E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is one of the most beloved sci-fi movies of all time, and while nothing can live up to the legacy of the Steven Spielberg classic, these five movies have a lot to love if you’re an E.T. fan. E.T. has influenced countless movies, with it becoming a cornerstone of 80s film and pop culture. However, E.T. was also influenced by movies itself, meaning that there are plenty of films to watch from before and after Spielberg’s masterpiece.
E.T. is one of the many movies that made Spielberg the reigning king of alien films, a title that he is still reinforcing in 2026. Spielberg’s Disclosure Day will hit theaters on June 12, 2026, acting as Spielberg’s first return to alien movies since Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. The story of Disclosure Day is being kept tightly under wraps, but in the lead-up to the brand-new film, many fans are turning back to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
E.T. is the definitive film about a human befriending an alien, a trope that is still appearing in movies to this day. For example, one of the biggest movies of 2026 is Project Hail Mary, which tells the story of an astronaut named Grace who is sent into space in order to save humanity from a sun-eating alien species. While on the mission, Grace encounters an alien whom he names Rocky that has been sent on the same mission. So, Grace must befriend and learn how to communicate with Rocky in order to complete the mission and get home safely.
When compared to E.T., Project Hail Mary‘s stakes are higher and story is more intergalactic. However, at its core, it’s still a movie about a human’s friendship with an alien, carrying on the main appeal of Spielberg’s classic.
John Carpenter’s 1982 horror classic The Thing is considered to be one of the best alien movies of all time, with it following a group of Arctic scientists who encounter a shape-shifting alien. The tone of E.T. and The Thing couldn’t be more different, as one is a fun family film and the other is a gory thriller. Despite this, both films share an interesting connection.
E.T. was theatrically released in the United States on June 11, 1982. It was a massive hit, surpassing Star Wars to become the highest-grossing movie of all time with a total box office of $797.3 million. So, when The Thing came out on June 25, 1982, it had a problem. Audiences weren’t in the mood to see a scary alien after E.T. became successful with its friendly alien. So, The Thing made only $20.9 million on a budget of $15 million. However, its history with E.T. makes it a fantastic companion piece.
Family films about children befriending fantastical beings have been a huge hit since E.T., and one of the best films that carried this trend on is 1999’s The Iron Giant. The animated film tells the story of a young boy who discovers a massive extra-terrestrial robot in the forest, against the backdrop of the Cold War. Like E.T., the government soon sets its sights on the Iron Giant, threatening to break up the intergalactic friendship. The Iron Giant is considered to be one of the best animated movies of all time, and fans of sci-fi and animation should definitely check it out.
Alien movies became a staple of Spielberg’s filmography, with him continuing to explore the genre for decades. While his previous alien movie, 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, received mixed critical reception, the one before that was a hit. 2005’s War of the Worlds follows a father and his two children as they attempt to navigate an alien invasion. Spielberg’s film is the best adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic story, and it stands out as a much darker alien story than the director’s previous works.
If there is one movie that fans of E.T. should check out, it’s Spielberg’s first alien movie: 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The film tells the story of a man who is convinced that he has spotted a UFO, leading him on a crusade to get proof and get the truth out.
E.T. was first developed as a movie titled Night Skies, which would have told the story of a family that is terrorized by aliens. The movie was set to be a successor to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, with it containing a storyline in which a kind alien befriends a young child. Spielberg eventually scrapped Night Skies in favor of a movie that pursued this idea. That movie became E.T., meaning that without Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial would have never happened.
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