Shanica Knowles, Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, Miley Cyrus, Cody Linley, Jason Earles and Moisés Arias attend the premiere of Disney’s ‘Hannah Montana 20th Anniversary Special’ on March 23, 2026 in Los Angeles, California. (Brianna Bryson/WireImage)
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On this day in history, June 11, 1982, the film 'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial' is released: 'Deeply touching'
The landmark film “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” was released on this day in history, June 11, 1982.
With Steven Spielberg as its director, the film starred Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Robert McNaughton and Dee Wallace.
“In Spielberg’s enduring masterpiece, one of the most wondrous and deeply touching of all science-fiction movies, young Elliott, a lonely child of divorce, befriends an outer-space creature who has been abandoned by his fellow aliens and yearns to return home to his distant home planet,” says the Museum of the Moving Image.
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“A symphony of feeling, featuring an audacious, overwhelming score by John Williams and cinematography by Allen Daviau that makes California suburbia look like a nocturnal dreamworld, E.T. is the rare blockbuster that is also a work of art.”
When the film was released, Spielberg was 34 years old and reportedly drew on his own experiences as an unusually imaginative, often-lonely child of divorce for his film, says History.com.
Steven Spielberg pictured recently at the Golden Globes. For his 1982 film “E.T.,” Spielberg collaborated with screenwriter Melissa Mathison to capture the tale of a wise and kind alien botanist who is stranded on Earth — and who changes the lives of three children in California. (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
“For Spielberg, E.T. marked a return to territory he had first visited with the classic ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ (1977), in which Richard Dreyfuss plays a man who comes face to face with a fearsome alien force that eventually proves to be human-friendly,” says the same source.
Spielberg collaborated with the movie’s screenwriter, Melissa Mathison (who would marry and eventually divorce Harrison Ford, the star of Spielberg’s “Indiana Jones” films) to capture the tale of the wise, cuddly and kind alien botanist who is stranded on Earth.
“Before long, a special link develops between E.T. and Elliott, who will eventually risk his own safety to return E.T. to his planet.”
He needs the help of a sensitive little boy, Elliott (Henry Thomas), to get back home, says History.com.
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Elliott and his siblings, played by Robert MacNaughton (as Michael) and a seven-year-old Drew Barrymore (as Gertie), hide E.T. (as the alien names himself) in a closet to keep the creature out of sight from adults like their mother, the same source recounts.
E.T. looks out the window with actor Henry Thomas beside him in a scene from the film “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” which was released in 1982. (Universal/Getty Images)
“Before long, a special link develops between E.T. and Elliott, who will eventually risk his own safety to return E.T. to his planet,” History.com recounts.
At the time, Richard Corliss gave the film accolades in Time magazine.
“[E.T.] is a perfectly poised mixture of sweet comedy and ten-speed melodrama, of death and resurrection, of a friendship so pure and powerful it seems like an idealized love,” he wrote.
The film won four Oscars, for Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Original Score and Best Sound.
The same magazine also included the heartwarming “E.T.” in its list of candidates for Man of the Year — the first film character to receive that honor, says History.com.
The movie received Oscar nominations in nine categories at the 1983 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.
E.T. touching the finger of Henry Thomas in a scene from the film “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” 1982. (Universal/Getty Images)
The film won four Oscars, for Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Visual Effects, Best Original Score and Best Sound, according to multiple sources.
The motion picture enjoyed amazing success at the box office, raking in some $435 million.
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In 1985 the movie was re-released and a special 20th-anniversary edition was issued in 2002, says History.com.
In 2022, the movie celebrated its 40th anniversary.
Actor Henry Thomas as Elliott on the set of Steven Spielberg’s “E.T.” (Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)
The timeless messages of the film continue to be relatable even four decades later.
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Shot from the perspective of a child, “the movie delicately addresses complex topics such as divorce, loneliness and sibling dynamics,” noted Smithsonian Magazine.
As film critic Sean Burns wrote for WBUR, “E.T.” continues to be “one of the purest and most emotionally direct of all American movies, with not a whit of adult condescension.”
Spielberg himself said in an interview about the film produced by Universal, “E.T. was about the empowerment of those kids in that family,”
“I saw this as a story about a family … [that had] suffer[ed] the tragedy of divorce, and how E.T. was able to give so much esteem back to Elliott, and to Gertie, and to Michael, and in a sense, pull that family together. [And] when E.T. sadly flew off in the end, that family would never be the same — in a good way. E.T. was an ambassador for peace.”
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MERIDIAN, Idaho — After months of delays, the Idaho Transportation Department says the final obstacle preventing the activation of new variable speed limit signs has been cleared, putting the long-awaited safety project one step closer to going live.
The electronic signs, installed along one of Idaho’s busiest roadways, will lower the speed limit from 55 mph to 45 mph during weekday rush hours — from 7 to 9 a.m. and again from 4 to 6 p.m. Officials say the safety project’s goal is to reduce crashes while improving traffic flow during the busiest times of day.
WATCH | Why these variable speed signs haven’t turned on months after installation
Eagle Road’s long-awaited variable speed signs one step closer to operation
The signs have remained inactive for months, prompting questions from Idaho News 6 viewers about why they had yet to be turned on.
According to ITD, the delay stemmed from the need to provide electrical service to the signs. Idaho Power first had to obtain easements from nearby property owners before power could be extended to the new infrastructure — a process that took longer than originally anticipated.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE | Meridian business owner recounts scary crash, welcoming lower speed limits on Eagle Rd
Idaho Power confirmed this week that the easement work and power installation portion of the project is now complete.
With electricity now connected, ITD says the remaining steps include final system testing before the signs are activated. The agency expects the variable speed limits could begin operating as soon as next week.
The project has been years in the making. Meridian Police have long advocated for reduced speeds during peak commuting hours along Eagle Road, citing the corridor’s growing traffic volumes and history of crashes.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE | New road signs are coming to a stretch of Eagle Rd in Meridian
“I like it at 55, you get places faster, but it might help with accidents,” said Maddie Romine is a manager at Chicken Delite Mediterranean near Ustick and Eagle. She said she often avoids driving the corridor during afternoon rush hour because of heavy congestion and crashes she and her coworkers have witnessed.
“I don’t like to drive it anytime after 3 p.m. because it’s pretty congested,” Romine said.
Jim Howell, who drives Eagle Road nearly every day for work, said the corridor has changed dramatically over the past two decades.
“Lately, to travel 7½ miles takes 45 minutes,” Howell said. “Traffic doesn’t move because there are a lot of stoplights, so timing of the stoplights is key.”
PREVIOUS COVERAGE | Meridian business owner weighs in on Eagle Road turn closures
Meridian Police and the City of Meridian said they were disappointed the project did not launch as originally expected earlier this year but are looking forward to the additional safety benefits once the system becomes operational.
Once activated, the electronic signs will automatically display the lower 45 mph speed limit during weekday morning and evening commutes before returning to 55 mph during off-peak hours.
Idaho News 6 will continue following the project and provide updates once the signs officially go live.
Send tips to Meridian neighborhood reporter Kalkidan Meyer
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After Miley Cyrus reunited with her alter ego for the Hannah Montana 20th anniversary special in March, one of her co-stars is explaining his absence.
Mitchel Musso, who played Hannah’s friend Oliver Oken on the Disney Channel show, noted he had a scheduling conflict, but he would have made time for the reunion if it was a new episode of the 2006-’11 series or a movie.
“The kid in me was banking on it, like ‘I can’t wait for us to all be on set again,’ and it just didn’t work out that way,” he said on the Joe Vulpis Podcast. “Do something other than what was done. Like, do an episode. Do the show. The set’s still there. Or it can be dressed very quick with somebody who’s a pro, and they did that for that and just did it differently.”
Musso continued, “It is what it is. But it wasn’t the right thing and I was busy doing something that was more important, right? But it would have been way more important if it would have just been an episode, or a movie, or a whatever. Of course, that would have been more important.”
The actor said he would have “dropped everything” if it meant getting back into character as Oliver. “It would have been everything,” he said.
“It didn’t turn out that way… Of course they asked me. But like I said, it wasn’t presented correctly,” added Musso. “And I’ve been waiting 10 years. You know, the people they say 20. My break’s been 10. So, it’s too long of a wait to do it in a way that isn’t even close to, in my opinion, correct.”
Emily Osment, who played Miley and Oliver’s friend Lilly Truscott, was also absent from the reunion special, noting she was busy filming Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage but feels “lucky to have been a part of this once-in-a-generation goliath of a television show” like Hannah Montana.
LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — Hundreds of Southern Nevada kids got a jump-start on the new school year Thursday as The Shaquille O’Neal Foundation hosted its annual “Shaq-to-School” Summer Fun Fest with Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada at the Andre Agassi Boys & Girls Club.
During the event, The Shaquille O’Neal Foundation donated 260 backpacks filled with school supplies to benefit both Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada and Communities in Schools of Nevada.
“We are grateful for the continued support Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada has received from The Shaquille O’Neal Foundation,” said Andy Bischel, president and CEO of Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada. “Going to school with the tools to succeed in the classroom is incredibly important, and through this generous donation from The Shaquille O’Neal Foundation, we know our Club members will feel excited and confident entering the new school year.”
Club members from the Andre Agassi and James Boys & Girls Clubs took part in a carnival-themed celebration that included games, food and other interactive activities. All club members and Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada staff also wore special T-shirts featuring designs by two youth who won the organization’s T-shirt design contest for the event.
Partnering organizations at the event included the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Office of Community Engagement, Insperity, The Just One Project, the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District and Spread the Word Nevada.
More information about Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada is available at www.bgcsnv.org.
More information about The Shaquille O’Neal Foundation is available at www.shaqfoundation.org.
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