HI,
Maybe it had something to do with the fact that EVERYBODY had it on video in 1982!
Ah, no! Incorrect answer. You lose ten points!
"ET" wa released in UK and US cinemas in 1982. However, the film didn't come out on VHS until so late, for two main reasons:
- the battle between VHS and Betamax was still going on at this time, until VHS finally dominated the market in 1985 (if my memory serves), and because
- the cost of putting films onto VHS tapes for rental or purchase, was expensive for the distributors to do, as well as costing the customer a fortune. (Most people didn't have video players in those days, and so would need to hire-out a VHS player as well, to play the film on!
Imagine doing that nowadays!)
Oh, and Spielberg himself was concerned about people not wanting to see the film in cinemas, too, and wanted to withhold the film from home viewing formats. Hollywood, meanwhile, was concerned about pirating of films, and copyright issues, which hadn't been fully ironed-out in US law. Hence, very few films (of any worth) came out in the early days of video, except for things like fitness videos and porn.
"ET" was finally classified with a U certificate for home viewing, in November 1988.
Pooch