E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial


E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 science fiction film which tells the
story of the young boy Elliott who befriends an alien being trapped on Earth
and trying to find his way home. It stars Henry Thomas (Elliott), Drew
Barrymore, Robert MacNaughton, Dee Wallace-Stone and Peter Coyote.

The original idea of E.T. was from the Indian director Satyajit Ray. Lacking
funds for such a project, Ray sent copies of sketches to his Hollywood
counterparts (as mentioned in Ray's Collection of letters).

The movie was written by Melissa Mathison and directed by Steven Spielberg.
It won Academy Awards for Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Effects, Visual
Effects, Best Music, Original Score and Best Sound. It was also nominated
for Best Cinematography (Allen Daviau), Best Director (Steven Spielberg),
Best Film Editing, Best Picture and Best Writing, Screenplay Written
Directly for the Screen.

The film is consistently on the Internet Movie Database's list of top 250
films, was #25 on American Film Institute's 100 Years, 100 Movies and #44 on
its 100 Years, 100 Thrills, and has been selected for preservation in the
United States National Film Registry.

In 2002 a twentieth anniversary edition was released by Universal Studios.
It adds five minutes to the film's run time, and includes special effects
scenes that were not included in the original because of technical
limitations or budgetary constraints. Other small changes, such as the
replacement of all guns in the film with hand-held radio communicators, were
made as Spielberg was unhappy with their inclusion in the original cut.