How 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial' Redefined Sci-Fi 44 Years Ago and Remains a Classic

On June 11, 1982, Stephen Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial hit theaters-and changed movies forever.

Unlike other sci-fi blockbusters like Star Wars, the main characters in E.T. weren't trying to save their homeland from an evil invading species. Rather, they took in the friendly alien as if he were a lost puppy and helped him find his home, subverting long-standing sci-fi tropes.

But to call E.T. a blockbuster would be an understatement. In 1983, it became the highest grossing film of all time, until Titanic surpassed it in 1997. It won two Golden Globes - including best drama film - and four Oscars. It quickly became regarded as a modern classic, seeing re-releases in 1985, 2002, and 2022.

One of E.T.'s Oscars was for best special effects. Since this was pre-CGI, scenes were filmed with a real animatronic E.T. Carlo Rambaldi, to whom the Academy referred as a "special effects wizard," built the animatronic alien, which sold at auction in 2022 for $2.5 million. Spielberg described the robot figure as "the eighth wonder of the movie world," according to CNN.

In the 2002 re-release, many of the original animatronic effects were enhanced with CGI. The updated version was widely panned by purists who grew up with the untouchable nostalgia of the original. The 20th anniversary edition also made other questionable changes, like replacing law enforcement guns with walkie-talkies.

E.T. was re-released again for its 40th anniversary in 2022, this time in IMAX and 4K Ultra HD - but with the original animatronics intact. Spielberg has said he regrets his decision to retroactively re-edit the original movie.

"I should never have messed with the archive of my own work, and I don't recommend anybody really do that," he said at a Time 100 event in 2023. "All our movies are a kind of measuring, sort of a signpost of where we were when we made them and what the world was like, and what the world was receiving, when we got our stories out there."

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 11, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published June 11, 2026 at 1:21 PM.