Steven Spielberg's 'Close Encounters Of The Third Kind' Returns To Theaters This Fall

This year marks the 40th anniversary of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the first time Steven Spielberg tinkered with the idea of life from another planet coming to Earth. To celebrate, the sci-fi classic is coming back to theaters.

Following a cryptic teaser not too long ago, Columbia Pictures has officially announced the return of Close Encounters of the Third Kind in theaters in September, and they've debuted an ominous trailer to tease the film's return.

Find out when you can catch Close Encounters of the Third Kind in theaters again below.

Here's the trailer for the theatrical re-release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind from Entertainment Weekly:

For those who haven't seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind (shame on you), here's the official synopsis:

Richard Dreyfuss stars as cable worker Roy Neary, who along with several other stunned bystanders experience a close encounter of the first kind – witnessing UFOs soaring across the sky. After this life-changing event, the inexplicable vision of a strange, mountain-like formation haunts him. He becomes obsessed with discovering what it represents, much to the dismay of his wife and family. Meanwhile, bizarre occurrences are happening around the world. Government agents have close encounters of the second kind – discovering physical evidence of extraterrestrial visitors in the form of a lost fighter aircraft from World War II and a stranded military ship that disappeared decades earlier only to suddenly reappear in unusual places. Roy continues to chase his vision to a remote area where he and the agents follow the clues that have drawn them to reach a site where they will have a close encounter of the third kind – contact.

The trailer above adds a little more intensity to the proceedings than exists in the film. Close Encounters of the Third Kind is more along the lines of thoughtful sci-fi like Arrival, where there's suspense and mystery, but also genuine emotion and much of your investment that comes from becoming attached to the characters played by Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr and French filmmaker Francois Truffaut. As with any Spielberg film, the family dynamic is a big part of the movie as well.

As someone who was born in 1986, this is one of Steven Spielberg's films that I never got to witness on the big screen, so you can bet that I'll be heading to theaters to check this one out for the 40th anniversary. The only downside is that while this is a 4K remaster of the film, it's also the director's cut that will be returning to theaters, which isn't quite as good as the theatrical cut.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind will return to theaters for one week on September 1, 2017. There isn't a list of theaters available for this anniversary engagement yet, but stay tuned to your local cineplexes offerings to see if they'll be showing it.