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
Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial arrived from Universal Pictures in the summer of 1982 and became a defining event of the era, its story of a stranded alien and the boy who befriends him striking a chord that carried it to the top of the box office for years afterward. The film's blend of childhood wonder and quiet emotion helped reshape what a summer blockbuster could be, and its imagery, from bicycles against the sky to a single lit fingertip, entered the wider culture almost immediately.
This cell pairs Elliott Taylor, the film's young protagonist, with E.T. himself, the two figures whose bond forms the emotional center of the entire picture. A frame naming both together points to the heart of their relationship, the connection between a lonely boy and the visitor he shelters and comes to love. For collectors, this pairing is among the most sought after, representing the film's core partnership in physical form, a single strip of 35mm preserving a piece of the story's most enduring companionship.
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 the top edge; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on the top edge; bottom edge perforations are also visible and appear evenly spaced with cleanly punched rectangular corners throughout.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical soundtrack track is visible running along the bottom edge beside the picture area, appearing as a single variable-area track.
Edge print
Bottom edge reads: '238 3 648 25.5 1 3 0 KOD AK 28 200' — consistent with Kodak stock edge coding.
Base & colour
Base shows a cyan-teal tint characteristic of Kodak color print stock; the dye image appears warm with no visible fading or significant color shift.
Projection history
Light longitudinal lines are visible across the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive color image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, consistent with a theatrical release print of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Era check
The single variable-area optical track, Kodak color print stock edge coding, and cyan base tint are all consistent with a 1982-era theatrical release print predating digital soundtrack 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 000062761
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
