Director Steven Spielberg’s iconic sci-fi fable, “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” observed its 40th anniversary this month, and it’s really difficult to name another Hollywood movie that’s more globally beloved than this crowd-pleaser about an abandoned alien and a young California boy who saves and befriends it.
“E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” is rare entertainment merchandise whose appeal spans all ages, genders, and creeds. It was initially released by Universal Pictures on June 10th, 1982. It talks to elemental qualities in all of us and resonates in a way that provides cathartic accessibility to its touching sci-fi story.
It stars Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Robert MacNaughton, Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote, C. Thomas Howell, Seen Frye, and K.C Martell.”E.T.” was a massive hit straight out of the gate with its pleasant tale of a friendly creature from outer space and a lonely boy named Elliott who helps him get back to his own planet three million light-years away.
It had a budget of $10.5 million. However, “E.T.” collected a worldwide total of $619 million in its first theatrical run, eclipsing Spielberg’s friend George Lucas’ sprawling space opera, “Star Wars.”
However, the genesis of Spielberg’s classic movie was associated with another of his sci-fi films from 1977. It was named ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind.’ Considering the final first contact scene at Devil’s Tower as an inspiration, Spielberg had a brainstorm that formulated the idea of what would be the consequences if one of those innocent little aliens was lost on Earth and how humanity would respond.
