This 1982 Sci-Fi Classic Held The No. 1 Box Office Spot Longer Than Any Other Movie

When James Cameron's "Titanic" was released in the Christmas season of 1997, no one expected it to do as well as it did. In fact, prior to its release, fans and pundits assumed it would bomb, as it had a then-astronomical production budget of $200 million. Cameron seemed to capture the hearts of the world, however, as "Titanic" has since made over $2.2 billion at the box office after multiple theatrical re-releases. Even now, it remains one of the five highest-grossing films of all time worldwide.

Back in the late '90s, though, it was shocking to see "Titanic" remain #1 at the domestic box office week after week throughout the entire Oscar season. It wasn't until "Lost in Space" came out on April 3, 1998, that "Titanic" was finally knocked down from its perch. Yet, despite holding the top spot in North America for 15 straight weeks, "Titanic" didn't actually break the record for spending the most weekends at #1 domestically.

As it so happens, that record remains with Steven Spielberg's 1982 sci-fi film "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial." By that point, Spielberg had already established himself as a maker of crowd-pleasing hits, as he had already directed "Jaws," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," and "Raiders of the Lost Ark." The dour, adult dramas of the 1970s were rapidly drawing to a close as a trend, and warm-hearted, effects-forward genre pictures were gaining audiences' attention instead. "E.T." dropped right into the middle of a changing marketplace on June 11, 1982, and shoved hard in the direction it was already facing. It went on to spend the next four months or so at #1 stateside.

"E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" is one of the better-known movies of all time, but for the uninitiated, it tells the story of a kindly alien botanist who is accidentally left on Earth during a specimen-gathering mission. The alien wanders into the backyard of Elliott (Henry Thomas), a 10-year-old boy who is living unhappily with his recently divorced mom (Dee Wallace) and siblings (Robert MacNaughton and Drew Barrymore). Elliott begins caring for the lonely alien in private, awestruck by their strange visage and appetites. The kids nickname the alien E.T., and it forms a psychic bond with Elliott. The film climaxes with E.T. falling into the hands of evil government agents, forcing Elliott to rescue them. It's a feel-good, whimsical picture with great alien effects and one of John Williams' best scores.

"E.T." was nominated for a shocking nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. It won four Oscars in total (including one for Williams' score), though it lost out on Best Picture to Richard Attenborough's "Gandhi" (something Attenborough himself felt was a mistake). It seems that the world was ready for a happy, sentimental movie about a friendly alien and the boy he cares for. Many have also noted that "E.T." opened shortly before John Carpenter's "The Thing" and Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner," two much darker sci-fi films that initially tanked at the box office before eventually becoming celebrated. Again, the world was in the mood for huggable, big-eyed creatures like E.T., not grotesque Things. Spielberg's movie ultimately lapped all other films before it, becoming the highest-grossing movie ever at the time.

And it was a marketing juggernaut as well.

It's hard to understate the cultural ubiquity "E.T." possessed in the early-to-mid 1980s. 1968's "Planet of the Apes" had some tie-in merch, and "Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope" really kicked the door wide open when it came to ancillary movie products, so the pump was primed when "E.T." came along. Indeed, the child characters in "E.T." have their own "Star Wars" merchandise, which was Spielberg's way of tipping his hat to his real-life friend, "Star Wars" creator George Lucas. There were E.T. toys, coloring books, and T-shirts. Meanwhile, Reese's Pieces were prominently featured in the film, and its sales skyrocketed following the movie's release. 

Infamously, there was also a rushed, terrible "E.T." video game made for the Atari 2600 that bombed something fierce. In fact, Atari's "E.T." flopped so hard that it set the then budding video game industry back for a few years. It wouldn't be fully up and running again until the Nintendo Entertainment System launched in 1985.

For years, "E.T." was held up as the gold standard of family entertainment as well. Dozens of films and TV shows knocked it off, telling stories about lone children raising weird creatures or going off on unaccompanied adventures. The shadow of the movie was cast over the entire decade.

And then, at some point, it almost seemed to vanish from the public's consciousness. "E.T." hasn't been subjected to endless spin-offs, remakes, or sequels, and its tie-in merch is no longer widely available. It kind of passed as a temporary fad, and it's unclear how much younger generations even watch the film anymore. "E.T." was once one of the biggest things in the world; now, it's more of a curio for Generation X than anything else.