E.T. director Steven Spielberg had to fight hard to prevent sequel

"That was a real hard-fought victory because I didn’t have any rights," he said on stage during the TCM Classic Film Festival: New York Pop-Up x 92NY event, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

"Before E.T., I had some rights, but I didn’t have a lot of rights. I kind of didn’t have what we call ‘the freeze,’ where you can stop the studio from making a sequel because you control the freeze on sequels, remakes and other ancillary uses of the IP. I didn’t have that. I got it after E.T. because of its success."

Meanwhile, Spielberg revealed that although he "just did not want to make a sequel" to the classic sci-fi flick, he had briefly "flirted" with an idea for a follow-up.

"The only thing I could think about was a book that was written by somebody that wrote the book for it called The Green Planet, which was all going to take place at E.T.'s home." he said.

"We were all going to be able to go to E.T.’s home and see how E.T. lived. But it was better as a novel than I think it would have been as a film."

Drew Barrymore – who made one of her first appearances in the film as a child star – also appeared on stage with Spielberg, and recalled her own experiences of the director telling her he wasn't interested in a second film.

"I remember you saying, ‘We are not making a sequel to E.T.' I think I was eight. I remember being like, ‘OK, that’s a bummer, but I totally get it," she said.

"I thought it was a smart choice. I very much understand it. Where do we go from here? They’re just going to compare it to the first and leave something that’s perfect alone in isolation open to scrutiny. It made so much sense."

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Of course, while there was never a second E.T. film, a number of other Spielberg films have spawned multiple sequels over the years, with Jaws, Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park all becoming major franchises.

The seventh entry in the Jurassic Park franchise – titled Jurassic World: Rebirth – is set for release later this year, with originally screenwriter David Koepp penning the script and Rogue One and The Creator filmmaker Gareth Edwards on directing duties.

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