Souped-Up E.T. Returns to Theaters
September 6 -- Proving that George Lucas isn't the only blockbuster filmmaker to turn back the clock and fiddle with past crowd-pleasers, Steven Spielberg is releasing an enhanced version of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.
The classic tale of a boy and his pet alien will be re-released in March 2002, two decades after it was first in theaters, Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment announced Tuesday.
The 20th-anniversary edition will include never-before-seen footage, as well as state-of-the-art computer-generated enhancements and a digitally remixed soundtrack.
"E.T. is my most personal film, and my greatest gratification has been to see how the film and E.T. became so loved all over the world," Spielberg said.
The filmmaker said that he "always wanted to give audiences another chance to experience it as they first did — in theaters, seeing it again, or — for the first time — seeing it with their own families. I also wanted to enhance that experience with advances in technology and some new footage." And a chance to boost the movie up the all-time earners' chart, eh, Steven? Spielberg previously approved the re-release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1997.
In its original summer 1982 domestic release, E.T. grossed more than $359 million. Universal re-released the film in July 1985, bringing in another $40.6 million. It still holds the record as Universal Pictures' highest-grossing domestic film ever.
Internationally, E.T. has grossed $303 million, making it the studio's third-highest-grossing film overseas and placing it among the top 10 films of all time in most countries.
To date, the film has earned more than $702 million in worldwide box office, behind Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park: The Lost World, which were both also directed by Señor Spielberg.
