Among its parts is a Speak & Spell, an umbrella lined with aluminum foil, and a coffee can filled with other electronics.Īt school the next day, Elliott begins to experience a much stronger empathic connection with the alien, including exhibiting signs of intoxication (because the alien is at Elliott's home, drinking beer and watching television) and freeing the frogs in his biology class. He demonstrates his healing power, through his glowing fingertip, on a minor cut on Elliott's finger. When the children ask the alien about his origins, he shows them by levitating several balls, representing his planetary system and demonstrates his powers by reviving dead chrysanthemums. Later that day, Elliott introduces his older brother Michael and seven-year-old sister Gertie to the alien, deciding to keep him hidden from their mother, Mary. He can "feel" the alien's thoughts and emotions, shown when the alien accidentally opens an umbrella, startling him and simultaneously Elliott several rooms away. The next morning, Elliott feigns sickness to stay home from school and play with him. Before bed, he realizes the alien is imitating his movements. He shrieks and flees the scene.ĭespite his family's disbelief, Elliott leaves a trail of candy to lure the alien into his house. Later that night, Elliott returns with a flashlight, discovering the creature among the cornstalks. In a nearby neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley, ten-year-old Elliott Taylor's suspicions are roused when he pitches a baseball into a tool shed, and the ball is thrown back. The other aliens depart, abandoning him on Earth. government vehicles arrive and chase the startled creature. One of them separates from the group, fascinated by the distant city lights, but U.S. In 1994, the film was added to the United States National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, who deemed it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."Īlien botanists secretly visit Earth at night to gather specimens in a California forest.
An IMAX re-release is scheduled for Augto celebrate its 40th anniversary. The film was re-released in 1985 and again in 2002 to celebrate its 20th anniversary, with altered shots, visual effects and additional scenes. It received nine nominations at the 55th Academy Awards, winning Best Original Score, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, and Best Sound Editing, and also won five Saturn Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. was widely acclaimed by critics, and is regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. The film was an immediate blockbuster, surpassing Star Wars to become the highest-grossing film of all time, a record it held for eleven years until Spielberg's own Jurassic Park surpassed it in 1993. premiered as the closing film of the Cannes Film Festival on May 26, 1982, and was released in the United States on June 11, 1982. The animatronics for the film were designed by Carlo Rambaldi.Į.T. was shot in rough chronological order to facilitate convincing emotional performances from the young cast. Filming took place from September to December 1981 on a budget of $10.5 million. Universal Pictures eventually purchased the script for $1 million. The project was rejected by Columbia Pictures, who doubted its commercial potential. In less than two months, Mathison wrote the first draft of the script, titled E.T. In 1980, Spielberg met Mathison and developed a new story from the unrealized project Night Skies. The film's concept was based on an imaginary friend that Spielberg created after his parents' divorce. The film stars Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote, Robert MacNaughton and Drew Barrymore. return home while avoiding the government. Along with his friends and family, Elliott must find a way to help E.T. It tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial dubbed E.T., who is left behind on Earth. the Extra-Terrestrial (or simply E.T.) is a 1982 American science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison.