John Williams to Collaborate with Spielberg for 30th Time
According to CinemaDrame News Agency, John Williams will compose the score for Steven Spielberg’s new untitled film, marking the 30th cinematic collaboration between the 93-year-old Oscar-winning composer and the director.
No plot details have been revealed for the film, set to be released in 2026, but Damien Woetzel, president of the Juilliard School, confirmed the collaboration during an event titled John Williams – Life of a Composer: An Evening of Story and Music on Monday:
“John Williams is working in Los Angeles… he’s working with Steven Spielberg on a new film, and that’s something to be very happy about.”
Spielberg and Williams first worked together in 1974 on The Sugarland Express. Since then, Williams has scored every Spielberg film except five. Their most recent collaboration was The Fabelmans, which earned the director a Golden Globe. Iconic films such as Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, and Jurassic Park are all among their decades-long partnership.
In 2022, Williams said he would retire after scoring Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny:
“I’m currently working on Indiana Jones 5, which is announced as Harrison Ford’s last film—he’s a bit younger than me. So I thought: if he can do it, then I can [retire].”
However, he did not retire, and a year later told The Times:
“I don’t give much importance to official pronouncements or statements that are final and behind closed doors. If I have issued such statements without considering everything, I retract them.”
Unofficial reports suggest Spielberg’s new film is about unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Screenwriter David Koepp previously commented that the project is reminiscent of Spielberg’s earlier work:
“Yes, it’s like a sci-fi film… I don’t know. I probably shouldn’t say… maybe it harks back to a tone he hasn’t used in a while, unlike his recent films.”
The new film stars Josh O’Connor, Emily Blunt, Colin Firth, White Russell, Clément Domingo, and Ivo Heusen. Universal Pictures will release it in June 2026.
