E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dubbed E.T., who is stranded on Earth. The film stars Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote, Robert MacNaughton, and Drew Barrymore.
The concept was based on an imaginary friend Spielberg created after his parents' divorce. In 1980, Spielberg met Mathison and developed a new story from the failed project Night Skies. Filming took place from September to December 1981 on a budget of $10.5 million. Unlike most films, it was shot in rough chronological order, to facilitate convincing emotional performances from the young cast. The animatronics of E.T. were designed by Carlo Rambaldi.
Released on June 11, 1982, by Universal Pictures, E.T. was an immediate blockbuster, surpassing Star Wars to become the highest-grossing film of all time—a record it held for eleven years until Jurassic Park, another Spielberg film, surpassed it. E.T. was widely acclaimed by critics and is regarded as one of the greatest films of all time, and it won four Oscars at the 55th Academy Awards: Best Original Score, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound and Best Sound Editing. It was re-released in 1985, and again in 2002, to celebrate its 20th anniversary, with altered shots, visual effects, and additional scenes. In 1994, the film was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, being designated as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
