It is hard to believe that it has been that long, but on June 11, 1982, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) first appeared in movie theaters. The film, directed by a 34-year-old Steven Spielberg and written by screenwriter Melissa Mathison, told the story of the children who found the little alien far away from home.
Reportedly, Spielberg drew on his own lonely experience as a child of divorce in telling the story. The movie featured excellent performances by child actors Henry Thomas, Robert MacNaughton, and Drew Barrymore.
One cannot dispute the classic status of E.T., although for some odd reason it only has a low 65% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, perhaps due to over-exposure through the years? Still, it has a stellar 98% critics rating.
Did you know that the original idea for the film was to have a family terrorized by an alien? Also, at one point Spielberg planned a sequel to E.T. with E.T. rescuing the family from other aliens.
Check out the video below for some trivia about the classic film.
In honor of the 30th anniversary of the film, one writer noted similarities between Spielberg’s Poltergeist (1982) and E.T. Also, in celebration of the anniversary, a new specially remastered Blu-ray version of E.T. was released. It might be something to phone home about.
Why do you think the film has such a low audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes? What is your favorite scene in E.T.? Leave your two cents in the comments.
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I went to see E.T. with my brother and sister when it came out. He was probably the same age as Eliot and me and my sister with the older boys in the movie. That movie really meant a lot to us. I remember my sister felt so cool because the older brother sings a clip of a song and she knew it was Elvis Costello.
That’s impressive that she caught the Elvis Costello song. For those wondering, in a kitchen scene, Elliot’s brother Michael sings a few lines from Costello’s “Accidents Will Happen,” which was on the album Armed Forces (1979).
According to the Imdb website, Costello, who did not know the movie would be such a big hit, did not receive any money for the song’s use.