O.K., we normally wouldn’t do this, but the story is an angle of movie news, so here goes. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial from the beloved 1982 film E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL is back, in a commercial.
Comcast has made a long-form commercial promoting its broadband, cable and satellite products. The commericial debuted on Thursday in the U.S. during the annual broadcast of the “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade”.
The ad reunites the stubby, latexy E.T. with a grown-up Elliott, the boy with whom the alien bonded in the original Steven Spielberg box office hit. E.T. also hangs out with grown-up Elliot’s family and everyone gets to surf the web with Comcast’s Xfinity and watch holiday movies on a big-screen television. Because travelling back to Earth means watching a Bing Crosby movie. There are also some direct homage moments from the original film and a definite attempt to put out the warm, fuzzy holiday vibes for Thanksgiving.
Comcast approached Spielberg with the concept, gained his permission and consulted with him throughout the making of the ad. It’s nice to see Henry Thomas, the original Elliott, is back playing the boy grown-up. Sadly, no money was rustled up for a cameo appearance of Elliot’s sister Gertie (Drew Barrymore).
We, at Accessreel have browsed the Internet for reaction and have found both viewers who are unimpressed with this bid to use an old favourite to sell new products and a number of people who find this a beautiful tribute to a childhood classic. Here, in the heat of an Australian Summer (we’re there already folks, ignore the calendar) you may need to crank up the A.C. and open the fridge to help deliver to you the Northern Hemisphere feel that will get you into this slick commercial with its high production values.
Experience this trip down memory lane and decide for yourselves. The ad has a two-minute version and a four-minute version. We have the longer one here. And if you’ve never seen E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL before, hopefully this will encourage you to check out the original.
