ET go home: why Spielberg’s alien shouldn’t be flogging wifi
‘The audience is going to get everything they want out of a sequel without the messy bits,’ say bosses, as they casually destroy your childhood memories to sell a cable TV and internet subscription
In 1978, Steven Spielberg was aghast to find that footage from his debut film, Duel, had been reused in an episode of the television series The Incredible Hulk. The experience led him to insist on a contractual clause preventing other film-makers from cannibalising his work. “I’d hate to see the mothership from Close Encounters end up on Laverne & Shirley five years from now,” he said.
But it appears he has have given his blessing for one of his most beloved characters to sell cable, internet and phone services. A new, four-minute advertisement for Comcast Xfinity brings ET, the main character of Spielberg’s 1982 masterpiece ET: The Extra-Terrestrial, back to Earth for a reunion with Elliot, his friend and protector from that movie. The original actor, Henry Thomas, has returned to play Elliot, and to give his stamp of approval to the project.