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 Pictures in the summer of 1982, directed by Steven Spielberg at the height of his early-eighties creative run. It became a defining event of the decade, a family adventure that outgrossed every film before it and reshaped what studios expected from popcorn cinema. Built on wonder rather than spectacle, it turned a friendship between a boy and a stranded alien into a cultural touchstone still referenced in movies, music, and merchandise decades later.
This cell preserves the flying moment between E.T. and Elliott, the image most associated with the film itself. Elliott is the ordinary kid whose bond with the visitor drives the entire story, while E.T. remains one of the most recognized creature designs in movie history. Together in flight, they represent the film's emotional peak, the instant escape and companionship overtake fear. For collectors, a frame holding both characters in this exact pairing is a direct link to the film's most quoted sequence.
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 on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing or distortion.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible below the picture area, appearing as two bilateral variable-area tracks with a dotted pilot tone line beside them.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer codes or key numbers.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight cyan-teal tint at the edges consistent with a colour print stock; the dye image reads as neutral to very slightly warm with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light horizontal abrasion lines are visible in the soundtrack area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, and the iconic bicycle-silhouette-against-moon image is consistent with the film on record.
Era check
The bilateral variable-area optical soundtrack, colour print stock with cyan edge tint, 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 000062752
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
