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
FILM NOTES
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial arrived from Universal Pictures in the summer of 1982, directed by Steven Spielberg at the height of his early-eighties run. It became the highest-grossing film of its time, a benchmark for suburban fantasy filmmaking that fused childhood wonder with genuine emotional stakes. Its story of a stranded alien and the children who shelter him became a cultural touchstone, and the picture remains one of the defining works of American popular cinema, still cited as a reference point for effects-driven storytelling grounded in character.
This cell draws from a scene involving Mary, the mother at the center of the Elliott household, alongside Keys, the government investigator whose presence marks the film's turn toward outside discovery. Mary represents the domestic world trying to hold together amid extraordinary events, while Keys embodies the encroaching adult authority tracking the visitor. A frame pairing these two figures speaks to the collision between family life and official pursuit that drives the film's later passages, a moment collectors seek for its role in bridging the story's intimate and institutional halves.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame visible on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched edges look clean with no torn or missing perforations visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical soundtrack track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a narrow band with modulated clear lines against a dark field.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer text or key numbers clearly.
Base & colour
The base shows a slight cyan-teal tint along the edges consistent with a colour print stock; the dye image reads warm with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
Several fine longitudinal scratches run along the length of the strip, consistent with evidence of projection through a film gate.
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 (1982).
Era check
The variable-area optical track, cyan-edged colour print stock, and four-perforation 35mm format are all consistent with a 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 000062679
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
