E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

I'm sure you can't believe what I'm about to say but it's a true fact . . . I never saw the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, well, until this past Saturday night (I know, it's un-American). I don't know what I was doing in 1982 when the film was first released but I was obviously too busy to go see it at the theater. From Wikipedia, "Released by Universal Studios, E.T. was a blockbuster, surpassing Star Wars to become the most financially successful film released to that point. Critics acclaimed it as a timeless story of friendship, and it ranks as the best science fiction film ever made in a Rotten Tomatoes survey."

Perhaps if I had seen it back then I would have a different opinion, but as I watched it Saturday night I thought it a pretty feeble attempt at science fiction and I couldn't quite understand how it became such a hit. From Wikipedia, "By the end of its theatrical run, it had grossed $359.2 million domestically. Spielberg earned $500,000 a day from his share of the profits." I guess with the 26 years of wonderful movies since, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial seems quite basic. That's probably it more than anything else and I love Spielberg's work, don't get me wrong. He is an incredibly gifted producer. He has learned and grown since then as we all have. We can also thank the improvement of movies today by the wonderful advances in technology.

Although I was disappointed in the movie, I'm glad that I can now say I've seen it even though it definitely wasn't the highlight of the weekend! The highlight of the weekend, my friends, has to be the finale of True Blood which I watched Sunday evening. Thank you HBO for that wonderful series and thank you for airing E.T. or I might never have seen it! I love HBO!!