side Story
Steven Spielberg has told many different kinds of stories over the course of his storied career, but never has he before ventured into the world of the musical. That will soon change. While Spielberg has also never been big on remakes, he's been hard at work creating a brand new adaptation of the legendary and beloved hit West Side Story. First announced in January 2018, the film completed production in late 2019 and was on a path to hit theaters in December 2020... but then the pandemic happened. As such, the movie will now instead be one of the big titles that close out 2021's year in cinema.
Release Date: December 10, 2021
Untitled Autobiographical Film
From François Truffaut's The 400 Blows, to Richard Linklater's Boyhood, to Pedro Almodovar's Pain And Glory, there is a long tradition of filmmakers doing a bit of direct self-examination by helming a movie about their own lives, and soon Steven Spielberg will be making his own version of the cinematic autobiography. The film doesn't have a title yet, but he is co-writing the script with frequent collaborator Tony Kushner (Lincoln, Munich, West Side Story) and he is putting together an awesome cast. With production scheduled to begin in summer 2021, the cast already includes Michelle Williams (who will be playing a surrogate for Spielberg's mother) and Seth Rogen (as a character reminiscent of the filmmaker's favorite uncle growing up). Not much is known about the film's plot beyond it being a coming-of-age story set in Arizona.
Release Date: Expected In 2022
The Kidnapping Of Edgardo Mortara
Steven Spielberg LOVES squeezing historical dramas that could contend for Oscars in between his popcorn blockbusters, so it shouldn't surprise too many people that the director has become fascinated by the story in The Kidnapping of Edgardo Mortara. Based on the novel by David Kertzer and adapted by Lincoln and Munich screenwriter Tony Kushner, the film will tell the story of a young Jewish boy who is secretly baptized then forcibly stolen from his parents to be raised Christian in 19th Century Italy. Spielberg already has locked up his newest lucky charm, Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies, The BFG, Ready Player One), to play Pope Pius IX – though it's not entirely clear when production will begin. The film was initially scheduled to start production in early 2017 and be released later in the year, but Spielberg wound up making The Post instead.
Release Date: Unknown
Being a co-founder of DreamWorks Pictures, Steven Spielberg is not only prolific as a director, but also as a producer – regularly backing and supporting cinematic ventures of all shapes and sizes. Because there are so, so many films and TV shows he's credited on, below is merely a selection of some of the most high profile projects that he is currently attached to:
Jurassic World: Dominion
While Steven Spielberg hasn't directed a Jurassic Park movie since The Lost World, he's remained an incredibly important figure in the development of the franchise, and that very much extends to Colin Trevorrow's upcoming Jurassic World: Dominion. What makes this project particular fun and particularly noteworthy for Spielberg fans is that it will be the sequel that serves to tie the Jurassic World trilogy all the way back to the seminal film in the series, as it will be reuniting Sam Neill, Laura Dern, and Jeff Goldblum for the first time since the original Jurassic Park.
Release Date: June 10, 2022
Indiana Jones 5
In early 2020 things were looking really good for Indiana Jones 5, with Steven Spielberg looking to become one of the few filmmakers in history to helm the first five movies in a film series and Harrison Ford announcing that the start of production was only a few months away. Then things came apart a bit when it was announced that Spielberg was no longer directing the film and instead would be only producing. James Mangold has since come aboard, and we'll have to wait and see if the production can hit the set July 2022 release date.
Release Date: July 29, 2022
Halo
Filmmakers have been literally working for decades to try and figure out a way to bring the incredibly popular video game Halo to the big screen, and while many efforts wound up failing, an adaptation is now finally coming together – albeit as a series for Paramount+. Steven Spielberg is an executive producer on the show, while Kyle Killen (Lone Star, Awake, Mind Games) and Steven Kane (The Closer, The Last Ship) are credited as the principal developers. Pablo Schreiber will star as Master Chief, while the supporting cast includes Natascha McElhone, Shabana Azmi, Natasha Culzac, and Olive Gray.
Release Date: Expected 2022
The Color Purple Musical
Back in 1985 Steven Spielberg directed the first adaptation of Alice Walker's The Color Purple as an award-winning drama, but in the years since then the story has been adapted again on Broadway as a musical, and now that version of the story is getting its own big screen treatment. The stage show saw its original run stretch from 2005 to 2008, and it took nearly a full decade before it was announced that Steven Spielberg was teaming with Quincy Jones, Scott Sanders and Oprah Winfrey to make a movie – but now the project has real steam. In August 2020 it was announced that poet/playwright Marcus Gardley is penning the script for the new movie, and that Blitz Bazawule (Black Is King) is on board to direct.
Release Date: December 20, 2023
Oslo
Steven Spielberg has long demonstrated his love of history through the projects that he has made – from Saving Private Ryan to Schindler's List, to Munich, to Lincoln – and while he didn't direct it himself, Oslo should be an interesting examination of world-changing events. Starring Ruth Wilson and Andrew Scott, the Barlett Sher-directed film will tell the story of the behind-the-scenes negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization that led to the signing of the Oslo Peace Accords. As of December 2020 the movie has completed production, but it is unclear when it will actually be released.
Release Date: Unknown
Robopocalypse
Steven Spielberg has had a complicated relationship with Robopocalypse, a sci-fi story based on the novel by Daniel H. Wilson. It's a project that he's been developing for nearly a decade, but he doesn't seem to want to let it go. At times the story has attracted interest from all-star actors like Chris Hemsworth, Anne Hathaway, and Ben Whishaw, and while Spielberg has said he no longer has plans to direct it himself, it's currently on his list of projects as a producer and has Michael Bay attached to helm. The story is set during a so-called "New War" between an A.I. and humanity, with a tribe of Native Americans leading the rebellion against technology.
Release Date: Unknown
Maestro
Steven Spielberg and Bradley Cooper have not yet had the opportunity to collaborate as director-and-actor, but apparently the former dug the latter's work on A Star Is Born, because Spielberg is attached to produce Cooper's sophomore directorial effort. Maestro, which the actor-turned-director is co-writing with The Post screenwriter Josh Singer, will be a biopic about legendary composer Leonard Bernstein and follow his rise to become recognized as a music icon. Adding to the multiple hats he's wearing on the production, Cooper will also be playing Bernstein and is joined in the cast by Carey Mulligan as Felicia Montealegre (Bernstein's wife), and Jeremy Strong as art critic John Gruen.
Release Date: Unknown
The Talisman
Given that Steven Spielberg and Stephen King are both incredibly prolific artists who have been pop culture icons for decades now, it's pretty insane that we haven't seen more collaborations between the two men – but to date all that we have is the Under The Dome series that was based on King's book of the same name and that Spielberg produced. Hopefully their list of shared credits will grow soon, however, as Spielberg developing a series adaptation of King and Peter Straub's novel The Talisman. Spielberg has been trying to adapt the fantasy story about a pre-teen's journey across America/a parallel reality to save his dying mother for decades now, and while the original plan was to make it as a movie, a deal was struck in March 2021 that will see it made as a show for Netflix in collaboration with the Duffer brothers (Stranger Things). It's a project with some awesome potential.
Release Date: Unknown
We're always on the lookout for news and updates about projects Steven Spielberg is developing, so stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for all of the latest!
