Steven Spielberg recalls battle to prevent E.T. sequel

Steven Spielberg has recalled how he had to battle to prevent a sequel to E.T.

The 78-year-old directing legend was behind the beloved 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial - which featured Drew Barrymore in her debut as Gertie Taylor.

The film was a critical and commercial smash - making almost $800 million (£640 million) at the box office and becoming a pop culture phenomenon.

Spielberg has now revealed he was horrified to discover plans for a sequel - prompting him to ensure he added the correct rights to his future work contracts to block such plans.

The Hollywood Reporter quotes him telling an audience at the TCM Classic Film Festival: New York Pop-Up x 92NY event, "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."

He went on to explain he did at one point try to concoct an idea for a sequel himself, but couldn't find a good enough story.

He recalled, "I just did not want to make a sequel. I flirted with it for a little bit - just a little bit to see if I (could) think of a story - and 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.

"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."