VOTD: Making of the ‘E.T. The Extra Terrestrial’ Christmas Commercial from Xfinity

Xfinity has caused problems for millions of cable, internet and telephone subscribers over the years. But we have to hand it to them for getting the approval of director Steven Spielberg to create an E.T. The Extra Terrestrial sequel in the form of a touching holiday commercial that reunites Elliot, now all grown up with a family of his own, with the alien who changed his life forever. Now you can see how it was made with a look behind the scenes at the making of the E.T. The Extra Terrestrial Christmas commercial.

Making of the E.T. The Extra Terrestrial Christmas Commercial

Henry Thomas sets the stage for how this holiday commercial came together at Xfinity. It’s nice to hear the actor has just as much reverence for the film that everyone came to love when it was released in 1982. Thomas wasn’t necessarily invested in making it happen unless Steven Spielberg was on board, and he was surprised to learn when his approval had already been given.

Even though this commercial is in the hands of director Lance Acord, you’ll find plenty of touches from the original movie throughout. There’s a photo of the dog Elliot had as a child, Gertie’s cup, the original bike from the movie, and some more subtle references and Easter eggs that can be noticed on repeat viewings of the commercial. They even went so far as to meticulously recreate the machine E.T. used to call home.

As for E.T. himself, Legacy Effects is responsible for bringing him to life through the use of both puppetry and digital effects used to touch him up. E.T. is able to move in a much more easy and sophisticated way, largely thanks to the fact that it’s much easier to erase puppeteers from a scene digitally, something that simply wasn’t possible back when the original movie was made.

If you haven’t seen the commercial in question yet, you can watch it over here.