National Film Vault

OFFICIAL FILM AUTHENTICATION BY CROWN GRADING

AUTHENTIC

CROWN CERTIFIED

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MOVIEE.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

SCENEMary

FILM FORMAT35mm

YEAR1982

CERTIFICATE IDNFV-000000931

Film Record Public record

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.”

Selected for preservation as culturally, historically or aesthetically significant. Expanded essay by David Gibson

Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Studio: 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 nominations
All 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
Full list on OpenAlex

Sources: Wikidata · Library of Congress · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.

FILM NOTES

Released by Universal Pictures in the summer of 1982, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial became a defining work of Steven Spielberg's early career and one of the most beloved films of its decade. Its story of a stranded alien befriended by a suburban child struck a nationwide chord, holding the record for domestic box office earnings for over a decade. The film's blend of childhood wonder and quiet melancholy set a template for family filmmaking that studios chased for years afterward, and its imagery, from the flying bicycle silhouette to the glowing fingertip, remains instantly recognizable across generations of viewers.

This cell preserves a frame featuring Mary, Elliott's mother, alongside Keys, the government investigator who pursues the alien presence disrupting her household. Mary represents the adult world's slow awakening to what her children have been hiding, while Keys embodies the outside forces closing in on that secret. A pairing of these two figures suggests a moment where domestic life and official intrusion intersect, a tension collectors prize for its role in the film's emotional architecture. As a 35mm archival cell, it offers a physical fragment of that pivotal narrative thread.

Authentication Findings 8 checks

Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).

Gauge: 35mm, 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 also present; spacing appears even and punches appear clean.
Soundtrack: A variable-area optical track is visible running along the bottom edge beside the picture area, appearing as a two-track variable-area format; a dense noise-reduction modulation pattern is also visible in that region.
Edge print: Bottom edge reads '239' and what appears to be a partial code; full text not fully legible in this capture.
Base & colour: Base shows a cyan-teal tint consistent with a colour intermediate or release print stock; dye image appears warm with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history: Vertical scratch lines are visible running through all three frames, consistent with evidence of projection use.
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 cyan-base colour stock, variable-area optical soundtrack, and perforation layout are all consistent with a 35mm 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 000062775

Original Film Capture As received

The film strip as photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation

Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size