See The Terrifying E.T. Prop Now Up For Auction For A Ridiculous Price
An animatronic prop from E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial is being auctioned for $3 million.
This article is more than 2 years old
As director Steven Spielberg embarks on a journey to promote his semi-autobiographical blockbuster film The Fabelmans later this year, audiences may be surprised that his 1982 epic E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial was also a take on Spielberg’s life and the divorce of his parents. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial starred Henry Thomas as Elliot, a lonely boy who befriends an alien being and attempts to shield his existence from government officials looking for him. A terrifying animatronic prop from E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial is currently being auctioned for nearly $3 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter, and with it comes a bit of movie magic.
Forty years after the release of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, the infamous prop from the film that made up the child-like space alien is being auctioned next month as a joint effort between Julien’s and Turner Classic Movies ahead of Academy Awards season.
As part of their Icons & Idols: Hollywood event in Beverly Hills, loyal moviegoers and fans of the Spielberg movie can have the chance to show up and participate in the auction, with the option to also attend via JuliensLive.com and place a bid on the animatronic prop virtually. The alien prop used to model E.T.’s appearance was ahead of its time in a pre-CGI era, often referred to as E.T. Hero No. I and sporting a head that can move about, the masterpiece of engineering consists of 85 points of movement in total.
With the 40th anniversary of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, many movie theaters chains around the United States have been celebrating since the summer by having showtimes for the original 1982 classic in modern theaters and IMAX. The film has been in the news lately as Steven Spielberg introduces the world to the Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen film The Fabelmans, as well as a recent admission by Drew Barrymore on her daytime talk show that she believed the animatronic prop of E.T. currently being auctioned was in fact real at the time.
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial costarred Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore when they were young kids, and also included an ensemble cast consisting of Peter Coyote, Robert MacNaughton, Dee Wallace and an original score by iconic composer and frequent Spielberg collaborator John Williams.
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial debuted in theaters on June 11, 1982 and quickly became one of Steven Spielberg’s enduring classic films, eclipsing other projects like Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind to help redefine the summer blockbuster season. The movie went on to gross over $794 million against a budget of $10.5 million, making it the highest grossing film of all time until Spielberg broke his own record 11 years later when he introduced Jurassic Park to global audiences in 1993.
Legendary special effects artist Carlo Rambaldi designed the animatronics used in E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial like the prop that will be auctioned in December in Beverly Hills, contributing to a win of the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects that year, an achievement Rambaldi shared with fellow artists Dennis Muren and Kenneth F. Smith.
