E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, American science-fiction film, released in 1982 and directed by Steven Spielberg. The movie, centering on a friendship between a human boy and a homesick alien, broke all-time box-office records and played an important role in the rising prominence of big-budget blockbusters, earning $11.8 million in its opening weekend. It set the record for the world’s highest-grossing movie, which was broken more than a decade later by another Spielberg film, Jurassic Park (1993). Produced by Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy under Universal Pictures and written by Melissa Mathison (who was also associate producer), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial became a cultural phenomenon with its emotional depth, imaginative storytelling, and innovative use of special effects.

Characters and plot summary

The main roles in the film include:

• E.T. (voiced by Pat Welsh, uncredited): A gentle alien who gets left behind on Earth and forms a deep attachment with a boy named Elliott
• Elliott (played by Henry Thomas): A lonely 10-year-old boy who discovers and befriends E.T., helping him hide from government authorities and return home
• Gertie (Drew Barrymore): Elliott’s curious and kind younger sister who helps take care of E.T.
• Michael (Robert MacNaughton): Elliott’s older brother who eventually comes to believe in E.T.’s existence and helps with his rescue
• Mary (Dee Wallace): Michael, Elliott, and Gertie’s mother, who is a single parent and largely unaware of E.T. throughout the story
• Keys (Peter Coyote): A government agent who seeks to capture E.T. but ultimately shows empathy

A forest silhouette looms under a starry night sky as the camera pans to a large metallic sphere, possibly an alien spaceship, set amidst the trees. Leaves rustle as strange figures scuttle about in the dark, exploring plants and digging in the dirt. The creatures’ insides glow in what appears to be a signal, and they slowly head back to the spaceship. All except one. This alien botanist, later called E.T., has strayed from the group, wandering alone in the misty forest, momentarily enraptured by the glittering city lights far away. Suddenly, tires screech to a halt and flashlights rip through the darkness as a group of people start combing the woods. The alien makes a dash for it, but it is too late. The spaceship takes off, leaving E.T. behind on Earth. Thus begins the movie that captured audiences’ imagination for generations.

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The story unfolds in suburban California. Elliott, a middle child, discovers E.T. and shelters him in his home. The two form a powerful emotional and telepathic bond even though they do not communicate with words. When Elliott introduces E.T. to Michael and Gertie, the three siblings hide E.T. from the adults. E.T., in turn, begins to learn rudimentary speech and builds a makeshift device to “phone home.”

On Halloween the children sneak E.T. out of the house in a ghost outfit. In one of the most iconic scenes of the movie, Elliott and E.T. ride a BMX bike through the sky using E.T.’s telekinetic powers, with the Moon as their backdrop. E.T. sets up a signal at the site where the spaceship had been. Meanwhile, government agents, who have been looking for the alien, capture E.T. for scientific examination. They build a sterile environment at Elliott’s house to run various tests on E.T.

E.T. is gravely ill, and his life has become entwined with Elliott’s, who also weakens. After E.T. appears to die, Elliott’s grief is profound—until E.T. mysteriously revives and repeatedly asks to “phone home.” The film’s climax revolves around the children’s daring escape with E.T., evading authorities in a thrilling chase sequence and helping the homesick alien return to his home planet. In an emotional farewell E.T. assures Elliott that their bond will endure, saying “I’ll be right here.”

Background

After the success of Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), production company Columbia Pictures asked him to direct a related film. Under contract, Spielberg began developing a movie about a hostile alien takeover, to be titled Night Skies, which had a subplot about an alien bonding with a child. At the same time, Spielberg had been reflecting on his childhood and his parents’ divorce, working on a story based on how he and his siblings coped with the separation. The two ideas of alien contact and childhood loneliness combined to form the foundation for E.T.

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Spielberg believed that Melissa Mathison, who had written the evocative 1979 movie The Black Stallion, would be perfect to tell the sensitive tale of E.T. and pitched her his idea. Initially hesitant, Mathison eventually connected with the script and worked closely with Spielberg to develop the film.

Unhappy with Spielberg’s shift away from an action-packed sci-fi thriller Night Skies to what they considered too sentimental a plot, Columbia Pictures refused to be part of the new project and relinquished the film rights to Universal Pictures for one million dollars (the amount it had already invested in the project) and a small percentage of profits.

Production and special effects

Produced on a modest budget of $10.5 million, the film used groundbreaking effects, puppetry, and animatronics to bring E.T. to life. Carlo Rambaldi, who previously worked on Alien (1979), designed the animatronic alien character in such an expressive manner that it sustained the audience’s suspension of disbelief, making them forget they were watching a puppet. John Williams, well known for his work on the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, composed a musical score that lies at the heart of the film’s emotional impact. His compositions, particularly the theme during the flying bicycle sequence, earned him one of the film’s four Academy Awards. Sound, itself, plays a central role in setting the film’s mood. Cinematographer Allen Daviau, who worked closely with production designer Jim Bissell, created the film’s mystical, otherworldly, and yet soft aesthetic. The use of low-angle shots reflects a child’s perspective, further immersing the viewer in Elliott and E.T.’s journey.

Awards and impact

E.T. was nominated for nine Academy Awards in 1983 and won four of them—best visual effects, best original score, best sound, and best sound effects editing. It also won Golden Globes for best motion picture and best original score. In 1994 the film was added to the National Film Registry, a film preservation program established by the U.S. Library of Congress that selects films that have been deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.”

The film has been praised by critics for combining science fiction with human-centered realism, and it influenced many character-driven and family-friendly fantasy films of the 1980s, such as Ghostbusters (1984), Back to the Future (1985), and The Goonies (1985). The Duffer Brothers’ series Stranger Things (2016–25), which also features 1980s middle-schoolers encountering the fantastic while dealing with difficult family circumstances, has many allusions to E.T. The logo of Amblin Entertainment, Spielberg’s production company, features a silhouette of Elliott and E.T. flying past the Moon, in reference to one of the film’s most iconic moments.