Everyone’s favorite childhood alien of the ’80s, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, has officially returned in his first appeared since the classic Universal film, released in 1982. This time around, E.T. popped up alongside his good friend Elliot in a commercial for Comcast!
One Nostalgic Commercial
These days, almost all of us are quite used to reboots and sequels. Thankfully, E.T. is not returning through some bad remake that no one wants. Instead, the world’s most friendly alien has returned in a commercial for company Xfinity, owned by Comcast. Comcast, which owns Universal (and therefore E.T.), recently released the ad, and it quickly became a hit both on television and online. As of this writing, the video has racked up nearly 20 million views on YouTube, and they keep climbing!
While it’s hard to imagine, fans are actually saying the commercial is a fantastic continuation of the character! “The audience is going to get everything they want out of a sequel without the messy bits that could destroy the beauty of the original and the special place it has in people’s minds and hearts,” said Henry Thomas, who played Elliot in the film.
And The Story Continues…
The Comcast ad begins with E.T. returning to Earth to finally reunite with his childhood friend, Elliot, from the film. Now, however, Elliot is an adult with children of his own. Actor Henry Thomas returns as Elliot, and it’s genuinely heartwarming to see the two of them back together, some 38 years after the original film debuted in theaters. And that’s just the beginning! The rest of the ad follows Elliot and E.T., as the human shows him what has changed in the world since the alien last arrived. As the full commercial is over four-minutes long, we’ll let you enjoy it yourself without spoiling anything.
“Our goal is to show how Xfinity and Sky technology connects family, friends, and loved ones,” said Peter Intermaggio, senior vice president for marketing communications at Comcast Cable. “The classic friendship between E.T. and Elliott resonates around the world, and their story became a very meaningful way to bring our company’s consumer technology to life.”
E.T. Still Resonates
Upon news of the commercial, some ad experts wondered if Gen-Z teens and young adults would feel as drawn to E.T. as their older counterparts. However, it’s not just ’80s and ’90s kids that grew up with Steven Spielberg’s iconic coming-of-age classic. In fact, even today, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial still regularly tops Hulu’s most-streamed list.
Getting permission from Spielberg wasn’t simple. However, it happened! Previously, E.T. producers were cautious when it came to marketing the franchise; for instance, it was released on videocassette only three years after it showed in theaters. Meanwhile, the hard work certainly paid off for Comcast. After releasing the add, they saw a desperately needed bump in subscriptions. Over the past few years, Comcast has continued to lose customers as many cut the cord, moving to streaming services like Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, and now Quibi.
Will this be enough to save Comcast from streaming destruction? Likely not. However, E.T. fans will still enjoy the quasi-sequel for as long as it stays on YouTube. And they should – it’s excellent!