One of the most beautiful things about Steven Spielberg’s films is their ability to make even the most mundane aspects of a story feel extraordinary. Often that’s achieved through focusing on suburban families, either working or middle-class, and how they must fight for survival against impossible odds. This could manifest as rampaging dinosaurs terrorizing a theme park, as in Jurassic Park, or an alien invasion turning ordinary neighborhoods into war zones, as in War of the Worlds. Seeing a family go through the strife of the fantastical serves as a potent reminder that most people can relate to how precious family bonds can be and why you should never take these relationships for granted — you never know when they could be ripped away. Netflix has quietly added a film to its streaming library that captures this Spielbergian magic without the legendary director ever having touched it, and viewers are discovering it in droves.

The streaming giant’s latest addition embodies everything that makes Spielberg’s science fiction work so compelling: ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances, the primacy of family relationships, and a sense of wonder mixed with genuine terror. While Spielberg himself has created some of cinema’s most iconic science fiction moments over his five-decade career, from the bicycle silhouette against the moon in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial to the terrifying kitchen scene in Jurassic Park, other filmmakers have successfully adopted his storytelling philosophy. These spiritual successors understand that the most effective science fiction isn’t about the spectacle alone — it’s about how human beings respond to the impossible.

The Spielberg Formula: Why It Works

Steven Spielberg revolutionized blockbuster filmmaking by grounding fantastical elements in relatable human experiences. His approach, developed through films like Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977, established a template that countless filmmakers have attempted to replicate with varying degrees of success. The key ingredients include protagonists who feel authentically ordinary, often featuring single parents or families dealing with everyday struggles before the extraordinary intervenes. This technique creates immediate audience identification, making viewers feel that if aliens landed or dinosaurs escaped, their own families might respond similarly. Spielberg’s genius lies in understanding that audiences don’t need superheroes to root for — they need mirrors reflecting their own vulnerabilities and strengths.

The director’s influence on modern science fiction cannot be overstated. Before Spielberg, science fiction films often focused on military responses, scientific establishments, or larger-than-life heroes battling cosmic threats. Spielberg democratized the genre by placing cameras at child’s-eye level, showing alien encounters through the wonder-filled perspective of Elliott in E.T. or the terror-stricken gaze of the children hiding from velociraptors in Jurassic Park. This approach influenced generations of filmmakers, from J.J. Abrams, who explicitly paid homage with Super 8, to the Duffer Brothers, whose Stranger Things series is essentially a love letter to Spielberg’s 1980s output. The Netflix film in question successfully channels this same energy, prioritizing character development and family dynamics over pure action sequences.

A New Generation of Spielbergian Storytelling

What makes a film feel “Spielbergian” extends beyond mere aesthetic choices. It encompasses a specific emotional vocabulary: the awe of first contact, the terror of the unknown, and above all, the fierce protective instinct of family members for one another. Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, released in 2005, remains perhaps the purest distillation of his survival-horror approach to science fiction. Tom Cruise’s Ray Ferrier isn’t a soldier or scientist — he’s a divorced father desperately trying to protect his children while civilization crumbles around them. The film strips away heroics and focuses entirely on survival, escape, and the primal need to keep loved ones safe. This template has proven remarkably durable, influencing everything from A Quiet Place to Bird Box to the film Netflix subscribers are now discovering.

The streaming platform has become an unexpected repository for films that capture this sensibility, whether through original productions or licensing deals bringing older gems to new audiences. In an era when theatrical releases increasingly favor established franchises and superhero properties, streaming services have provided homes for mid-budget science fiction films that prioritize storytelling over spectacle. These films often find larger audiences on streaming platforms than they might have in theatrical release, where they would compete against billion-dollar behemoths. For viewers seeking that classic Spielberg feeling — the mixture of wonder, terror, and heartfelt family drama — Netflix’s library has become an essential destination.

Why These Stories Resonate Today

Perhaps the enduring appeal of Spielberg-style science fiction lies in its fundamental optimism about human nature. Even when depicting apocalyptic scenarios, these films suggest that ordinary people possess extraordinary reserves of courage, love, and resilience. The family unit, often fractured at a story’s beginning, typically emerges stronger through shared tribulation. This narrative arc offers comfort in uncertain times, suggesting that whatever challenges we face, our bonds with loved ones can help us survive. As audiences continue seeking stories that balance escapism with emotional authenticity, films following the Spielberg template will likely remain perpetually relevant, whether crafted by the master himself or by filmmakers who learned from studying his remarkable body of work.