E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is an Academy Award-winning 1982 science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg that tells the story of a young boy, Elliott, who befriends an alien being called E.T. stranded on Earth and trying to find his way home. This film was produced by Amblin Entertainment, distributed by Universal Pictures, and originally released to movie theatres in 1982.

Trivia

• E.T. was designed by Carlo Rambaldi, while his voice was performed by several people, including Debra Winger and Pat Welsh.
• Originally the script called for the use of M&Ms (which survived into the novelization). However M&M Mars did not agree to the contract (because they thought E.T. was ugly and would scare children) and instead Reese's Pieces by Hershey's were used. A week after the movie premiered, sales of the candy tripled.
• When E.T. is covered with a sheet and goes "trick-or-treating" with the children, he sees a child in a Star Wars character's mask (Yoda) and begins to follow that child saying "Home....home....". Also, composer John Williams includes a snippet of his "Yoda Theme" from ' to accompany this scene.
• In 1998, the title character was licensed to appear in television public service announcements produced by Progressive Insurance in which E.T.'s voice reminded drivers to "Buckle up" their safety belts. Traffic signage depicting a stylized portrait of E.T. (wearing his safety belt) was also installed on selected roads in the USA. http://thecreativeforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=164
• When the movie was released, Steven Spielberg, a Porsche 928 aficionado, had his moon-roof button re-designed with the movie's logo as both a gag for passengers and a tribute to the movie's success.
• E.T. can be seen in "Da Boom" episode of the popular animated series Family Guy.
• E.T. can be heard (off-screen) in an episode of Muppet Babies.
• Aliens of E.T.'s race can also be seen in ' in the Senate Chamber. It is believed this is a friendly response to Spielberg prominently using Star Wars references in E.T.
• The movie inspired the hit (but often-ridiculed) song "Heartlight," written and performed by Neil Diamond.