E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg, following a young boy who befriends an alien stranded on Earth and helps him find a way home before government researchers can capture him. The film combined Spielberg's suburban, child's-eye framing with a then-innovative animatronic creature designed by Carlo Rambaldi, and its emotional story of childhood friendship and loss became a defining example of the family-oriented blockbuster. E.T. became the highest-grossing film in history at the time of its release, a position it held for over a decade, and it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1994.