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
FILM NOTES
Released in 1982 by Universal Pictures, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was Steven Spielberg's follow-up to Raiders of the Lost Ark, a family science-fiction story that became the highest-grossing film in the world at the time and held that record for over a decade. Its story of a stranded alien befriended by a suburban child struck a chord well beyond the science-fiction audience, earning nine Academy Award nominations and a lasting place in American popular culture. The film's blend of wonder, warmth, and quiet melancholy set a template that studios have chased ever since.
This cell names Mary, the mother of the household at the center of the story, alongside Keys, the government investigator who pursues E.T. across the film's second half. Their pairing suggests a moment where the domestic world Mary tries to protect meets the outside forces closing in on it, a collision point collectors value for tying together the film's two competing threads. Mary is a favored subject for collectors seeking the human, grounding presence in a story otherwise defined by its extraterrestrial visitor.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour optical-track release print of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame visible on the top edge; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on the top edge, evenly spaced and cleanly punched; bottom-edge perforations are also present and appear evenly spaced.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical soundtrack track is visible running along one side of the picture area on each frame.
Edge print
Bottom edge reads: 648 255 1 30 KOD AK 2 8 2001 H
Base & colour
Base shows a slight cyan-green tint typical of safety acetate or polyester stock; dye image appears warm with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
Faint vertical lines are visible running through the frame area, consistent with projection wear on a release print.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be the same or near-identical shot, indicating a very short consecutive sequence.
Era check
The variable-area optical track, Kodak edge coding dated to 2001, and warm dye image are consistent with a post-1982 release or reissue print of a film from that era.
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 000062776
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
