E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. came out of an abandoned project — Spielberg had been developing a much darker film about a family menaced by aliens, and pulled the gentlest thread out of it instead.
About E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
E.T. came out of an abandoned project — Spielberg had been developing a much darker film about a family menaced by aliens, and pulled the gentlest thread out of it instead. The result was the highest-grossing film in the world for eleven years, until Jurassic Park displaced it. Its production is notable for how much of the performance is practical: Carlo Rambaldi built the creature, several performers operated it, and Spielberg shot much of the film in sequence and at child height so that the young cast's reactions were genuine. It is also, quietly, a divorce film — the absent father is the wound the entire story is arranged around.
Amblin Entertainment's logo — a bicycle crossing the moon — is a frame from this film.
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Key eras
| Era | Years | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Release | 1982 | Became the highest-grossing film in the world for over a decade. |
| Reissues | 1985–2002 | Repeated theatrical returns, including a controversial digitally altered version. |
| Legacy | 1982– | Amblin's logo silhouette is taken directly from the film. |