National Film RegistryLibrary of Congress · Inducted 1994
“Written by Melissa Mathison and directed by Steven Spielberg, this film chronicles the relationship between a young boy (Henry Thomas) and a benevolent alien who is stranded on Earth and trying to find his way back to his home planet. The film's masterful blending of hopeful innocence with excitement and humor made it both a critical and popular success.”
Universal Pictures · Amblin Entertainment · 115 min
Box office
$792.9M worldwide on a $10.5M budget
Honors
Academy Awards — 4 wins, 9 nominationsGolden Globe Awards — 2 wins, 4 nominationsLos Angeles Film Critics Association — 2 winsBritish Academy Film Awards — 1 win, 8 nominationsAll 20 wins · 27 nominations on record
Academy Awards: Best Visual Effects
Academy Awards: Best Original Score
Academy Awards: Best Sound Editing
Academy Awards: Best Sound
Golden Globe Awards: Best Motion Picture – Drama
Golden Globe Awards: Best Original Score
Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Film
Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Director
British Academy Film Awards: Best Original Music
Japan Academy Film Prize: Outstanding Foreign Language Film
David di Donatello: Best Foreign Director
National Board of Review: National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
Saturn Award: Best Special Effects
Saturn Award: Best Writing
Saturn Award: Best Science Fiction Film
Saturn Award: Best Music
Saturn Award: Best Classic Film DVD Release
National Society of Film Critics Award: Best Director
Boston Society of Film Critics Award: Best Director
Grammy Award: Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media
Scholarship
Named in the title of 28 peer-reviewed works
Examples
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial — 100 Science Fiction Films, 2013
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial — A K Peters/CRC Press eBooks, 2010
E.T. the extra-terrestrial — Open Research Exeter (University of Exeter), 1982
Sources: Wikidata · Library of Congress · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial arrived from Universal in the summer of 1982 and quickly became a defining event of the era, both for the studio and for popular filmmaking at large. It held the record for highest-grossing film of its time and remains one of the most beloved family pictures ever produced, anchoring the sentimental, effects-driven blockbusters that shaped 1980s cinema. Its story of a stranded alien and the boy who befriends him struck a universal chord, and the film's imagery, especially its central duo, has become permanently woven into American visual culture.
This cell preserves a strip of 35mm film centered on E.T. and Elliott together, the pairing at the emotional heart of the entire picture. Elliott is the young boy who discovers and shelters the alien; E.T. is the visitor whose bond with him drives the story's warmth and wonder. Collectors seek this specific pairing because it represents the film's core relationship rather than a single figure or scene, making it a compact record of the story's most enduring connection.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour release print of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with no visible torn or deformed holes
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a single bilateral variable-area track
Edge print
"23 83 648 2" is legible along the lower edge; additional manufacturer edge text is not clearly resolved in this capture
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight warm-neutral tint consistent with colour dye coupler stock; dye image shows warm, saturated colour with no visible fading
Projection history
Two faint vertical lines are visible running through the frame area, consistent with light projection scratches on the base side
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, consistent with a release print of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Era check
The single bilateral variable-area optical soundtrack, colour dye image, and edge numbering format are all consistent with a 1982-era theatrical release print
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000062644
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
