E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) (1 Viewer)

[Chuck C]

so how's ET going to do this weekend?

 

[Malcolm R]

Probably somewhere around $7-$8 million. The friday-to-friday drop was about 47%

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

The estimated collections for the weekend is $6,130,000 with a huge drop of 57% over the prior weekend. The cume so far from the re-run is now $24,300,000. The film seems to be doing a lot poorer than other recent re-releases.

Sanjay

Member since 1997

 

[Chuck C]

boo to that...I saw too. #6! Maybe this was a bad time to show the re-release.
more info below:
http://movies.yahoo.com/hv/boxoffice/latest/rank.html

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

The estimated collections for the weekend is $6,130,000 with a huge drop of 57% over the prior weekend.

The drop of Blade II was even higher at an estimated 60%. The re-release is not doing well as previously anticipated. It is now estimated to settle around $35M.
Ice Age came out as a surprise hit from Fox, a wild card that Universal was probably not expecting.
~Edwin

 

[Chuck Mayer]

So my $40M theory wasn't too off at all...this one just didn't seem like it would be a huge theatrical hit. I expect the DVD to sell like MAD though!

Take care,

Chuck

 

[Dave H]

The DVD is slated for August, right?

 

[Sean Oneil]

Heck, if I were them I would bump up that DVD release so all of that advertising money (which was probably not made back by the films recent theatrical run) does not go to waste.

 

[Ernest Rister]

This is probably the gold-plated bona-fide example of a populace NOT wanting a beloved film #@$%ed with. The truth is, my generation grew up with E.T. and Star Wars, my generation was pissed off with the "Greedo Shoots First" version of Star Wars, and we had no desire to see a politically-correct version of E.T.

Mel Gibson just learned the same lession with the re-release of The Passion. Nobody pays money to go the movies to see *less* of a beloved film, or to see a sanitized version of that film.

 

[AlexCremers]

Yes Ernest, that, or kids today only want to marvel at comic superheros.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Ernest, just curiosity - why did you revive a thread that's three years old to make the 'Greedo didn't shoot first' argument?

 

[Robert Crawford]

I was wondering the same thing!

Crawdaddy

 

[Seth Paxton]

I assume he was attempting to back his argument that the public was rejecting Gibson's rework of POTC.

I think a lot of it has to do with people not caring about films they already have on VHS/DVD. Film lovers do, but in recent years average fans don't see going to the theater as a good option (which is unfortunate).

With Star Wars people wanted to recapture the excitement of it all, of seeing the films on the big screen with a big crowd, even waiting in line. Few other films can inspire that same desire in large masses.

When a film is reworked it becomes even more iffy because people do have a strong attachment to the version they've come to love.

I went to the Star Wars films, Rear Window, Apoc Now Redux, Holy Grail, and a few others but its not as much fun when the crowd is small and it borders too closely to me sitting at home alone watching the film. One of the best experiences of seeing an old film at the theater was a packed house for Friday the 13th 3D with a hyped crowd who laughed, jeered, and generally had a ball watching the film as a group.

That's what a theatrical rerelease should be about, that's what my HT could never offer.

 

[BrettB]

I think a lot of it has to do with people not caring about films they already have on VHS/DVD. Film lovers do, but in recent years average fans don't see going to the theater as a good option (which is unfortunate).

I think what Seth brought up is probably the primary factor regarding re-releases. I think there were several other factors at play with ET20 including the rejection of the modified version but I think that was minor. I think that was also minor in the case of The Passion Recut.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Few other films can inspire that same desire in large masses.

I agree with you Seth, but I think it's because Star Wars makes a lot more sense if you see it as a cultural phenomenon rather than a movie. The people queuing up for weeks before the premiere of another Lucas production are largely drawn from one age cohort and social group [protestations that people know instances of SW fanatics who aren't white thirty-something males in some way connected with computing do not negate this argument]. For these guys it's not a movie, but an all-consuming hobby.

 

[Shawn_KE]

No one packed the theaters to see the Alien rerelese a year or so ago either.

Star Wars is different. That is a cultural event now. The only movies that could compare to it in another release is Lord of the Rings.

 

[Grant H]

I wanted to see Alien in theaters, but I could only find it it theaters 3 hours away from me.:frowning:
That re-release didn't even have a chance. They should have had a wider release. Too bad it didn't time out with AVP better. Both movies might have made some money with special double features.
Then again, maybe they wouldn't have wanted the stark contrast to show.
What's funny is before I saw this thread was revived I was thinking about actually watching the 20th Anniv. version of ET again. I've watched the theatrical version a couple times, but did the 20th Anniv. just the one time.

 

[Jim Barg]

You'd think so, but on the Sunday before the national (1500 screens) opening of Alien, my theatre and others got the news that Fox was cutting the Friday release by two-thirds. New York, I think, was the closest to here showing it.

Frustrating, but I did get a nifty bus shelter out of the deal...

 

[Ernest Rister]

Why did I bump this thread? I'm doing a piece on E.T. and was just browsing the HTF for reactions to the film and the 20th anniversary cut.

As for why the film performed under (some people's) expectations, I know the reason why *I* didn't go. I had no desire to see the "walkie talkie" version. Seth is probably right that the vast majority of people didn't go because they already own the video at home, probably the same reason why they didn't go see the Passion. Everyone who wanted to see it again probably has the video or DVD by now, and let's face it -- "Now with less footage!" is a hard sell.

Cheers,

ER3

 

[Scott_MacD]

I'm doing a piece on E.T. and was just browsing the HTF for reactions to the film and the 20th anniversary cut.

Very well..

I went to see the revamped version of E.T. because I'd forgotten just how brilliant it was. Those memories of watching it as a child, (movies and ice-cream days at school - end of term stuff), not just nostalgia, but how powerless we all feel when surrounded by these all-powerful grown ups. The feeling of having a great secret, and of course how inconsolable I was at the time when we lose E.T. . I felt like I had been wounded and lost one of my own friends at the time.

And most of all, I wanted to shake off the cultural baggage by which it had become part of. E.T. was advertising British Telecom services a couple of years before, with an abridged version of Williams Flying theme! Ugh..

Anyway, when I saw the 20th anniversary trailer, it sold me easily. The memories flooded back. And I saw it opening weekend. I laughed, I wept, and was viewing it through fresh eyes. I was delighted to have seen it again, and I went to see it again with the next-door neighbours kids too.. and they loved it just as much as I did.

The "walkie talkie" edit bothered me, when I found out about it. I grabbed the 1996 LaserDisc set on eBay, and watched the original cut. None of the CG additions and edits - and some of them are pretty obvious - do anything for me other than clash with what was superb puppetry and design by Rambaldi and his team.

The E.T. Ultimate Gift Set is in my collection now, a wonderful transfer of the theatrical cut and splendid extras. (I especially like the live version of the score - a concert worth treasuring..)