Steven Spielberg ‘Flirted’ With Making an ‘E.T.’ Sequel and Then Fought Against the Studio Wanting One: ‘That Was a Real Hard-Fought Victory’

At the TCM Classic Film Festival: New York Pop-Up event, hosted by 92NY, director Steven Spielberg met up with his “E.T.” star Drew Barrymore and shared that he had contemplated making an “E.T.” sequel at one point. However, Spielberg, who has won multiple Oscars, ultimately felt a sequel wouldn’t be suitable. Despite the studio urging him to produce a sequel following the enormous success of “E.T.”, which was released in 1982 and broke box office records by surpassing “Star Wars” as the highest-grossing film at the time, he decided against it.

Spielberg commented on the difficulty in preventing an “E.T.” sequel, stating, “It was a tough battle since I had very few rights at the time.” Before ‘E.T.’, he had some rights but not many. He didn’t have what we call ‘the freeze,’ which allows creators to halt the studio from making a sequel or using the intellectual property for other purposes. He didn’t possess that right. However, he gained it after ‘E.T.’ due to its success.

He went on, expressing his reluctance towards making a follow-up. He had briefly entertained the idea, merely to test if he could devise a fitting plot, but the only concept that came to mind was adapting ‘The Green Planet’ book, which would have focused on E.T.’s home life. However, I felt it would work better as a novel rather than a movie.

In 1985, the book titled “The Green Planet” was published by writer William Kotzwinkle, who had previously penned the authorization for the initial movie. This story depicts E.T. returning to his native planet, only to find it different from what he recalled. Throughout the narrative, E.T. watches as Elliot matures from afar, all while residing in another galaxy.

For over a decade, Steven Spielberg’s “E.T.” held the title for the highest-grossing film until it was outperformed by “Jurassic World,” another one of his movies. It received nine Oscar nominations, including best picture and best director, and took home four awards. The back-to-back triumphs of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “E.T.” cemented Spielberg as Hollywood’s most successful blockbuster filmmaker.

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2025-01-28 01:47