Tag Archives: Fantasy

“E.T. phone home.” – E.T. from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a Steven Spielberg science fiction film produced by Amblin Entertainment, directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Melissa Mathison, and distributed by Universal Pictures.
• ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial‘ is commonly called ‘E.T.’ and, during production it was known as ‘A Boy’s Life’ to protect it from being copied.
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial  is about a lone boy, Elliot, who helps an extraterrestrial, E.T., return home while evading the government.
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is based on the memories and feelings Spielberg had after the divorce of his parents, as well as parts of the unproduced film Night Skies.
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was a blockbuster film, earning a world total of over $700 million at the box office during its initial release, and was the highest grossing film ever, remaining in that position for ten years, after its release on 11th June, 1982.

Film cover
Image courtesy of Universal Studios

• The four main characters of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial were acted by Henry Thomas, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore and Dee Wallace, making up the family in the film.
• Four E.T. puppet heads for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial were made, as well as a costume and other parts for the character, costing $1.5 million, with E.T. being played by three different people – two dwarfs and a legless boy.
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was re-released in 1985, and then in 2002 for the film’s 20th anniversary, screening at cinemas, and the 2002 version had some added and adjusted scenes.
• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial had a budget of $10.5 million, is listed among the best films of all time and won four Oscars of the nominated nine Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a number of other awards.
• A sequel film was planned for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial called E.T. II: Nocturnal Fears, however the idea was shelved, although E.T was made into an Atari video game that was a major flop and was dubbed ‘the worst game of all time’, and a book adaption with a sequel was also created.

Bibliography:
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, 2014, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E.T._the_Extra-Terrestrial

Amazon:     

“It’s Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” says Mary Poppins.

• Mary Poppins is often rated among the best movies ever produced, and is a musical film with a fantasy based theme, set in 1910, in London.
• Mary Poppins was made by the Walt Disney film company, directed by Robert Stevenson, and the screenplay was written by Bill Walsh and Don DaGradi.
• Mary Poppins was based mainly on the first of eight books in the series of the same title, authored by Australian born Pamela Lyndon Travers (P.L. Travers, originally Helen Lyndon Goff), who did not like, and regretted, the overall film production.
• Mary Poppins is based on the character of the same name, who is a supernatural nanny, performed by Julie Andrews, who won an Academy Award for the best actress as Poppins.
• Mary Poppins was chosen to be preserved by Library of Congress for the United States National Film Registry in 2013.

 Mary Poppins
Image courtesy of Disney

• Mary Poppins was nominated for thirteen Academy Awards, winning five of them, the most ever in Walt Disney history.
• The Mary Poppins producers took twenty-three years to obtain production rights from the author of the books, Pamela Travers, to create the movie, due to her belief that a film would detract from her books.
• The Mary Poppins film runs for approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes, and was first released on 27 August, 1964.
• Mary Poppins had over 30 music pieces written by the Sherman brothers, Robert B Sherman and Richard M Sherman, for the production, although only 17 were used.
• Mary Poppins had the top profits of 1965, with a $28.5 million net profit, a budget of 6 million, and to date, a worldwide gross of over $146 million.

Bibliography:
Mary Poppins (Film), 2013, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Poppins_(film)

Pohn K, The History of Mary Poppins, 2007, Cosmic Play, http://www.cosmicplay.net/Kaleid/Mary/scenebehind1.html