E.T.

I was eating a Reese’s Pieces when my father started reminiscing about the “good old days”. He said that Reese’s Pieces didn’t exist in his days and so on and so forth… He told me that it was because of E.T. that Reese became a popular candy brand. I remembered about product placement and decided to research the details.

E.T the Extra-Terrestrial is a Steven Spielberg’s (co-producer and director) science fiction movie from 1982. The idea of E.T. emerged from Spielberg’s imaginary friend whom he had created when his parents were divorced. The film was done for a modest budget of 10.5 million and was a resounding success, released by Universal Pictures and said to have surpassed Star Wars at the box office.

The success was such that is was re-released in 1985 and 2002 with different shots and additional scenes added to the original version.

E.T. was a 1.5 million dollar costume and took three months to create. Each body part was meticulously planned and designed. The creature’s face was “was inspired by the faces of Carl Sandburg, Albert Einstein and Ernest Hemingway.” The neck, eyes, head… were assembled from all over the place. The eyes were important, as it was suppose to “engage the audience”. The producer Kennedy even went as far as visiting the Jules Stein Eye Institude to get better knowledge on this subject. And Spielberg said that E.T. was “something that only a mother could love.” The original E.T. was designed by Ed Verreaux at 700, 000 and Spielberg was unsatisfied.

Spielberg was looking for a partnership with a candy company “that would promise a promotion for his film”. It’s odd to think that Spielberg needed some money, or even that Mars and M&M turned his proposal down. As for product placement, Mars, Incorporated missed out on a great opportunity but declined to be used in the movie because they “found E.T. so ugly […] believing the creature would frighten children.” This was an opportunity for The Hershey Company and made a hit with Reese’s Pieces.

When E.T. was released in Texas, Houston, it was number one for six consecutive weeks at the box office. By 1983 the film had exceeded Star Wars, “as the highest-grossing film of all-time”. 359 million in North America and 619 million worldwide was the money they made when it stopped playing at theaters. It is said that Spielberg earned “$500,000 a day from his share of the profits”. Also the profits The Hershey Company rose by 65%.

After E.T., Reese’s Pieces could be found on the shelves of every grocery stores in America.

http://www.cracked.com/article_16574_the-10-most-shameless-product-placements-in-movie-history.html#ixzz2KALtrh6o

http://www.snopes.com/business/market/mandms.asp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNJHEQEVByk

http://io9.com/5950664/weird-facts-that-you-didnt-know-about-et-the-extra+terrestrial

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0251820/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083866/

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/feb/10/local/me-alvin10

http://www.nytimes.com/1982/12/25/business/spielberg-s-creativity.html

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=et.htm

http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/812016