E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

:"This article is about the 1982 film. For the term "E.T.", which redirects here, see ET."Infobox Film
name = E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial


caption = Original 1982 theatrical poster by John Alvin cite news |first=Jocelyn|last=Stewart|title=John Alvin, 59; created movie posters for such films as 'Blazing Saddles' and 'E.T.'|url=http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-alvin10feb10,1,5113268.story |work= Los Angeles Times |publisher=|date=2008-02-10 |accessdate=2008-02-10]
director = Steven Spielberg
producer = Steven Spielberg
Kathleen Kennedy
writer = Melissa Mathison
starring = Henry Thomas
Dee Wallace
Robert MacNaughton
Drew Barrymore
Peter Coyote
music = John Williams
cinematography = Allen Daviau
editing = Carol Littleton
distributor = Universal Studios
released = June 11, 1982
runtime = 115 minutes (1982)
120 minutes (2002: 20th anniversary edition)
country = USA
language = English
budget = US$10,500,000 (estimated)
gross = $792,910,554
amg_id = 1:15032
imdb_id = 0083866

"E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" is a 1982 science fiction film co-produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison and starring Henry Thomas, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, Dee Wallace and Peter Coyote. It tells the story of Elliott (played by Thomas), a lonely boy who befriends a friendly alien, dubbed "E.T.", who is stranded on Earth. Elliott and his siblings help the alien return home while attempting to keep it hidden from their mother and the government.

The concept for "E.T." was based on an imaginary friend Spielberg created after his parents' divorce. When work on "Night Skies" stalled, Spielberg met screenwriter Melissa Mathison, whom he hired to pen the script for "E.T." The film was shot from September to December 1981 in California on a budget of US$10.5 million. Unlike most motion pictures, the film was shot in roughly chronological order, to facilitate convincing emotional performances from the young cast.

Released by Universal Studios, "E.T." was a blockbuster, surpassing "" to become the most financially successful film released to that point. Critics acclaimed it as a timeless story of friendship, and it ranks as the best science fiction film ever made in a "Rotten Tomatoes" survey. The alien became the subject of analogies for Jesus. The film was rereleased in 1985, and in 2002 with altered special effects and additional scenes. Spielberg believes "E.T." epitomizes his work. [cite video| title = The Culture Show| medium = TV| work= BBC Two | year= 2006-11-04]

Plot

The film opens in a California forest as a group of alien botanists collect vegetation samples. U.S. government agents appear and the aliens flee in their spaceship, leaving one of their own behind in their haste. The scene shifts to a suburban California home, where a boy named Elliott (Henry Thomas) plays servant to his older brother, Michael (Robert MacNaughton), and his friends (K. C. Martel, Sean Frye and C. Thomas Howell). As he fetches pizza, Elliott discovers the stranded alien, who promptly flees. Despite his family's disbelief, Elliott leaves Reese's Pieces candy in the forest to lure it into his bedroom. Before he goes to bed, Elliott notices the alien imitating his movements.

Elliott feigns illness the next morning to avoid school so he can play with the alien. That afternoon, Michael and their younger sister, Gertie (Drew Barrymore), meet the alien. Their mother, Mary (Dee Wallace), hears the noise and comes upstairs. Michael, Gertie, and the alien hide in the closet while Elliott reassures her everything is all right. Michael and Gertie promise to keep the alien a secret from their mother. Deciding to keep the alien, the children begin to ask it about its origin. It answers by levitating balls to represent its solar system, and further demonstrates its powers by reviving a dead plant.

At school the next day, Elliott begins to experience a psychic connection with the alien. Elliott becomes irrational due partly to the alien's intoxication from drinking Coors beer. Elliott then begins freeing all the frogs from a dissection class. As the alien watches John Wayne kiss Maureen O'Hara in "The Quiet Man", Elliott's psychic link causes him to kiss a girl (Erika Eleniak) he likes in the same manner.

The alien learns to speak English by repeating what Gertie says in response to her watching "Sesame Street" and, through Elliott's urging, dubs itself "E.T." It enlists Elliott's help in building a device to "phone home" by using a Speak & Spell. Michael starts to notice that E.T.'s health is declining and that Elliott is referring to himself as "we". On Halloween, Michael and Elliott dress E.T. as a ghost so they can sneak it out of the house. Elliott and E.T. ride a bicycle to the forest, where E.T. makes a successful call home. The next morning, Elliott wakes up to find E.T. gone, and returns home to his distressed family. Michael finds E.T. dying in the forest, and takes him to Elliott, who is also dying. Mary becomes frightened when she discovers her son's illness and the dying alien, before government agents invade the house.

Scientists set up a medical facility in the house, quarantining Elliott and E.T. The link between E.T. and Elliott disappears as E.T. appears to die. Elliott is left alone with the motionless alien when he notices a dead flower, the plant E.T. had previous revived, coming back to life. E.T. reanimates and reveals that its people are returning. Elliott and Michael steal a van that E.T. had been loaded into and a chase ensues, with Michael's friends joining Elliott and E.T.'s bicycled evasion of the authorities. Suddenly facing a dead-end, they escape as E.T.'s telekinesis lifts them into the air and toward the forest. E.T. stands near the spaceship, his heart glowing as he readies to return home. Mary, Gertie and Keys (Peter Coyote), a government agent, show up. E.T. says goodbye to Michael and Gertie, and before entering the spaceship, tells Elliott "I'll be right here", pointing its glowing finger to Elliott's forehead.

Cast

*Henry Thomas as Elliott, a lonely ten-year-old boy who is picked on by his older brother. Elliott longs for a good friend, and finds the friend in E.T. Elliott adopts the stranded alien and forms a mental, physical, and emotional bond with it.
*Robert MacNaughton as Michael, Elliott's football playing sixteen-year-old brother who often picks on him.
*Drew Barrymore as Gertie, Elliott's mischievous seven-year-old sister. She is sarcastic and initially terrified of E.T., but grows to love him.
*Dee Wallace as Mary, the children's mother, coming off a recent separation from her husband. She is mostly oblivious to the alien's presence in her household.
*Peter Coyote as "Keys", a government agent dubbed as such because of key rings that prominently hang from his belt. He tells Elliott that he has waited to see an alien since the age of 10.
*K. C. Martel, Sean Frye and C. Thomas Howell as Greg, Steve and Tyler. They are Michael's friends and help Elliott and E.T. evade the authorities during the film's climax.
*Erika Eleniak as the young girl Elliott kisses in class.

Spielberg auditioned more than 300 children for the roles.cite news | author = Richard Corliss | title = Steve's Summer Magic | work = Time | date = 1983-05-31 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925427-9,00.html | accessdate=2007-04-17] Having worked with Cary Guffey on "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", he felt confident in working with a cast composed mostly of child actors, rather than young adults.cite news | author = Steve Daly | title = Starry Role | work = Entertainment Weekly | date = 2002-03-22 | url = http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20036782_20037403_218829,00.html | accessdate=2007-05-07] Robert Fisk suggested Henry Thomas for the role of Elliott. Thomas, who auditioned in an Indiana Jones costume, did not perform well in the formal testing, but he got the filmmakers' attention in an improvised scene. Thoughts of his dead dog inspired his convincing tears.cite news | author = Ian Nathan | title = The 100 DVDs You Must Own | page = 27 | work = Empire |date=January 2003] MacNaughton auditioned eight times to play Michael, sometimes with boys auditioning for Elliott. Spielberg felt Drew Barrymore had the right imagination for the film after she impressed him with a story that she led a punk rock band. Spielberg enjoyed working with the children, noting that the experience made him feel ready to become a father.

Debra Winger provided sounds for E.T., but the alien was actually voiced by Pat Welsh, an elderly woman who lived in Marin County, California. Welsh smoked two packets of cigarettes a day, which gave her voice a quality which sound effects creator Ben Burtt liked. She spent nine-and-a-half hours recording her part, and was paid $380 by Burtt for her services. Burtt also credited sixteen other people and various animals to E.T.'s "voice". These included recordings of his sleeping wife, who had a cold, a burp from his USC film professor, and racoons, sea otters and horses. [cite news|author=Natalie Jamieson|title=The man who brings movies to life|work=Newsbeat|date=2008-07-16|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/entertainment/newsid_7509000/7509441.stm|accessdate=2008-07-17]

Doctors working at the USC Medical Center were recruited by Spielberg to play the doctors who try to save E.T. after government agents take over Elliott's home, as he felt actors playing doctors and reading lines of technical dialog would feel unnatural.cite video | title = E.T. — The Reunion | medium = DVD | publisher = Universal, directed by Laurent Bouzereau |year= 2002] During post-production, Spielberg decided to cut a scene featuring Harrison Ford as Elliott's principal. The scene featured Elliott being reprimanded for his behavior in science class, and saw Elliott's chair being levitated while E.T. was levitating his "phone" equipment up the staircase with Gertie.

Production

After his parents' divorce in 1960, Spielberg filled the void with an imaginary alien companion. Spielberg said that E.T. was "a friend who could be the brother I never had and a father that I didn't feel I had anymore." [cite book | author = Joseph McBride | title = Steven Spielberg | publisher = Faber and Faber |year= 1997 | pages = 72 | isbn=0-571-19177-0] During 1978, Spielberg announced he would shoot a film entitled "Growing Up", which he would film in twenty-eight days. The project was set aside because of delays on "1941", but the concept of making a small autobiographical film about childhood would stay with Spielberg.cite book | author = Douglas Brode | title = The Films of Steven Spielberg | publisher = Citadel |year= 1995 | pages = 114-127 | isbn= 0-8065-1540-6 | chapter=E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial] He also thought about a follow-up to "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", and began to develop a darker project he had planned with John Sayles called "Night Skies" in which malevolent aliens terrorize a family.

Filming "Raiders of the Lost Ark" in Tunisia left Spielberg bored, and memories of his childhood creation resurfaced.cite book | author = Joseph McBride | title = Steven Spielberg | publisher = Faber and Faber |year= 1997 | pages = 323-38 | isbn=0-571-19177-0] He told screenwriter Melissa Mathison about "Night Skies", and developed a subplot from the failed project, in which Buddy, the only friendly alien, befriends an autistic child. Buddy's abandonment on Earth in the script's final scene inspired the "E.T." concept. Mathison wrote a first draft titled "E.T. and Me" in eight weeks, which Spielberg considered perfect.cite video | title = E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: The 20th Anniversary Celebration | medium = DVD | publisher = Universal, directed by Laurent Bouzereau |year = 2002] The script went through two more drafts, which deleted an "Eddie Haskell"-esque friend of Elliott. The chase sequence was also created, and Spielberg also suggested having the scene where E.T. got drunk. Columbia Pictures, which had been producing "Night Skies", met Spielberg to discuss the script. The studio passed on it, calling it "a wimpy Walt Disney movie", so Spielberg approached the more receptive Sid Sheinberg, president of MCA. [cite news | author = Deborah Caulfield | title = E.T. Gossip: The One That Got Away? | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 1983-05-23]

Ed Varreaux created a $700,000 prototype for E.T., which Spielberg deemed useless. Carlo Rambaldi, who designed the aliens for Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", was hired to design the animatronics of E.T. Rambaldi's own painting "Women of Delta" led him to give the creature a unique, extendable neck. The creature's face was inspired by the faces of Carl Sandburg, Albert Einstein, and Ernest Hemingway.E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: Production Notes (DVD booklet)] Producer Kathleen Kennedy visited the Jules Stein Eye Institute to study real and glass eyeballs. She hired people from the Institute to create E.T.'s eyes, which she felt were particularly important in engaging the audience. Four E.T. heads were created for filming, one as the main animatronic and the others for facial expressions, as well as a costume. Two dwarfs, Tamara De Treaux and Pat Bilon, as well as 12-year-old Matthew De Meritt, a boy born without legs, [cite web|url=http://www.cinefex.com/et/et15.html|title=Turn On Your Heartlight: Inside E.T.|work=Cinefex|accessdate=2008-05-26|last=|first=] took turns wearing the costume, depending on what scene was being filmed. Caprice Roth, a professional mime, filled prosthetics to play E.T.'s hands. The finished creature was created in three months at the cost of $1.5 million. [cite news | title = Creating A Creature | work = Time | date = 1982-05-31 | url = http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,925429-2,00.html | accessdate = 2007-04-18] Spielberg declared it was "something that only a mother could love." Mars, Incorporated found E.T. so ugly that they refused to have M&M's used in the film, believing E.T. would frighten children. This allowed Hershey's the opportunity to market Reese's Pieces.cite news | author = David van Biema | title = Life is Sweet for Jack Dowd as Spielberg's Hit Film Has "E.T." Lovers Picking up the (Reeses's) Pieces | work = People | date = 1983-07-26]

"E.T." began shooting in September 1981.cite news | author = David E. Williams | title = An Exceptional Encounter | pages = 34-7 | work = American Cinematographer |date=January 1983] The project was filmed under the title "A Boy's Life" to keep production a secret, as Spielberg did not want anyone to discover and plagiarize the plot. The actors had to read the script behind closed doors, and everyone on set had to wear an ID card. The shoot began with two days at a high school in Culver City, and the crew spent the next eleven days moving between locations at Northridge and Tujunga. The next forty-two days were spent at Laird International Studios in Culver City, for the interiors of Elliott's home. The crew shot at a redwood forest near Crescent City for the last six days of production. Spielberg shot the film in roughly chronological order to achieve convincingly emotional performances from his cast. In the scene when Michael first encounters the alien, the creature's appearance caused MacNaughton to jump back and knock down the shelves behind him. The chronological shoot gave the young actors an emotional experience as they bonded with E.T., making the hospital sequences more moving. Spielberg ensured the puppeteers kept away from the set to maintain the illusion of a real alien. For the first time in his career, he did not storyboard most of the film, in order to allow spontaneity in the performances. The film was shot so adults, except for Dee Wallace, are never seen from the waist up in the first half of the film, as a tribute to the cartoons of Tex Avery. The shoot was completed after sixty-one days, which was four days ahead of schedule.

Longtime Spielberg collaborator John Williams composed the score for "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial". Williams described his challenge on this project as creating a score that would create sympathy for an odd-looking creature like E.T. As with their previous collaborations, Spielberg liked every theme Williams composed and had it included. Spielberg loved the music for the final chase so much that he edited the sequence to suit it. [cite video | people = John Williams | title = A Conversation with John Williams | medium = DVD | publisher = Universal |year= 2002]

Themes

Spielberg drew the story of "E.T." from the divorce of his own parents;cite news|author=Charles Taylor|url=http://dir.salon.com/story/ent/movies/feature/2002/03/22/et/index.html|title=You can go home again|work=Salon.com|date=2002-03-22|accessdate=2008-09-11] Gary Arnold of the "Washington Post" called the film "essentially a spiritual autobiography, a portrait of the filmmaker as a typical suburban kid set apart by an uncommonly fervent, mystical imagination".cite news|author=Gary Arnold|title=E.T. Steven Spielberg's Joyful Excursion, Back to Childhood, Forward to the Unknown|work=The Washington Post|date=1982-06-06] Reflections of Steven Spielberg's childhood are seen throughout: Elliott feigns illness by holding his thermometer to a light bulb while covering his face with a heating pad, which was a trick frequently employed by the young Spielberg. [cite book | author=Joseph McBride | title = Steven Spielberg | publisher = Faber and Faber |year= 1997 | pages = 13 | isbn=0-571-19177-0] Michael's picking on Elliott echoes Spielberg's teasing of his younger sisters, and Michael's evolution from tormentor to protector reflects how Spielberg had to take care of his sisters after their father left.

Critics have focused on the parallels between the life of E.T. and Elliott, who is "alienated" by the loss of his father.Thomas A. Sebeok. "Enter Textuality: Echoes from the Extra-Terrestrial." In "Poetics Today" (1985), Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics. Published by Duke University Press.] Ilsa J. Beck, "The Look Back in E.T.," "Cinema Journal" 31(4) (1992): 25-41, 33.] "The New York Times" film critic A.O. Scott wrote that while E.T. "is the more obvious and desperate foundling", Elliott "suffers in his own way from the want of a home".cite news | author = A.O. Scott | title = Loss and Love, A Tale Retold. | work= The New York Times | date = 2002-03-22 | url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9404EED71138F931A15750C0A9649C8B63 | accessdate=2008-04-11] At the film's heart is the theme of growing up. Critic Henry Sheehan described the film as a retelling of Peter Pan from the perspective of a Lost Boy (Elliott).cite news | author = Henry Sheehan | title = The Panning of Steven Spielberg | work = Film Comment | date = May/June 1992 | url = http://www.henrysheehan.com/essays/stuv/spielberg-1.html | accessdate=2007-07-16] E.T. cannot survive physically on Earth, as Pan could not survive emotionally in Neverland; Neverland’s pirates are replaced by government scientists. Some critics have suggested that Spielberg's portrayal of suburbia is very dark, contrary to popular belief. A.O. Scott said, "The suburban milieu, with its unsupervised children and unhappy parents, its broken toys and brand-name junk food, could have come out of a Raymond Carver story," and Charles Taylor of Salon.com said, "Spielberg's movies, despite the way they're often characterized, are not Hollywood idealizations of families and the suburbs. The homes here bear what the cultural critic Karal Ann Marling called 'the marks of hard use'."

Other critics found religious parallels between E.T. and Jesus. [cite news | author= Stanley Kauffman |title=The Gospel According to St. Steven|work=The New Republic|date=1982-07-05] [Anton Karl Kozlovic. [http://www.usask.ca/relst/jrpc/art8-cinematicchrist.html "The Structural Characteristics of the Cinematic Christ-figure,"] "Journal of Religion and Popular Culture" 8 (Fall 2004).] Andrew Nigels described the story of E.T. as "crucifixion by military science" and "resurrection by love and faith". [Nigel Andrews. "Tidings of comfort and joy." "Financial Times" (December 10, 1982), I11] According to Spielberg biographer Joseph McBride, Universal Studios appealed directly to the Christian market, with a poster reminiscent of Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam" and a logo reading "Peace". Spielberg answered that he did not intend the film to be a religious parable, joking, "If I ever went to my mother and said, 'Mom, I've made this movie that's a Christian parable,' what do you think she'd say? She has a kosher restaurant on Pico and Doheny in Los Angeles."

As a substantial body of film criticism has built up around "E.T.", numerous writers have analyzed the film in other ways as well. "E.T." has been analyzed as a modern fairy tale and in psychoanalytic terms.Andrew Gordon. "E.T. as a Fairy Tale," "Science Fiction Studies" 10 (1983): 298-305.] Producer Kathleen Kennedy noted that an important theme of "E.T." is tolerance, which would be central to future Spielberg films such as "Schindler's List". Having been a loner as a teenager, Spielberg described the film as "a minority story". [cite book | author = Susan Goldman Rubin | title = Steven Spielberg | publisher = Harry N. Abrams, Inc. | year = 2001 | pages = 22 | isbn = 0-8109-4492-8] Spielberg's common theme of communication is partnered with the ideal of common understanding as represented in his depiction of humans and aliens: he asks that if an alien and a human can become friends, so too can many enemies who live close to one another on Earth. [cite video | people = Richard Schickel (interviewer) | title = Spielberg on Spielberg | publisher = Turner Classic Movies | year = 2007-07-09]

Reception

"E.T." was previewed in Houston, Texas, where it received high marks from viewers. The film premiered at the closing gala of the May 1982 Cannes Film Festival,cite news | author = Roger Ebert |title=E.T.: The Second Coming|work=Movieline|date=1985-08-09] and was released in the United States on June 11, 1982. It opened at number one with a gross of $11 million, and stayed at the top of the box office for six weeks. It fluctuated between the first and second positions until January. By the end of its theatrical run, it had grossed $359.2 million domestically. [cite web | title = E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial - Weekend Box Office | publisher = Box Office Mojo | url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=et.htm | accessdate=2007-04-18] Spielberg earned $500,000 a day from his share of the profits. [cite news | title = Spielberg's Creativity | work = The New York Times | date = 1982-12-25 | url = http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50E15FD3F5C0C768EDDAB0994DA484D81 | accessdate=2007-11-06] cite news | author = Jim Callo | title = Director Steven Spielberg Takes the Wraps Off E.T., Revealing His Secrets at Last | work=People | date = 1982-08-23] The Hershey Company's profits rose 65% due to the film's prominent use of Reese's Pieces. The film was rereleased on July 19, 1985, and grossed $40 million domestically.cite web | title = E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial | publisher = Box Office Mojo | url = http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=releases&id=et.htm | accessdate=2007-05-12] "E.T." was released on VHS and laserdisc on October 27, 1988; to combat piracy, the videocassettes were colored green. $75 million worth of VHS copies were sold in North America alone. [cite news | author = Nancy Griffin | title = Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade | work = Premiere | date = June 1988 | url = http://www.premiere.com/moviehistory/3377/indiana-jones-and-the-last-crusade-page3.html | accessdate=2008-02-10]

Critics acclaimed "E.T." as a classic. Roger Ebert wrote, "This is not simply a good movie. It is one of those movies that brush away our cautions and win our hearts." Michael Sragow of "Rolling Stone" called Spielberg "a space age Jean Renoir... [F] or the first time, [he] has put his breathtaking technical skills at the service of his deepest feelings." [cite news | author = Michael Sragow | title = Extra-Terrestrial Perception | publisher = Rolling Stone | date = 1982-07-08] Leonard Maltin called it the best film of the year. [cite news | author = Leonard Maltin | title = Leonard Maltin's Top 25 for 25 Years | work = Entertainment Tonight | date = 2007-05-31 | url = http://www.etonline.com/movies/spotlight/48377/index.html | accessdate=2007-06-01] George Will was one of the few to pan the film, feeling it spread subversive notions about childhood and science, [cite news | author = George Will | title = Well, "I" Don't Love You, E.T. | work = Newsweek | date = 1982-07-19] while Vincent Canby of the "New York Times" criticized it for "freely recycl [ing] elements from [...] "Peter Pan" and "The Wizard of Oz". [cite book | author = Susan Goldman Rubin | title = Steven Spielberg | publisher = Harry N. Abrams, Inc. | year = 2001 | pages = 53 | isbn = 0-8109-4492-8]

There were allegations that the film was plagiarized from a 1967 script, "The Alien", by celebrated Bengali director Satyajit Ray. Ray stated, "E.T." would not have been possible without my script of "The Alien" being available throughout the United States in mimeographed copies." Spielberg denied this claim, stating, "I was a kid in high school when his script was circulating in Hollywood." [cite news | author = John Newman | title = Satyajit Ray Collection receives Packard grant and lecture endowment | publisher = University of California, Santa Cruz | date = 2001-09-17 | url = http://www.ucsc.edu/currents/01-02/09-17/ray.html UC Santa Cruz Currents online article]

"E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" holds a 98% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the best reviewed science fiction film on the site. [cite web | title = 100 Best-Reviewed Sci-Fi Movies | work= Rotten Tomatoes | year = 2007 | url = http://www.rottentomatoes.com/features/special/2007/scifi/?r=1&mid=1006389 | accessdate=2007-07-19] It also has a 94% rating of "universal acclaim" on Metacritic. In addition to the many impressed critics, President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan were moved by the film after a screening at the White House on June 27, 1982. Princess Diana was in tears after watching the film. On September 17, 1982, the film was screened at the United Nations, and Spielberg received the U.N. Peace Medal. [cite news | title = U.N. Finds "E.T." O.K. | work = The Twilight Zone Magazine |date=February 1983]

The film was nominated for nine Oscars at the 55th Academy Awards, including Best Picture. "Gandhi" won that award, but its director, Richard Attenborough, declared, "I was certain that not only would "E.T." win, but that it "should" win. It was inventive, powerful, [and] wonderful. I make more mundane movies." [cite book | first= Don |last=Shay | coauthors = Jody Duncan | title = The Making of Jurassic Park: An Adventure 65 million Years in the Making | publisher = Boxtree Limited | year = 1993 | pages = 122 | isbn=1-85283-774-8] It won four Academy Awards, including Best Original Music Score, Sound, Sound Effects Editing and Visual Effects. At the Golden Globes, the film won Best Picture in the Drama category and was nominated for Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best New Male Star for Henry Thomas. The Los Angeles Film Critics Association awarded the film Best Picture, Best Director and a "New Generation Award" for Melissa Mathison. [cite web | title = E.T. Awards | work = Allmovie | url = http://allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:15032~T4 | accessdate=2007-05-12] Composer John Williams won a Grammy, a BAFTA, and a Golden Globe for the score. The film won Saturn Awards for Best Science Fiction Film, Best Writing, Best Special Effects, Best Music and Best Poster Art, while Henry Thomas, Robert McNaughton, and Drew Barrymore won Young Artist Awards. "E.T." was also honored abroad: the film won the Best Foreign Language Film award at the Blue Ribbon in Japan, Cinema Writers Circle Awards in Spain, César Awards in France, and David di Donatello in Italy. [cite web | title = Awards for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) | work = Internet Movie Database | url = http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083866/awards | accessdate=2007-05-12]

In American Film Institute polls, "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" has been voted the twenty-fifth greatest film of all time; [cite web|title=AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies|publisher=American Film Institute|url=http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/movies.aspx|accessdate=2007-04-04] the forty-fourth most thrilling; [cite web|title=America's Most Heart-Pounding Movies|publisher=American Film Institute|url=http://www.afi.com/Docs/tvevents/pdf/thrills100.pdf| format = PDF | accessdate=2007-04-04] the sixth most uplifting; [cite web|title=America's Most Uplifting Movies|publisher=American Film Institute|url=http://www.afi.com/docs/tvevents/pdf/cheers100.pdf|format=PDF|accessdate=2007-04-04] as having the fourteenth greatest music score; [cite web|title=AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores|publisher=American Film Institute|url=http://www.afi.com/Docs/tvevents/pdf/scores25.pdf|format=PDF|accessdate=2007-04-04] and as the third greatest science-fiction film. [cite news | author = American Film Institute | title = AFI Crowns Top 10 Films in 10 Classic Genres | work = ComingSoon.net | date = 2008-06-17 | url = http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=46072 | accessdate=2008-06-18] The quote "E.T. phone home" was listed fifteenth on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes list, [cite web | title = AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes | publisher = American Film Institute | url = http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/quotes.aspx#list | accessdate = 2007-02-15] and forty-eighth on "Premiere"'s top movie quote list. [cite news | title = The 100 Greatest Movie Lines | work = Premiere | url = http://www.premiere.com/gallery.aspx?section_id=66&webtrends_section=best&article_id=3713&section_prefix=best&window_id=1&gallery_id=298&page_number=1&seq=53&cnt=49 | accessdate = 2007-04-26] "E.T." has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. [cite web | title = Films Selected to The National Film Registry, Library of Congress 1989-2006 | publisher = National Film Registry of the Library of Congress | url = http://www.loc.gov/film/nfrchron.html | accessdate = 2007-02-15] In 2005, the film topped a Channel 4 poll of the 100 greatest family films, [cite web | title = 100 Greatest Family Films | publisher = Channel 4 | url = http://www.channel4.com/film/newsfeatures/microsites/F/greatest-familymovies/results/5-1.html | accessdate = 2007-02-15] and was also listed by "Time" as one of the 100 best films ever made. [cite web | author=Richard Corliss | title = E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) | work = Time | url = http://www.time.com/time/2005/100movies/0,23220,e_t,00.html | accessdate=2007-04-20] In 2003, "Entertainment Weekly" called the film the eighth most "tear-jerking"; [cite news | title = #8 E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial | work = Entertainment Weekly | date = 2003-11-19 | url = http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,547069,00.html | accessdate=2007-05-11] in 2007, in a survey of both films and television series, the magazine declared "E.T." the seventh greatest work of science-fiction media in the past 25 years. [cite news | author = Gregory Kirschling | title = The Sci-Fi 25 | work = Entertainment Weekly | date = 2007-05-07 | url = http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20036782_20037403_20037541_19,00.html | accessdate=2007-05-07] "The Times" also named E.T. as their ninth favorite alien in a film, calling it "one of the best-loved non-humans in popular culture". [cite news | author=Michael Moran|title=The 40 most memorable aliens|work=The Times|date=2007-10-05|url=http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/specials/space/article2575490.ece|accessdate=2007-10-08]

20th anniversary edition

An extended version of the film released on March 22, 2002, included altered special effects. Certain shots of E.T. had bothered Spielberg since 1982, as he did not have enough time to make the animatronics fully work. Computer-generated imagery (CGI) was used to modify several shots, including ones of E.T. running in the opening sequence and being spotted in the cornfield. Spielberg also altered the spaceship's design, adding lights. Scenes shot for but not part of the original version played. [cite video | title = Live at the Shrine! John Williams and the premiere of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial | format = DVD | publisher = Universal | year = 2002] The following shots were included for the first time: E.T. taking a bath, and Gertie telling Mary that Elliott went to the forest. Spielberg did not add Harrison Ford's scene, feeling that would reshape the film too drastically. Having become a father, Spielberg was more sensitive about the scene where gun-wielding federal agents threaten Elliott and his escaping friends; he digitally replaced the guns with walkie-talkies.

At the premiere, John Williams conducted a live performance of the score while the film release grossed $35 million domestically, and brought the film's total worldwide gross to $792 million since 1982. The 20th Anniversary edition was released on a two-disc DVD on December 9, 2002, and was also packaged in a collector's edition with the original version. [cite news | author = Richard Schuchardt | title = E.T. - The 3 Disc Edition | publisher = DVD Active | date = 2002-10-24 | url = http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/e-t--the-3-disc-edition.html | accessdate=2007-05-12] The changes to the film, in particular the switch from shotguns to walkie-talkies, were criticized as political correctness. Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" wondered, "Remember those guns the feds carried? Thanks to the miracle of digital, they're now brandishing walkie-talkies.... Is this what two decades have done to free speech?" [cite news | author = Peter Travers | title = E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial | work = Rolling Stone | date = 2002-03-14 | url = http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/5948461/review/5948462/et_the_extraterrestrial | accessdate=2007-05-12] Chris Hewitt of "Empire" wrote, "The changes are surprisingly low-key [...] while ILM's CGI E.T. is used sparingly as a complement to Carlo Rambaldi's extraordinary puppet." [cite news | author = Chris Hewitt | title = E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: 20th Anniversary Special Edition | work = Empire | url = http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=7808 | accessdate=2007-05-12] "South Park" parodied many of the changes in the 2002 episode "Free Hat". [cite episode |title=Free Hat |episodelink=Free Hat |series=South Park |serieslink=South Park |credits= Trey Parker, Matt Stone |station=Comedy Central |airdate=2002-07-10 |season=6 |number=88]

Other portrayals

In July 1982, during the film's first theatrical run, Spielberg and Mathison wrote a treatment for a sequel to be titled "E.T. II: Nocturnal Fears". It would have seen Elliott and his friends kidnapped by evil aliens and follow their attempts to contact E.T. for help. Spielberg decided against pursuing the sequel, feeling it "would do nothing but rob the original of its virginity".cite news | author = John M. Wilson | title = E.T. Returns to Test His Midas Touch | work = Los Angeles Times | date = 1985-06-16]

In 1998, E.T. was licensed to appear in television public service announcements produced by the Progressive Corporation. The announcements featured E.T.'s voice reminding drivers to "buckle up" their safety belts. Traffic signs depicting a stylized E.T. wearing a safety belt were installed on selected roads around the United States. [cite news | author = Nick Madigan | title = E.T. to drive home safe road message: The Buckle Up program to air alien's plea during Super Bowl XXXIII | work = Variety |date= 1998-12-29 | url = http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117489764.html?categoryid=14&cs=1&s=h&p=0 | accessdate = 2006-11-26] The following year, British Telecommunications launched the "Stay in Touch" campaign, with E.T. as the star of various advertisements. [cite news | title = ET phones home again | work = BBC News Online | date = 1999-04-08 | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/314327.stm | accessdate=2007-04-22]

A theme park ride named "E.T. Adventure" was also created. The $40 million attraction features the title character saying goodbye to visitors by name. Atari made a 2600 game that was based on the film. Despite the popularity of the film, the game was widely considered to be one of the worst games ever.

A sequel book was written entitled "E.T.: The Book of the Green Planet" by William Kotzwinkle (author of the film's novelization). The book concerns E.T.'s return to his planet, Brodo Asogi, and his subsequent demotion and exile to his childhood "farm" where he attempts to return to Earth by effectively breaking all the laws of his planet. [William Kotzwinkle, "E.T.: The Book of the Green Planet", Berkley Books, March 1985, ISBN 0-425-07642-3]

References

External links

* [http://www.et20.com/ Official homepage for the 20th anniversary edition]
* [http://www.writingtreatments.com/et2.pdf "Nocturnal Fears"] Sequel treatment by Spielberg and Melissa Mathison
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* " [http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1800060404/info E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial] " at Yahoo!
* " [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=et.htm E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial] " at Box Office Mojo
* " [http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/et?q=E.T. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial] " at Metacritic