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		ET go home. Spielberg's PC re-working flops in cinemas worldwide (news.bbc.co.uk)		110
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11393 clicks; posted to Main » on 05 Apr 2002 at 1:20 PM | Favorite | share:

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digitaldevil		2002-04-05 02:22:16 PM

Nothing like beating a dead horse or alien (I'm am talking about foriegners)

Bf+		2002-04-05 02:24:20 PM

ET phooone Sprint PCS, the only nation-wide digital network that......

I hear he's gunna edit out the guns in Saving Ryans Privates too...

ramius5783		2002-04-05 02:24:52 PM

Posting the link to FARK.com - $0
Posting on the Fark forum for the article - $0
Whackos causing the discussion to devolve into a moronic spiel against Jews in Hollywood - Priceless.

Peaceboy		2002-04-05 02:25:36 PM

(not reading the article, not caring enough...)

I'm sure Spielberg is disappointed by the box office #s, but I think part of the strategy was to generate buzz again and put this film back in peoples' minds for the upcoming DVD release. They'll make beaucoup bank on that.

I think the "Grease" re-release did pretty respectable $. Others like Apoc Now Redux and the Godfather seem to go arthouse when they come back out.

Shuh		2002-04-05 02:25:41 PM

BillDarryl: "Re-releasing movies used to be an event to introduce classics back to the public. Now that DVD and home theaters exist (and going out to movies cost 7-10 dollars a ticket), there is no reason to re-release anything. I think this disaster proves it."

I hate to disagree with you on this, but even something as over-played and VHS'd-to-death as the Star Wars Trilogy made money in theaters back in '96.

British		2002-04-05 02:25:58 PM

I'm curious as to why it was shown on NBC just around the time it hit theaters. Why go see it in the theaters when you can watch it for free at home?

God-		2002-04-05 02:29:31 PM

Personally I thought ET was a phenomenal (sic?) film.... To date it's still one of my favorite movies... I'm completely unhappy though towards the fact that Speilberg replaced guns with walkie talkies and changed the word terrorist. Political Correctness is pure bullcrud.. I truly think that if we had less political correctness and we said more of what was on our minds without fear of reprisal, things would go much more smoothly for us all. Sigh... I'm rambling, et in it's original format is awesome... In it's new release, it's slightly less awesome w/ bullshiat enhancements.....

bitplayer		2002-04-05 02:31:41 PM

ya know it's very strange that almost everyone blasts all the pc crap that's floating around (inc. me) for what seems to be damn good reason, yet it just gets worse and worse. what the f*ck is going on? i hate to do do this but i'm seriously asking "how does this pc crap stay alive?". do you think it's because people are so afraid of the offence taken by the minority that they give up? covering their ass? just plain stupid? really think it's ok? sh*t, i'm about to give up. it's such a brain dead concept that i'm at a loss as to how to get a handle on it. wish i could ask the question better but i'm typing with one hand, shaving with the other and 10 min. late.

Clarkins		2002-04-05 02:32:05 PM

Dammit. Had this booked on movieboss.com, there goes my rating.

Ouroborus		2002-04-05 02:32:41 PM

SantaClaws: Never before has the beauty of the sexual act been so crassly exploited! You're gonna cream your jeans!

The popcorn you are eating has been pissed in. Film at 11.

RedRocket		2002-04-05 02:33:04 PM

e.t. is one of those movies seemed cool when you were a kid but now it's just plain stupid.. like watching old episodes of knight rider, CHiPs, or battlestar galactica.

hardlyneeded		2002-04-05 02:40:24 PM

I think the PC rampage is partly the "pass the buck" syndrome, or as Canadians call it, daily life. Let's say some kid watches the original and sees the cops with the guns. He goes and grabs his dads .45 and wanders around his neighbourhood until he sees some kids names Elliot wandering around. Next thought, "I'm not letting that little bastard get away like those weak ass cops." BLAM! BLAM! Next thing you know the kids mother is on a rampage suing everyone because her twenty something kid played Everquest and thought repainting the room would be fun... Wait, wrong thread... Because the kid says something about ET she goes off suing anyone she can. Because Dog forbid she take any responsibility on herself for actually raising her child. Next thing you know there's yet another massive debate about the effect of media violence on children while playing misdirection with the real topic. Because it's perfectly okay to glorify war but Dog forbid we guns in a movie directed towards kids. Then you've got on the next Montel, kids who killed their mothers because Eminem told them too. Frogs falling from the sky. Kids eating their younger sibilings. M. Night Shamalamadingdong making a good film. CHAOS! COMPLETE AND UTTER CHAOS!

Stop the issue and just become PC. Because censorship is better than resposibility.

Texaggie79		2002-04-05 02:41:25 PM

I'm glad I have the original with guns and all. That's what I'll be showing MY kids.

Undertoad		2002-04-05 02:41:58 PM

Great kids movie. Great kids movie. As a movie for adults, it is ridiculous, sappy, contrived, cliched, and cloyingly sweet. As an adult, I must admit to myself and others that it is CRAP.

Skettios		2002-04-05 02:42:39 PM

What's next, are they gonna remake the one with the mouse and the singing, and the somewhere out there? Was that a real movie or was it just in my head?

TalAlpha		2002-04-05 02:42:51 PM

What Speilberg SHOULD have done is released this great special edition as a DVD...it would have sold like CRAZY! In the theaters, people don't wanna see it again.

nytyper		2002-04-05 02:44:27 PM

I saw the re-release. When E.T. was leaving and he said good bye to little Drew B. his words to her were "Beee goood." Almost everyone in the place was cracking up at that.

bug		2002-04-05 02:49:37 PM

i've been saving my money for the "BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA" enhanced re-release.

so far i have $8,993.55

nvsjer		2002-04-05 02:50:27 PM

This forum, more than anything, has convinced me that "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back"'s definition of the internet was about as dead-on as anything I've ever seen. Damn, bunch of single old men and little teen-agers bashing a kids movie. Wow, I walk amongst the intellectual giants.

Shuh		2002-04-05 02:51:43 PM

I'm waiting for the E.T. Special MST3K Edition...

Ghastly		2002-04-05 02:51:51 PM

I took my kids to see the re-release last weekend. I started laughing outloud during the scene where all the FBI agents come running up to the ditched van in the park and all start pulling out walkie-talkies from their holster and holding them out infront of them. It was freaking hillarious. Especially since they only digitally altered the guns themselves and not their hands. So they've all got their index fingers extended too like they were on a trigger.

Changing the line from "You're not going to get 4 blocks in this neighbourhood dressed like a terrorist" to "hippie" was just idiotic. I can't imagine anyone being upset or shocked because their kid dresses up as a hippie for Hallowe'en. It made no sense.

All in all the PC changes made to the movie still arn't as stupid as Lucas changing Star Wars so that Greedo shot first. That bit of PC crap really bugged me. First of all it looked stupid, it was obvious the scene was recycled from a few moments before and the blaster was pointing directly at Han Solo's face but somehow the shot magically vered off and missed him by two and a half feet (anyone that bad a shot at that range deserves what they get). Plus the new scene just made me totally lose respect for Han Solo. Before he read the inuendo, knew he was going to end up dead and used his wits to escape. In the new version Han Solo was an idiot for letting the situation get so out of hand that Greedo could shoot first and he only survived because some bizarre cosmic fluke caused Greedo's shot, which was aimed directly at Han's head to take off at a 45 degree angle from the muzzle of the blaster.

Why do Lucas and Speilburg feel the need to sell out? I mean, don't they already have enough money? Hell if I was as rich as them the last thing I would want to do is sell out my artistic integrity. I can forgive upstarts for selling out, but once you've made it and established yourself as a power then you should have the balls to tell people "Screw you! I had to compromise my artistic vision when I was younger because that was the only way I could get my movies made. I'm established, I'm rich, and I'm a power in the industry. I am going to do what I set out to do when I became an artist, create the art I always wanted to create. I'm going to create works I can be proud of and if you don't like it you can kiss my fuzzy white rich-guy ass!"

That's what I'd do.

The sad thing is they probably believe their own hype so much that they don't even realize they're sell-outs.

BillDarryl		2002-04-05 02:51:52 PM

Shuh: I agree, but then again, Star Wars busts all the rules - it's become much huger than just a good film, it's an entire setpiece of pop culture and modern mythology that has never been seen before or since ("Star Trek" being the closest, but still distant, second).

Other than Star Wars, I can't think of any recently re-released film that's done well (Godfather? Exorcist?)

BillDarryl		2002-04-05 02:52:59 PM

"an entire setpiece of pop culture and modern mythology"

Wow. Just how full of crap am I?

NotSoCreative		2002-04-05 02:53:02 PM

Movie sucked, but Drew was HOT in it.

Shuh		2002-04-05 02:58:18 PM

BillDarryl: "Other than Star Wars, I can't think of any recently re-released film that's done well (Godfather? Exorcist?)"

I see your point. I guess what makes the diff are:Has it been out of the public eye long enough, andIs there anything about it that makes it better on a big screen. This could be "feel-good, bring-the-kids" wonder or it could be "dazzle-me, great-special-effects" excitement.

Shuh		2002-04-05 02:59:47 PM

My feeling is that if either of those vectors go negative (or neutral), you have a non-starter. Star Wars was very positive on both counts.

Vanhfan		2002-04-05 03:02:18 PM

My 10 year old daughter saw ET on video a few months ago and thought it was dumb.

I remember seeing it in the theatres when I was in grade 7. I thought it was for tards then too....thought even less of the morons who cried through the whole thing 20 years ago.

Jynkst		2002-04-05 03:06:38 PM

I think it's failing because, when it first came out, everyone had to see it, children and adults. And it's worth seeing once, but the only people who are going to see it now are kids and adults with kids. The mystique attached to the film the first time through just isn't there.

Dehydrated-H2O		2002-04-05 03:21:08 PM

Ghastly,

TESTIFY!!! Greedo shooting first is TOTAL B.S.!! That and Episode Dumb pissed away any like I had for George Lucass.

El-Ravager		2002-04-05 03:25:31 PM

I saw the rereleased Star Wars films. I wasnt born when the originals aired, so when I got the chance to see Star Wars on the big screen, I of cause took it.

But see ET again? I saw often enogh and it isnt really a film you need to see in a cinema. I cant think of many films Id want to see reaired in cinema, with or without new content, only Terminator and 2001 come to mind.

But please, for the children, edit the guns out of terminator and replace arnold with cameron diaz.

JohnnyLightwave		2002-04-05 03:27:02 PM

Ya know, I have to think of the kids in E.T. as the BAD GUYS. It's staggering to think about how many advances in microchips and medicine we could've dragged out of the little beastie once we got him into a lab, cracked his language, and lured the mother ship into a place where we could intercept it. We would've advanced two decades in five year's time!

It was a chance to bring about a Golden Age for the human race, destroyed because of those meddling kids!

WoodyTX		2002-04-05 03:37:02 PM

I watched Star Wars last week on video. The original, not the PC version.

I'm old enough to have teenage kids, and the movie still drew me in, even though I've probably seen it half a dozen times. The editing, acting, and imagery/mythology is absolutely fantastic. Which is why it succeeded in the re-release. I can think of few other films that can do that, especially on repeated viewings. LotR comes in close, but it's too soon to tell.

I saw ET when I was in Jr. High. Cute, funny, but ultimately just another flick.

This PC stuff has got to stop. The only people up in arms about the "terrorist" comment and the guns are the producers. Everyone else would probably let it slide.

Ghastly		2002-04-05 03:39:39 PM

At least Lucas got rid of the stupid "Yub Yub" song from the end of RotJ. God that song bugged me.

WoodyTX		2002-04-05 03:40:35 PM

This just in:

Local comedy group Mister Sinus Theater 3000 does "Can't Stop the Music", the Village People movie, at the Alamo Drafthouse. Yes, it's a live MST3K-kind-of-thing.

This is gonna be good.

PhaetonGrim		2002-04-05 03:42:58 PM

I clearly remember ET back in '82, and thought it was a great story, done well. Now we have had tons of space-based movies, and, quite simply, ET just isn't believable. My kids play Quake, but I played Pong when I was there age. It is just a different time and mentality.

BTW, Episode One was an insult to the other episodes- I hope they do better with 2 and 3.

Just my 2 cents.

1000Airplanes		2002-04-05 03:53:13 PM

As if anyone care what I think, a previous poster hit it on the head. This is a classsic that every parent has at home (I love making generalities). Why would anyone go to the theater to see a Wizard of Oz rerelease? I thought the exorcist did well only because it came out at halloween and lets face it. Todays horror movies suck compared to exorcist. Apocolypse Redux blew. I expect these rereleases to provide insight into the true look the director/producer wanted but had to compromise to get the first release. In actuality, they throw in a couple clips that deserved to be cut anyways and then brag about the artistically purer release and how the genius is more apparent. Rambling over.

Quick1		2002-04-05 03:57:23 PM

What Speilberg SHOULD have done is released this great special edition as a DVD...it would have sold like CRAZY!

I think that's the plan. Release it in theaters to raise awareness of the movie, and then release it on DVD for even MORE $$. It can't cost that much to re-release something into the theaters.

IckyMettle		2002-04-05 04:17:02 PM

What a bunch of goddamned babies you right-wingers are. The guns were visible for no longer than 30 seconds in the original. Stop farking crying about it already.

farkbitch		2002-04-05 04:19:17 PM

should have released a special edition for sure. "penis breath" totally shocked me when I first saw the movie...and Drew didn't saw it--it was Elliot.

nytyper		2002-04-05 04:21:38 PM

Quick1, it costs a lot of money to re-release something. You've got to make all those prints of the movie, and advertise, and all that junk. If you meant it can't cost that much MORE to release a movie he re-made parts of with the intention of re-releasing it on DVD, then I agree.

But if that was his intention, the fact that the movie flopped at the Box Office will probably hurt the DVD sales. It'll have the stink of failure on it, and people will probably stay away.

God-		2002-04-05 04:49:19 PM

ICKYMETTEL: It's not the fact that the guns were only visible for 30 seconds or the fact that they dubbed in HIPPIE instead of terrorist. It's the fact that they did it at all... Or would you rather allow it to go on and stand by as the PC wacko's start burning books and take away the 1st ammendment?

mfkelly		2002-04-05 04:59:10 PM

shiat, any 20-something who went to see this piece of crap again, like they did when they were little, probably cried just as hard this time.....pansies.

nytyper		2002-04-05 04:59:20 PM

God- how did we go from "the director of a movie wanted to make changes to his movie because of an increased sensitivity to violence and terrorism" to burning books and taking away the 1st amendment?

It was Speilberg's decision to make the changes (even if it wasn't, he has enough juice to say no to them). There wasn't any PC police twisting his arm.

nytyper		2002-04-05 05:00:23 PM

...and for the record, I thought the changes were laughable. But it wasn't my movie.

bitplayer		2002-04-05 05:19:36 PM

04-05-02 04:17:02 PM IckyMettle

yeah, sounds like you understand the point. bwahawhahahaha

(don't worry, you'll get it in ninth grade.)

Clarkins		2002-04-05 05:37:46 PM

Read where they are re-making "Manhunter". 1987 Michael Mann film starring William Peterson. Prequel to Silence of the Lambs. Book was called "Red Dragon".

They are remaking it so they can cast Hopkins in the Dr. Lecter role.

That's just as asinine as re-releasing something like this.

Sir Chevron Food Mart		2002-04-05 05:57:02 PM

Any Jew who favors gun control should START reading history books.

glad it tanked.

martywittrock		2002-04-05 06:06:21 PM

Make a bad movie, kids love it. Make a good movie, chicks love it. Make a mediocre movie, guys like me like it. Make no movie at all, French love it. Make a movie, tie it into a McDonald's promotion, fat people love it. Make a porno movie, college guys, lesbians and weirdos love it. Make a movie in 3D, nerds love it. Make a 3D porno movie, nerds REALLY love it and the usher needs to scrub the floor after each showing. Make a car chase movie and the gearheads love it. Make a Mafia movie and the Mob loves it.

E.T. = Bad movie. My kids really loved it in '82 - - we STILL have all the E.T. SHIAT in my attic. Ebay.....?

FastJeff		2002-04-05 06:53:32 PM

I'll be happy when they pull the commercial from TV. Didn't like the movie when I first saw it, more than likely won't like a rerererelease, and the commercial... just pisses me off.

batcar01		2002-04-05 07:13:25 PM

This re-release was nothing more that advertisement for the toy line, like most Spielburg movies. Do you think he will ever release action figures for Schindler's List?

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