After Dominating Apple TV, Steven Spielberg's Sci-Fi Classic Officially Shoots for the Starz

Whether it's the fourth season of everyone's favorite heartwarming soccer series Ted Lasso, the 14-time Emmy winner Widow's Bay, or the 574-day run of the Anya Taylor-Joy-led movie The Gorge, the Apple TV charts are always packed with quality. Recently, the streamer decided to evolve from its seven-year tradition of only showcasing original movies by expanding its library to include a selection of non-Apple TV titles in a "Great Movies Available Now on Apple TV" section.

Among these new additions was one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Made by the great Steven Spielberg just a year after delivering Raiders of the Lost Ark, the film is considered one of the most influential sci-fi films in a decade packed with some of the genre's best, including Robert Zemeckis' Back to the Future and Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back. The story of 10-year-old Elliott Taylor (Henry Thomas) and his unlikely friendship with an alien looking for a way home is the stuff of cinematic legend and has inspired countless stories since.

In the year that Spielberg finally returned to sci-fi with Disclosure Day — an Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, and Colin Firth-led project that earned mixed reviews — his most beloved family sci-fi film has proven a big hit on Apple TV in the past month. If you've missed the spaceship and haven't yet streamed E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, fear not, as you can now do so on a new streamer. As of October 1, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is available to stream on Starz.

'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial' Was a Huge Box Office Hit

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Few '80s films came close to achieving the same box office success as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Split between $439 million in domestic revenue and a further $358 million from overseas markets, the film earned a global haul of almost $800 million against a budget of just $10.5 million, making it not just one of the most profitable projects of the decade, but one of the highest-grossing in total. The movie was also a big hit at the Academy Awards, winning four of its nine nominations during the 55th ceremony.