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 1982 from Universal Pictures under Steven Spielberg's direction, becoming one of the defining blockbusters of its decade. It told a quiet, personal story of childhood friendship and wonder rather than spectacle for its own sake, and its success reshaped how studios approached family filmmaking. The film's enduring emotional pull, its John Williams score, and its careful balance of innocence and longing helped cement its place among the most beloved releases of the era, still referenced constantly in popular culture decades later.
This cell carries the film's title character, the small alien whose presence anchors the entire story. Collectors seek out pieces bearing E.T. himself because he is the emotional and visual core of the picture, instantly recognizable and tied directly to the film's identity rather than to a single scene or setting. A cell of this kind may come from footage used in trailers, title sequences, or other promotional and structural material, preserving a piece of film stock connected to the character's presence in the movie without pinning it to any particular narrative beat.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby optical release print of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing or distortion.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible along the bottom edge, appearing as two bilateral variable-area lines with a Dolby noise-reduction encoded appearance; a separate data or timecode stripe also appears adjacent to the perforations on the bottom edge.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer codes or key numbers.
Base & colour
Base shows a slight cyan-teal tint along the top edge strip, consistent with a colour print stock; the dye image reads warm-amber with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light longitudinal lines are visible across the frame area, consistent with projection wear; no splices or cue marks are visible in this capture.
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 bilateral variable-area optical track with apparent Dolby encoding, cyan-base colour print stock, and perforation style are all consistent with a 1982 theatrical release print era.
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 000062707
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
