See Rick Baker’s designs for abandoned Steven Spielberg film Night Skies

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

File this one away in the 'What Could Have Been' cabinet.

After CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND became a hit, Columbia Pictures wanted a sequel, so director Steven Spielberg set about developing a much darker, horror-tinged film that would act as a follow-up to the 1977 classic. Originally called WATCH THE SKIES (which was also an early CLOSE ENCOUNTERS title), the film eventually became known as NIGHT SKIES. With John Sayles on script duties, the legendary FX maestro Rick Baker was hired to design the alien concepts. While the film never came to fruition, Baker has given us a look at some of his designs for the film via his Twitter, and we've got them for you to check out below.

While NIGHT SKIES was never made, concepts from the film ended up in several other Spielberg projects, including E.T. and POLTERGEIST. Check out Baker's designs for NIGHT SKIES below.