This day in 1982 was the date at the top of a movie treatment, essentially an outline, for a sequel to the biggest movie of the summer, and one that became one of the biggest of all time.
This was the plan for a second “E.T.” movie.
Director Steven Spielberg and screenwriter Melissa Mathison wrote the treatment not long after “E.T.” hit theaters and won over millions of fans in 1982.
That movie certainly had moments of excitement and drama, but at its core it was a sweet story.
The sequel would have gone in a very different direction, as you can tell by its title: “E.T. 2: Nocturnal Fears.”
E.T. had used a communication device in the first movie to “phone home” and send a distress signal from Earth back into space.
The second movie is based around the idea that E.T.’s home planet has evil aliens as well as good ones, and unfortunately they’re the ones who hear E.T.’s call for help.
They trek to Earth to find him (and presumably mess him up).
Meanwhile, Elliott and the other kids from the first movie are going through some stuff because they miss their friend from another planet.
They hear the signature sounds of a spaceship and they’re all excited to welcome E.T. back to town, but it’s the evil aliens.
They take the kids prisoner and demand to know where they’ve been hiding the alien they call Zrek.
That was going to be E.T.’s actual name, Zrek.
It was sort of like when we were all supposed to start saying “Grogu” instead of “Baby Yoda.”
A very long part of this treatment is the mean aliens being horrible to the kids.
E.T. – er, sorry, Zrek – does show up after he hears Elliott’s cry for help through space and time.
I won’t spoil the ending of this discarded treatment for a movie that was never made, but I will at least say that E.T. does not suddenly become a one-alien army or anything like that.
The last lines of the treatment read: “There is HOPE is everyones’ eyes as they all, again, behold the picturesque departure of their favorite alien. Dreams can come true!”
The dream of an “E.T.” sequel, however, has not come true.
Spielberg said later that a second “E.T.” movie would have undercut the original and its fully realized story.
Honestly, if this had come out, people my age would all be talking today about how horrified they were going to the theater expecting another lighthearted movie and seeing monsters from outer space torturing our on-screen counterparts!
There was a 1980s novel that picked up where the movie left off, and it was pretty well received.
And in 2019, there was a short film called “A Holiday Reunion” in which Henry Thomas plays Elliott, who’s all grown up, and E.T. stops by before Christmas to meet his family.
It’s five minutes long and it was also an ad for Xfinity, but it was also a little more in keeping with the spirit of the movie than the sequel would’ve been.
Starting tomorrow in Minnesota, it’s the Cosmos Space Festival.
The town got its name in 1870 from the original meaning of the Greek word meaning order or harmony.
The festival plays up the more modern meaning, with the “Space Festival Drawing” and the “Big Bang Small Engine Parade” – but they also have softball, disc golf, tractor pulls and other more down to earth activities.
If you’re going to fly a bike to get there, make sure you wear your helmet.
Why The ET Sequel Never Happened (ScreenRant)
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