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
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial arrived from Universal in the summer of 1982, directed by Steven Spielberg at the height of his early-career run. It became the highest-grossing film of its time and remained a cultural touchstone for a decade, prized for its warmth, its restraint, and its faith in a young audience's emotional intelligence. The story of a stranded alien and the children who shelter him redefined what a summer blockbuster could feel like, blending science fiction with something closer to a fable about friendship and loss.
This cell holds E.T. himself, the film's title character and its emotional center, isolated on the reel without any of the human cast around him. For collectors, a frame devoted purely to E.T. carries weight as a direct link to the character design that made the film instantly recognizable worldwide. A cell like this functions as a kind of visual signature, standing in for the whole picture through its most iconic figure. It represents the creature at the heart of the story, distilled to his own presence on film.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour optical release print of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge; spacing appears even; corners are rounded and punches appear clean.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical soundtrack track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a single variable-area track.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read any key numbers or manufacturer text.
Base & colour
Base shows a faint cyan-teal tint consistent with colour print stock; dye image appears warm with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
A fine horizontal scratch line is visible running across the full width of the strip; no splices or cue marks are seen.
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 variable-area optical track, cyan-tinted colour print base, and perforation style are all consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print from the early 1980s.
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 000062650
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
