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 in the summer of 1982 from Universal Pictures, directed by Steven Spielberg at the height of his early powers. It became the highest grossing film of its time, a benchmark of family filmmaking that fused wonder with genuine emotional stakes. Its story of a boy and a stranded alien reshaped what a summer blockbuster could be, and its imagery, from bicycles against the sky to a single glowing finger, entered the permanent vocabulary of American cinema.
This cell centers on Elliott, the young boy whose friendship with the visitor drives the entire film. Collectors seek him out because he is the human heart of the story, the audience's way into something otherwise fantastical. A 35mm frame carrying his name and image preserves a piece of that central relationship in its most literal form, a physical fragment of the print that once ran through theater projectors nationwide, tying the collector directly to the original release experience.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame visible on the upper edge; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on the upper edge; lower edge perforations also present; spacing appears even and punches appear clean.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the lower edge beside the perforations, appearing as a dual variable-area (SVA) format.
Edge print
Lower edge reads: 2 383 6 48 25.5 1 30 KOD AK 28 2 001 H
Base & colour
Base carries a warm amber-golden tint consistent with a colour dye image; no obvious fading or red shift detected.
Projection history
Light vertical lines are visible across the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot; subject matter is consistent with a theatrical release print of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).
Era check
The Kodak edge code, dual variable-area optical soundtrack, and warm colour dye base are all consistent with a 1982-era theatrical release print on Kodak colour print stock.
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 000062664
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
