Steven Spielberg's 2005 sci-fi thriller War of the Worlds is set to join HBO Max on 1 September, giving audiences a new way to watch the Tom Cruise-led alien invasion epic. The film's arrival follows renewed attention on Spielberg's work in the genre after his 2026 release Disclosure Day, and highlights the director's long, occasionally divisive history with science fiction, including praise from fellow filmmaker James Cameron for the much-debated ending of War of the Worlds.

Based on H.G. Wells' 1898 novel, War of the Worlds starred Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning and Justin Chatwin, and while its story was broadly well received, its ending proved contentious among critics and audiences. Made on a reported $132 million budget, it grossed just over $600 million worldwide ($234 million domestically and $372 million overseas) after opening on 1 July 2005, briefly topping the US box office before being overtaken by Fantastic Four the following weekend.