Xfinity has released a short movie/ad/mini-sequel of E.T. the Extraterrestrial paying a visit to his friend Elliot just in time for the holidays. The twist? Now Elliott has his own family, and Earthly technology has advanced since the little brown alien left.
Elliott has to teach his old friend new tricks, like surfing the web, using a TV remote and even playing with a VR headset, using technology from Xfinity and Sky. In exchange, E.T. teaches Elliott’s kids to fly through the night on their bikes, touching everyone’s hearts (literally) before his family picks him up in a U.F.O.
There are two versions of the film: the two-minute version of the story debuted during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC in the U.S., and the full-length four-minute version available at xfinity.com/ET and Youtube. The ad was created by Omnicom Group’s Goodby, Silverstein and Partners in collaboration with Universal, which, just like Xfinity, belongs to Comcast.
Henry Thomas, who played Elliott back in 1982 and again in the ad, said, “The audience is going to get everything they want out of a sequel without the messy bits that could destroy the beauty of the original and the special place it has in people’s minds and hearts. It’s really a win-win." This particular ad was crafted to capitalize on nostalgia, and eagle-eyed viewers will find Reese’s Pieces and Dungeon & Dragons sets scattered through the scenes, meshing seamlessly with other entertainment technology.
Thomas also mentioned that Steven Spielberg was behind the short, and insinuated that he’d had a hand in drafting the storyboards. Spielberg has been collaborating with Comcast (Xfinitity’s mothership) for a while, being behind the immersive experience, between virtual reality and planetarium, of Comcast’s Universal Sphere in Philadelphia’s Comcast Technology Center.