Before zombies shambled about, ghoulishly feasting on the flesh of those too slow to flee, aliens from outer space ruled movie theaters, drive-ins and late Saturday night creature features on television.
Even as Hollywood still drives how Americans envision little green men with big eyes and bigger heads, fiction soon could be separated from 鈥� or revealed as 鈥� fact if government agencies release secret files related to extraterrestrials and UFOs as .
The science fiction genre has shaped how people think about intelligent life elsewhere in the universe 鈥� 鈥渨hether it鈥檚 invasion narratives or aliens coming to warn us that we鈥檙e on the wrong track or aliens just trying to come and make contact and help us with things or just say 鈥榟i,鈥欌�� says Duke University professor Priscilla Wald, who teaches a class on science fiction and film.
Trump’s announcement on social media followed former President Barack Obama suggesting in a podcast interview that aliens were real. that he had not seen evidence that aliens had made contact, but said since the universe is so vast odds are good that life exists elsewhere.
Movies say they are nearly everywhere, from a Pennsylvania cornfield in 2002’s 鈥淪igns鈥� to Wyoming’s Devil’s Tower in 1977’s 鈥淐lose Encounters of the Third Kind鈥� to a Central American jungle where 1987’s 鈥淧redator鈥� was set.
鈥淗ollywood has basically been preparing the public for this,鈥� retired Navy Rear Adm. Timothy Gallaudet says of any revelation that intelligent life from outer space exists and has visited Earth. 鈥淚 think people can handle it. It does, of course, depend on what information is released (by the government).”
Hollywood quickly latched on following the 1947 discovery of debris near Roswell, New Mexico. Authorities initially identified crash materials as a flying disc before quickly backtracking and saying they were from a high-altitude weather balloon.
About three years after Roswell, 鈥淭he Flying Saucer鈥� made it to theaters. That was followed by a some low-budget and mostly forgettable movies, while others continue to inspire sci-fi buffs like 1951鈥檚 鈥淭he Day the Earth Stood Still.鈥�
鈥淚f you think back to the flourishing of alien films, this starts really in the U.S. in the 1950s,鈥� Wald says.
鈥淭he aliens are gentle souls who come down and try to warn us after nuclear war,” she says of 鈥淭he Day the Earth Stood Still.鈥� 鈥淭hey鈥檙e trying to warn that we鈥檙e creating problems in the cosmos and that if we don鈥檛 stop, they are and have to do something about it.”
Still others depict visitors arriving with more nefarious motives and intentions 鈥� to kill us, to take over the Earth, sometimes even to make us food.
鈥淚 think if we found out aliens were on the way, there would be a mix of responses,鈥� Wald says. 鈥淚 think there would be a lot of people out there welcoming them. A lot of people would be going down to the cellars and stocking them with canned food.”
A plethora of documentaries also have been released, including 2025鈥檚 鈥淭he Age of Disclosure,鈥� which details government knowledge of the existence of intelligent life outside of humans and attempts to reverse engineer alien technology.
Steven Spielberg has directed such box office hits as 1982’s 鈥淓.T. The Extraterrestrial鈥� and 鈥淐lose Encounters of the Third Kind.鈥� His upcoming film 鈥淒isclosure Day鈥� teases: 鈥淚f you found out we weren鈥檛 alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you?鈥�
鈥淢y question is always, ‘Well, what is that fear really about?’鈥� Wald says. 鈥淚t seems to me it鈥檚 a reflection on who we are, that we鈥檙e projecting onto aliens the way we treat each other. So, the aliens are coming down, they want to conquer us, they鈥檙e violent. Who does that sound like? It sounds like us.鈥�
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AP national writer Allen G. Breed in Durham, North Carolina, contributed to this story.
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