E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is one of the most significant films in Steven Spielberg’s career. The alien film still finds itself in discussions among cinephiles. After its first 1982 release, the film has been re-released multiple times. However, when the movie was re-released in 2002 to mark its 20th Anniversary, Spielberg made some notable edits in the theatrical cut.
The Jaws filmmaker executed several changes in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’s 20th Anniversary re-release. While some scenes were added, many were enhanced to improve the movie’s quality. But Steven Spielberg regretted how he edited the guns out of the film. He believed the change should not have been made as it ruined the movie.
What did Steven Spielberg say about the major gun edit in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial?
The 1982 alien classic had a scene that featured several federal agents chasing Henry Thomas’ Elliott Taylor and his friends with guns to capture the titular alien. The 20th Anniversary re-release saw the guns in the scene replaced with walkie-talkies.
Steven Spielberg addressed the change when he spoke at the Time’s 100 Summit (via Deadline) and admitted that he still regrets doing it. The filmmaker acknowledged that films should never be altered later to make them appropriate to the present time.
That was a mistake. I never should have done that. E.T. is a product of its era. No film should be revised based on the lenses we now are, either voluntarily, or being forced to peer through.
The presently 77-year-old director thought that it would not look good for federal agents to approach a bunch of kids with firearms so he changed it. However, reality hit him hard after some time and he realized that he should not have “messed” with the archives of his work. He also advised other filmmakers to not make such changes. The Jurassic Park fame added:
All our movies are a kind of a signpost of where we were when we made them, what the world was like and what the world was receiving when we got those stories out there. So I really regret having that out there.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial featured the story of a 10-year-old boy who befriends an alien and helps him to return to his planet. The film was a massive hit at the box office and was critically acclaimed by critics along with 4 Oscar wins for its impressive technical aspects.
Is Steven Spielberg making another alien film?
Despite his popularity for a wide variety of films, Steven Spielberg’s recent record has been underwhelming. His last two ventures West Side Story and The Fabelmans did critically well but were commercially unsuccessful. Now Variety reports that the filmmaker is gearing up for his next release in 2026.
The reports don’t state anything about the story of the upcoming release. Universal will be backing up the project and they have described the upcoming release as a “new original event film”. Nevertheless, an earlier report by Variety stated that this new film may be a UFO story.
David Koepp, who worked alongside Spielberg in Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds, and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, will develop the script of the film. It will be interesting to see if this upcoming film can be a comeback for the three-time Oscar-winning director.
Steven Spielberg’s untitled upcoming film will be released on May 15, 2026, while E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial can be rented on Apple TV+.
