There almost could have been an E.T. sequel, but luckily its director Steven Spielberg fought hard to make sure that didn’t happen.
I think we all know that it’s pretty rare that sequels justify themselves. It happens on occasion, sure, on even rarer occasions they end up better than the first one! But, for the most part, it’s better to just leave films at one and done to save us all the heartbreak. E.T. is one such film that I could never imagine getting a sequel, but as it turns out at one point in time the powers that be wanted one. “That was a real hard-fought victory because I didn’t have any rights,” Spielberg said in reference to preventing an E.T. sequel while speaking as part of the TCM Classic Film Festival: New York Pop-Up x 92NY event. (via The Hollywood Reporter).
“Before E.T., I had some rights, but I didn’t have a lot of rights. I kind of didn’t have what we call ‘the freeze,’ where you can stop the studio from making a sequel because you control the freeze on sequels, remakes and other ancillary uses of the IP. I didn’t have that. I got it after E.T. because of its success.” The director continued to explain that he “just did not want to make a sequel.
“I flirted with it for a little bit – just a little bit to see if I [could] think of a story – and the only thing I could think about was a book that was written by called ‘The Green Planet,’ which was all going to take place at E.T.’s home. We were all going to be able to go to E.T.’s home and see how E.T. lived. But it was better as a novel than I think it would have been as a film.”
The world would probably be a desolate wasteland by now if we had gotten a sequel, so let’s be thankful Spielberg won out on this particular point. Besides, I’m sure it earned more than enough money given that it was once the highest-grossing film of all time.