National Film Vault

FILM NOTES

Universal Pictures released E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in June 1982, directed by Steven Spielberg at the height of his commercial and creative powers. The film became the highest-grossing release of its time, displacing Star Wars, and remains a defining work of the New Hollywood era's turn toward suburban fantasy. Shot by Allen Daviau, its warm, intimate visual language set a template for family filmmaking that echoed through the decade and beyond.

This cell, titled Gertie and Michael, captures Drew Barrymore and Robert MacNaughton sharing the frame within the family home, with Henry Thomas also present in the opening frames. The sequence reflects the film's careful attention to sibling dynamics, using close quarters and practical interior light to ground the story's extraordinary circumstances in recognizable domestic life.