Film buffs and casual viewers alike have often stumbled over the mouthful that is Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It lacks the punchy urgency of titles like Jaws or the stark simplicity of E.T.. Yet this seemingly clunky phrase carries a fascinating backstory involving a 1950s sci-fi classic, a legal dispute, and a real-life astronomer whose work reshaped how it’s worth noting about UFOs. The journey from the original working title to the final name reveals a great deal about Steven Spielberg’s creative evolution and his desire to tell a story about wonder rather than fear.
The Original Vision: A Nod to Cold War Paranoia
Long before the film hit theaters, Spielberg had a different name in mind. He wanted to call his project Watch the Skies. This title was not a random invention. It came directly from the final line of the 1951 science fiction film The Thing From Another World. In that movie’s closing moments, a reporter delivers a solemn warning to the audience: “Watch the skies!” The line became iconic, capturing the anxious mood of the early Cold War era when the threat of invasion—whether from communist forces or extraterrestrials—felt very real to many Americans.
By choosing that phrase, Spielberg was signaling his deep respect for the genre that had shaped his imagination. The Thing From Another World presented aliens as hostile, intelligent beings that had to be stopped through military force. The original title Watch the Skies would have immediately placed his film in that tradition of suspicion and vigilance. It would have told audiences to expect another story about humanity under siege from above.
What the Original Title Would Have Communicated
A title like Watch the Skies works on a visceral level. It is short, memorable, and carries an implied command. It suggests that danger lurks overhead and that we must remain alert. This approach fits perfectly with the paranoid sci-fi of the 1950s, a decade when films like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The War of the Worlds used alien threats as metaphors for communist infiltration or nuclear anxiety. Spielberg’s homage to The Thing From Another World would have linked his movie directly to that tradition.
Yet the film Spielberg was actually making told a very different story. His aliens were not monsters. They were advanced, curious beings who seemed to communicate through music and light. The narrative focused on a group of people drawn toward a mysterious mountain, not fleeing from a terrifying enemy. Watch the Skies would have set up expectations that the film itself would then subvert, which might have confused audiences looking for a straightforward invasion thriller.
The Legal and Creative Pivot: Enter Dr. J. Allen Hynek
The shift away from Watch the Skies did not happen purely for artistic reasons. A legal letter changed everything. According to detailed accounts from Ray Morton’s book Close Encounters of the Third Kind: The Making of Steven Spielberg’s Classic Film, a lawyer representing Dr. J. Allen Hynek contacted the production. Hynek was a respected astronomer who had served as a consultant for the U.S. Air Force’s Project Blue Book, the official government investigation into UFO reports. In 1972, he published a book called The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry. In it, he introduced a classification system for sightings.
Hynek’s categories included “close encounters of the first kind” (visual sightings at close range), “close encounters of the second kind” (physical evidence like landing marks or burned ground), and “close encounters of the third kind” (actual sightings of alien beings). The phrase was precise, academic, and completely unlike anything Hollywood had used before. When Columbia Pictures learned that Hynek held the rights to the term, they negotiated a deal. The studio purchased the rights to use the classification, and Hynek himself was brought on as the film’s technical advisor.
Why the Lawyer Got Involved
It might seem strange that a lawyer would intervene in a movie title, but the situation makes sense when you understand Hynek’s position. He had spent years trying to bring scientific credibility to the study of UFOs, a field often dismissed as pseudoscience or fantasy. His book was a serious attempt to organize data and create a shared vocabulary for researchers. Seeing his terminology used in a Hollywood blockbuster without permission or compensation would have undermined his professional standing. The legal letter was not just about money. It was about protecting the intellectual property that represented years of careful work.
This intervention forced Spielberg and Columbia to reconsider their approach. Rather than fighting the claim, they embraced it. Acquiring the rights to the phrase gave the film a built-in connection to real-world ufology. It also solved a practical problem: Watch the Skies was already being used by other projects, and the studio wanted something more distinctive for marketing purposes.
How the Final Title Reshaped the Film’s Identity
The decision to adopt Close Encounters of the Third Kind as the official title was a gamble. It was long, technical, and unfamiliar to general audiences. Yet it ended up being a perfect fit for the movie’s themes. Where Watch the Skies implied a warning, the new title suggested classification and understanding. It framed the alien arrival not as an attack but as an event to be studied and categorized. This shift in language reflected a broader change in how the film approached its subject matter.
Spielberg’s aliens were not invaders. They were travelers, and their arrival was portrayed with a sense of awe and mystery. The famous scene where the mothership descends over Devil’s Tower is not frightening. It is breathtaking. The five-note musical sequence becomes a form of communication, not a battle cry. By using Hynek’s terminology, the title prepared audiences to think of the film as something closer to a scientific inquiry than a monster movie.
The Contrast Between Paranoia and Wonder
This contrast is central to understanding why the final title worked so well. Watch the Skies belongs to a world of fear. It evokes air raid sirens, black and white newsreels, and the dread of the unknown. Close Encounters of the Third Kind belongs to a world of curiosity. It sounds like a chapter heading in a research paper. It invites questions rather than demands vigilance. Viewers walk into the theater wondering what a “close encounter of the third kind” actually is, and the movie rewards that curiosity by showing them something beautiful.
Spielberg himself understood this distinction. He had grown up watching the paranoid sci-fi of the 1950s, but he wanted to make something different. His film E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, released five years later, would take this idea even further, presenting an alien as a gentle friend. Close Encounters sits at a midpoint between the old fear and the new wonder, and the title reflects that balance.
What the Title Teaches About Film History
The story of the close encounters original title offers a valuable lesson for anyone interested in how movies are made. Creative decisions are rarely made in a vacuum. Legal pressures, commercial considerations, and the influence of real-world experts all played a role in shaping what became one of the most famous titles in cinema history. The working title Watch the Skies honored a classic film from the 1950s, but the final title honored a living scientist who had dedicated his career to understanding the phenomenon the movie depicted.
For film students, this case study illustrates how a director’s vision can evolve under external constraints. Spielberg did not get the title he originally wanted, but he ended up with a title that was more meaningful and more original. It grounded the story in reality while still allowing room for fantasy. It also gave the film a distinct identity that set it apart from the countless alien invasion movies that came before and after.
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The Role of Technical Accuracy in Storytelling
Hynek’s involvement as technical advisor added a layer of authenticity that many science fiction films lack. He helped ensure that the characters’ reactions and the government’s procedures felt plausible. This attention to detail extended to the title itself. By using a real classification system, the movie signaled that it took its subject seriously, even when depicting fantastical events like a mothership landing. This blend of realism and spectacle is a hallmark of Spielberg’s best work, and it begins with the name on the poster.
For readers who enjoy film trivia, the change from Watch the Skies to Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a reminder that even the most iconic elements of a movie can start as something entirely different. The abandoned title still exists in production notes and early scripts, a ghost of what might have been. But the final choice has become so familiar that it is hard to imagine the film being called anything else.
The Legacy of the Title in Popular Culture
Since its release in 1977, the phrase “close encounter” has entered everyday language. People use it to describe any strange or unexplained experience, even those completely unrelated to UFOs. This linguistic spread is a testament to the title’s power. It is specific enough to be memorable and vague enough to be adaptable. The close encounters original title Watch the Skies did not achieve this level of cultural penetration, which suggests that the change was the right one from a marketing perspective as well as a creative one.
The 1980 re-release, marketed as The Special Edition of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, kept the original name intact. Spielberg added new scenes and tightened the edit, but he never considered changing the title back. By that point, the name was inseparable from the film’s identity. It had become a brand, recognized around the world as shorthand for a story about peaceful contact with extraterrestrial life.
How the Title Influenced Later Science Fiction
Other filmmakers took note of how Spielberg used a scientific-sounding title to elevate his material. In the decades that followed, movies like Contact and Arrival adopted a similar approach, treating alien encounters as intellectual puzzles rather than action set pieces. The title Close Encounters of the Third Kind helped pave the way for this more thoughtful brand of science fiction. It proved that audiences were willing to engage with complex ideas if the story was told with heart and skill.
Even today, the title stands out among Spielberg’s filmography. It is the only one that includes a number and a classification system. It feels more like a documentary than a fantasy. This uniqueness has helped it endure, ensuring that new generations of viewers continue to discover the film and wonder about its unusual name.
Practical Takeaways for Film Enthusiasts and Creators
If you are a writer, director, or simply a fan of cinema, the story of the close encounters original title offers several useful insights. First, do not be afraid to change your initial idea when better options emerge. Spielberg’s attachment to Watch the Skies was understandable, but he recognized that the Hynek-inspired title served the story better. Second, pay attention to legal and practical constraints. They can force you to make choices that ultimately improve your work. Third, consider how your title sets audience expectations. A name that sounds like a scientific report can signal that your story values intelligence over spectacle.
For collectors of film trivia, knowing the original title adds depth to your appreciation of the movie. It connects Close Encounters to a lineage of science fiction that stretches back to the 1950s, while also highlighting the unique path it carved for itself. The next time you watch the film, think about how different the experience would be if the opening credits read Watch the Skies. The music would be the same. The visuals would be the same. But the feeling would shift, just slightly, toward something darker and more anxious.
The final title captures the film’s true spirit: a sense of discovery, a willingness to look up with hope rather than fear. It transformed a potential legal headache into a defining element of pop culture. And it stands as proof that sometimes the best ideas come from unexpected places, including a letter from a lawyer representing a quiet astronomer who just wanted his work to be taken seriously.
