Steven Spielberg's "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" is the stuff of movie magic. Channeling his own childhood, Spielberg created one of his greatest films — the story of a lonely kid who befriends an alien. With his emotional, stirring, funny adventure, Spielberg conjured up nostalgia and created something often imitated but never duplicated. First planned as a scary film about aliens invading a farm, "E.T" eventually morphed into something sweeter. "For the better part of five decades, Hollywood treated aliens as hostile invaders," Spielberg said, "but I felt that had been done enough. I always regarded the heavens as a source of great solace, curiosity, and wonder ..."
Believe it or not, "E.T." turns 40 this year (newsflash: you're old!), and in honor of that anniversary, the new book "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: The Ultimate Visual History," by Caseen Gaines and published by Insight Editions, gives us a look at "E.T." from its inception...
Believe it or not, "E.T." turns 40 this year (newsflash: you're old!), and in honor of that anniversary, the new book "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial: The Ultimate Visual History," by Caseen Gaines and published by Insight Editions, gives us a look at "E.T." from its inception...
- 8/25/2022
- by Chris Evangelista
- Slash Film
Rebecca starring Lily James arrives on Netflix tomorrow. Check out some facts about the gothic thriller novel the movie is based on.
“The film, which stars Lily James (Downtown Abbey) and Armie Hammer (Call Me By Your Name) arrives on Netflix on October 21, 2020. As you wait for the new adaptation to drop, here are a few facts about this enduring novel to keep you curious.”
Read more at Mental Floss.
Actor Michael B. Jordan is getting on board with DC’s upcoming Static movie as a producer.
“Michael B. Jordan shared with The Hollywood Reporter that he and the production company Outlier Society will be part of bringing the series to life at the movies. ‘I’m proud to be a part of building a new universe centered around Black superheroes; our community deserves that,’ Jordan told THR in a statement.”
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial may just take the cake...
“The film, which stars Lily James (Downtown Abbey) and Armie Hammer (Call Me By Your Name) arrives on Netflix on October 21, 2020. As you wait for the new adaptation to drop, here are a few facts about this enduring novel to keep you curious.”
Read more at Mental Floss.
Actor Michael B. Jordan is getting on board with DC’s upcoming Static movie as a producer.
“Michael B. Jordan shared with The Hollywood Reporter that he and the production company Outlier Society will be part of bringing the series to life at the movies. ‘I’m proud to be a part of building a new universe centered around Black superheroes; our community deserves that,’ Jordan told THR in a statement.”
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial may just take the cake...
- 10/20/2020
- by Ivan Huang
- Den of Geek
Here's a fun little animated video from Great Big Story, who spoke with Howard Scott Warshaw and asked him to tell the story of how he created E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari, which is a game that's been referred to as the worst video game in the history of the medium. That's a bold claim, but if you've played it, you'll know where the griping comes from. XBox produced a documentary about the game, but if you've never seen that, this is a nice primer, and you're getting the info straight from the horse's mouth.
Via: LaughingSquid...
Via: LaughingSquid...
- 12/30/2016
- by Ben Pearson
- GeekTyrant
Copies of Atari's infamous E.T., plus other Atari games dug up from a New Mexico landfill, have fetched $100,000 at auction...
Earlier this year, Zak Penn's documentary Atari: Game Over charted the rise and fall of what was once briefly the biggest videogame company in the world. More specifically, it also dug into a one of the great myths of the nascent medium: that tie-in videogame E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial was so badly-received, and sold so poorly, that Atari was forced to bury millions of unwanted cartridges in the New Mexico desert.
Incredibly, the legend turned out to be true. The documentary captured the moment when, as dozens of curious onlookers gathered, a group of diggers led by Joe Lewandowski uncovered the first few E.T. cartridges at the Alamogordo landfill. As well as E.T., many other Atari 2600 games were discovered too, including copies of Asteroids, Defender, Missile Command and Centipede.
Earlier this year, Zak Penn's documentary Atari: Game Over charted the rise and fall of what was once briefly the biggest videogame company in the world. More specifically, it also dug into a one of the great myths of the nascent medium: that tie-in videogame E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial was so badly-received, and sold so poorly, that Atari was forced to bury millions of unwanted cartridges in the New Mexico desert.
Incredibly, the legend turned out to be true. The documentary captured the moment when, as dozens of curious onlookers gathered, a group of diggers led by Joe Lewandowski uncovered the first few E.T. cartridges at the Alamogordo landfill. As well as E.T., many other Atari 2600 games were discovered too, including copies of Asteroids, Defender, Missile Command and Centipede.
- 9/1/2015
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
In recent years there has been a real boom in documentaries surrounding popular culture. Films such as Electric Boogaloo, Video Nasties, The Search for Weng Weng and Adjust Your Tracking have captured the zeitgeist of fans across the globe, and in turn inspired more people to create their own documentaries about pop culture subjects that matter to them…
But not all these documentaries see the same success. Having been on something of a documentary kick lately, I thought I’d break down the ten of the best little-known, or better yet little-discussed, pop-culture documentaries from the many, many examples I have been watching. So here they are and, for once, they’re in order:
1) Slaughter Nick For President
There’s a good reason this film is at the top of my list. This is the documentary that kicked off my exploration of pop culture documentaries (eventually ending up at compliling this list) and,...
But not all these documentaries see the same success. Having been on something of a documentary kick lately, I thought I’d break down the ten of the best little-known, or better yet little-discussed, pop-culture documentaries from the many, many examples I have been watching. So here they are and, for once, they’re in order:
1) Slaughter Nick For President
There’s a good reason this film is at the top of my list. This is the documentary that kicked off my exploration of pop culture documentaries (eventually ending up at compliling this list) and,...
- 8/18/2015
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Warner Bros.
Every console in history has at least one title that totally embodies both everything the hardware was capable of, and what we all loved about it. From 1972’s Magnavox Odyssey and the beginning of the first generation of gaming, to modern day multi-purpose mega-consoles, every one has had a game that fans will play until dawn rolls around and their hands cramp up.
On the flip side, whilst 40 years of games consoles has produced some truly memorable games, there have been more than a few titles that designers, producers and fans alike would sooner forget. For every Super Mario there’s a Hudson Hawk. Who? Exactly.
Sometimes, in an industry always looking to the next generation, a game can be so bad that it becomes a black mark against the console(s) it gets released on. Sometimes, something is so disastrous that it kills that console entirely.
Whether...
Every console in history has at least one title that totally embodies both everything the hardware was capable of, and what we all loved about it. From 1972’s Magnavox Odyssey and the beginning of the first generation of gaming, to modern day multi-purpose mega-consoles, every one has had a game that fans will play until dawn rolls around and their hands cramp up.
On the flip side, whilst 40 years of games consoles has produced some truly memorable games, there have been more than a few titles that designers, producers and fans alike would sooner forget. For every Super Mario there’s a Hudson Hawk. Who? Exactly.
Sometimes, in an industry always looking to the next generation, a game can be so bad that it becomes a black mark against the console(s) it gets released on. Sometimes, something is so disastrous that it kills that console entirely.
Whether...
- 8/8/2015
- by Phil Archbold
- Obsessed with Film
The truth about one of the great urban legends of videogame history is nowhere near as epic as you’d imagine: in fact, it’s rather anticlimactic. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
If you hadn’t previously been aware of one of the great urban legends of videogame history — the persistent rumor that Atari had disposed of millions of copies of an E.T. gaming cartridge in the New Mexico desert in the early 1980s — you may have heard about it when, in April 2014, news broke that copies of the game were indeed unearthed in a landfill in Alamogordo. It was a planned excavation, and screenwriter Zak Penn (The Avengers) turned documentary filmmaker was there to record the moment for geek posterity. Had the spectacular failure of the game — frequently derided as the Worst...
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
If you hadn’t previously been aware of one of the great urban legends of videogame history — the persistent rumor that Atari had disposed of millions of copies of an E.T. gaming cartridge in the New Mexico desert in the early 1980s — you may have heard about it when, in April 2014, news broke that copies of the game were indeed unearthed in a landfill in Alamogordo. It was a planned excavation, and screenwriter Zak Penn (The Avengers) turned documentary filmmaker was there to record the moment for geek posterity. Had the spectacular failure of the game — frequently derided as the Worst...
- 2/2/2015
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
As a kid growing up I can safely say we were dirt poor. When all the kids were playing the Atari 2600 I was stuck playing “Tennis” and “Football” on a hand-me-down Grandstand plug and play (think of Pong with 4 games rather than one); I did have a cousin who had the system but he wasn’t the sharing type. So the entire early-to-mid 80s Atari phenomenon kind of passed me by. It wasn’t until years later, towards the end of the 90s, that actually ever played my first Atari 2600 game – on a very early emulator no less. In the years that followed, as the internet grew and the retro video gaming “community” grew along with it, the story of buried E.T. video games – the last remnants of Atari’s stranglehold on the video game market of the late 70s/early 80s – went somewhat viral, which was the first...
- 2/2/2015
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
The documentary Atari: Game Over investigates the burial of E.T. cartridges in the New Mexico desert. Here's our review...
Ask any gamer to name the medium's most famous legend, and they might tell you about E.T.
The story goes that, back in 1982, the videogame tie-in was so rushed, and so appallingly received, that Atari was forced to quietly bury millions of unsold cartridges in the New Mexico desert. Within months of the game's release, Atari had gone from owning an 80 percent share of the videogame market to collapse, and thus, an enduring myth was born: E.T. killed Atari.
Atari: Game Over digs into the true story behind the legend, and its director, Zak Penn, is no stranger to modern mythmaking - he's the screenwriter behind such comic book blockbusters as X-Men: The Last Stand and The Incredible Hulk, and he also made the quirky mockumentary Incident At Loch Ness with Werner Herzog.
Ask any gamer to name the medium's most famous legend, and they might tell you about E.T.
The story goes that, back in 1982, the videogame tie-in was so rushed, and so appallingly received, that Atari was forced to quietly bury millions of unsold cartridges in the New Mexico desert. Within months of the game's release, Atari had gone from owning an 80 percent share of the videogame market to collapse, and thus, an enduring myth was born: E.T. killed Atari.
Atari: Game Over digs into the true story behind the legend, and its director, Zak Penn, is no stranger to modern mythmaking - he's the screenwriter behind such comic book blockbusters as X-Men: The Last Stand and The Incredible Hulk, and he also made the quirky mockumentary Incident At Loch Ness with Werner Herzog.
- 1/15/2015
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Microsoft has completely shut down Xbox Entertainment Studios, but at least one of the bygone studio's projects has still managed to see the light of day. Atari: Game Over, which chronicles the disastrous impact of the 1982 E.T. video game often regarded as the worst of all time, is now available on Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Atari: Game Over's subject is one of the most famous urban legends in video game history. The E.T. game was so poorly received that, in 1983, Atari decided to bury hundreds of unsold copies at a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico. This story remained the stuff of legend until 2013, when an excavation effort run by Fuel Industries turned up the long-discarded cartridges. Atari: Game Over, directed by Zak Penn, shares this story with viewers and includes interviews with Howard Scott Warshaw (the designer of the E.T. game) and Atari founder Nolan Bushnell. Xbox owners can...
- 11/21/2014
- by Sam Gutelle
- Tubefilter.com
Photo found at Dorkly
Are you ready for San Diego Comic-Con?! The event is closing in on us really fast, and it's going to be so great to be in San Diego among hundreds of thousands of other like-minded geeky individuals. Every year I attend Comic-Con it's like coming home. It's my most anticipated event of the year. Comic-Con International has released the full event and panel schedule for Friday, July 25th that you can see in its entirety here. But I've provided a few of the most notable panels that will be taking place that day below. It's a big day for TV as The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones panels will both be held in Hall H.
Marvel: Spider-Verse - It's the most epic Spider-Man event of all time as every Spider-Man Ever come together to face a world-ending threat! Senior editor Nick Lowe, Dan Slott (Amazing...
Are you ready for San Diego Comic-Con?! The event is closing in on us really fast, and it's going to be so great to be in San Diego among hundreds of thousands of other like-minded geeky individuals. Every year I attend Comic-Con it's like coming home. It's my most anticipated event of the year. Comic-Con International has released the full event and panel schedule for Friday, July 25th that you can see in its entirety here. But I've provided a few of the most notable panels that will be taking place that day below. It's a big day for TV as The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones panels will both be held in Hall H.
Marvel: Spider-Verse - It's the most epic Spider-Man event of all time as every Spider-Man Ever come together to face a world-ending threat! Senior editor Nick Lowe, Dan Slott (Amazing...
- 7/11/2014
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
Feature Ryan Lambie 29 Apr 2014 - 06:20
As an excavation uncovers copies of Atari's E.T. in the New Mexico desert, we take a look at the history behind the infamous game...
The naked Lara Croft hack. Cursed John Madden videogame covers. Polybius. All these videogame-related legends are as nothing compared to the mystical aura that has long surrounded Atari's E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.
As a news story it almost seemed too good to be true: Atari, left with a surplus of millions of copies of the critically-panned adaptation of Steven Spielberg's blockbuster film, was forced to bury its worthless stock in a New Mexico landfill.
Stories of the burial began to be circulated in September 1983, when the Us videogames industry was in the midst of a sudden and sharp decline: a period when a medium once valued at around $3bn would eventually fall to just $100m over the next 18 months.
As an excavation uncovers copies of Atari's E.T. in the New Mexico desert, we take a look at the history behind the infamous game...
The naked Lara Croft hack. Cursed John Madden videogame covers. Polybius. All these videogame-related legends are as nothing compared to the mystical aura that has long surrounded Atari's E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.
As a news story it almost seemed too good to be true: Atari, left with a surplus of millions of copies of the critically-panned adaptation of Steven Spielberg's blockbuster film, was forced to bury its worthless stock in a New Mexico landfill.
Stories of the burial began to be circulated in September 1983, when the Us videogames industry was in the midst of a sudden and sharp decline: a period when a medium once valued at around $3bn would eventually fall to just $100m over the next 18 months.
- 4/28/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
We may never find out if Big Foot exists, who Carly Simon wrote “You’re So Vain” about, or whether Leonardo DiCaprio is dreaming at the end of Inception. But there is one pop culture mystery which might be cleared up in the near future. For decades, it has been rumored that Atari buried millions of copies of its E.T. videogame at a landfill site in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Now, the Alamogordo city council has given the Los Angeles-based Fuel Entertainment permission to search the site for a film project and find out if one of the videogame industry’s...
- 7/1/2013
- by Clark Collis
- EW.com - PopWatch
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