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 in popular cinema, its story of a stranded alien and the suburban children who shelter him striking a chord that carried it to the top of the box office for years to come. Built on Spielberg's instinct for wonder seen through a child's eyes, the film's warmth, restraint, and emotional clarity made it a touchstone of Amblin era filmmaking and a permanent fixture in conversations about family adventure done right.
This cell pairs Gertie and Michael, the younger sister and older brother of the household that takes E.T. in, siblings whose scenes together anchor the film's domestic heart alongside their brother Elliott. Collectors prize material featuring Gertie for her scarcity relative to the boys, and any frame joining her with Michael speaks to the sibling dynamic that grounds the fantasy in something recognizably ordinary. A 35mm cell from this pairing preserves a fragment of that shared household presence, the everyday tether that makes the extraordinary story land.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Eastmancolor theatrical release print of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame visible on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched corners are rounded and cleanly cut.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the perforations, appearing as a single bilateral variable-area stripe with a dense noise-reduction encoded waveform consistent with Dolby encoded mono or stereo.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read alphanumeric key numbers or stock codes.
Base & colour
Base shows a faint cyan-green tint typical of Eastmancolor safety stock; the dye image reads warm-amber with no visible red shift or significant fading.
Projection history
Light longitudinal scratches are visible running parallel to the film edge, consistent with projection through a gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, and the costumed figures are consistent with the production design of the film on record.
Era check
The bilateral variable-area optical track, Eastmancolor cyan-base stock, and warm dye palette 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 000062768
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
