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 mastery of suburban wonder and childhood emotion. It became a cultural touchstone almost immediately, its story of a boy and a stranded alien resonating across generations and setting box office records that stood for over a decade. The film's blend of practical effects, John Williams' score, and unguarded sincerity helped define an era of American filmmaking that prized heart alongside spectacle.
This cell preserves a strip from the Elliott and Friends Chase Scene, one of the film's most kinetic passages, where Elliott, Michael, and E.T. move together through the picture's escalating momentum. Elliott, played by Henry Thomas, anchors the emotional core of the story, while Michael, played by Robert MacNaughton, represents the older sibling drawn into the adventure. E.T. himself, performed by Pat Welsh's voice work and Pat Bilon's physical presence, remains the film's enduring icon. Collectors prize footage from this sequence for its energy and its place in the story's climactic turn toward flight and escape.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour optical-track release print of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched holes appear cleanly cut with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a dual-bilateral (two-track) variable-area stripe.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer codes or key numbers.
Base & colour
The base shows a warm amber-yellow tint consistent with a colour dye-coupler image; no obvious red shift or severe fading is apparent.
Projection history
Fine longitudinal lines consistent with projection wear are visible across the frame area; no splices or cue marks are seen.
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.
Era check
The dual-bilateral variable-area optical track, warm Eastmancolor-type base, and absence of digital data blocks are consistent with a 1982-era theatrical release print predating Dolby Digital and DTS formats.
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 000062759
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
