WHO'LL ANSWER? E.T. HITS REDIAL, HOPES YOU'LL PAY $8 FOR ANOTHER RIDE ACROSS THE MOON.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

``E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial'' is getting ready to phone home again. The question is, will moviegoers answer the call for a movie that first hit screens 20 years ago?

Classic movies seeking a second victory lap at the box office can soar into the box office stratosphere - as was the case with the original ``Star Wars'' trilogy in the mid-1990s - or merely attract a core audience of movie buffs before disappearing from the big screen once and for all.

``Re-releases are a mixed bag in terms of their success,'' said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. ``The ones that are successful are generally the ones that were successful during their original runs like 'Grease' and 'The Wizard of Oz.' ''

Universal Pictures is bullish on the box office potential of ``E.T.'' which will make its return on more than 2,500 screens on Friday, making it the widest re-release in history.

``This is a whole new celebration of a timeless and beloved classic,'' said Nikki Rocco, distribution president for Universal Studios. ``It's a new version with never-before-seen footage, state-of-the-art computer enhancement and a digitally remixed soundtrack. It's an event type of re- issue and will appeal to people of all ages as the first one did.''

Directed by Steven Spielberg and featuring a young Drew Barrymore, ``E.T.'' was an instant blockbuster when it hit theaters in 1982 and went on to gross a stupendous $399.8 million, $40.6 million of which came from an initial re-release of the film in the summer of 1985.

Until 1997, ``E.T.'' was the highest-grossing movie of all time. But the movie with a Reese's Pieces-loving hero has since been eclipsed by ``Titanic,'' which has earned $600.8 million; a ``special edition'' of the original ``Star Wars'' that upped the sci-fi classics' overall gross to $461 million (an additional $138.2 million was earned during its re-release in 1997); and ``Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace'' which grossed $431.1 million during its run three years ago.

The special editions of the original ``Star Wars'' trilogy performed far beyond all expectations when they were re-released into more than 2,000 theaters in early 1997. ``Star Wars - Special Edition'' set a record January weekend opening of $35.9 million that still stands.

A month later, ``The Empire Strikes Back - Special Edition'' had an opening weekend of $21.9 million on its way to adding $67.5 million to its overall gross, which now stands at $290.3 million. And finally, ``Return of the Jedi - Special Edition'' hit screens in March 1997 and had an opening weekend of $16.2 million. It managed to up the third installment's overall take by $45.4 million for a grand total of $309.1 million.

``The three 'Star Wars' special editions are kind of the standard bearers, the ones that blew the lid off the potential for re-releases,'' Dergarabedian said.

Like the ``Star Wars'' movies, ``E.T'' comes to theaters this time around with some additional features made possible by modern technology, giving the filmgoer something new to appreciate and something for the studios to focus on in their marketing of an old title.

``Audiences are so jaded today,'' Dergarabedian said. ``They've seen everything in terms of technology and special effects. The way to excite today's moviegoer with an old movie is to have value-added material, extras or something different. The 'E.T.' trailer is a brilliant example of how they let you know it's essentially the same movie but there are some things you've never seen. A lot of times, that's enough just to give people that little push instead of saying I'll just watch it on video.''

Gitesh Pandya, president of BoxOfficeGuru.com, doesn't expect ``E.T.'' to do the kind of business that the ``Star Wars'' trilogy did five years ago, but he does predict that it will perform far better than just about any other re-release of recent times.

``I think the 'E.T.' re-release will do some spectacular business,'' Pandya said. ``Just being a Steven Spielberg film and also the former box office champion of all time shows that this film really struck a chord with American moviegoers. You'll get the fans who saw it in the theaters in the '80s who are much older now and have kids of their own as well as younger kids who have only seen it on the small screen.''

Those same demographics made for the successful re-releases in 1998 of two beloved Hollywood musicals. ``Grease,'' a 1978 classic starring John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John and Stockard Channing, added $28.4 million to its gross, while ``The Wizard of Oz'' brought in an additional $14.8 million. Both films had solid opening weekends despite their heavy play on television over the years and easy accessibility on video.

Another success story was last year's re-release of ``The Exorcist,'' which took a second victory lap in theaters to mark the movie's 25th anniversary. The film that famously featured a young Linda Blair's head spinning around took in $39.6 million at the box office last fall, adding to its original domestic gross of $193 million.

```The Exorcist' was an example of a classic horror film being released right before Halloween and doing much better than anyone expected,'' Pandya said. ``These are low-cost titles because the movies are already made. It's low cost and high returns. That's what makes a studios do some of these re-releases.''

But the box office experts say that most re-releases in the past decade or so such as ``The Godfather,'' ``Spartacus,'' ``Taxi Driver,'' ``Dr. Zhivago,'' ``Lawrence of Arabia'' and ``Gone With the Wind'' have merely been limited runs to spur interest in a new home video version of the films.

With DVD such a hot commodity these days, films like ``This Is Spinal Tap,'' and ``Apocalypse Now'' have hit theaters with their new DVD content before they move onto store shelves. The latter film, called ``Apocalypse Now Redux'' had such substantial additional footage edited in by director Francis Ford Coppola that many considered it a completely different film, which made the top 10 best films of 2001 lists of several prominent critics. ``Redux'' went on to gross $4.6 million at the box office before making a splash on DVD.

``With a lot of reissues, they have to know going in they aren't going to make a lot of money,'' Dergarabedian said. ``Most reissues of these important films are really for those who love cinema. Why else would you bring 'Taxi Driver' out in 1996 just to add $903,000 to the gross? There really is no better way to see a movie than on the big screen despite all the advances in home theater.''

Of course, Disney has been the master of the re-release for decades, returning its animated classics such as ``Snow White,'' ``Cinderella'' and ``Bambi'' for a limited run every decade or so then putting them back into retirement. Now the studio is employing the same strategy for these classics in the home video arena.

Most recently, Disney has enjoyed success by re-releasing the musicals ``Fantasia'' and ``Beauty and the Beast'' in a large-screen format, which has paid handsome dividends.

``Fantasia 2000,'' which featured new musical segments with a reprise of one from the original, grossed an impressive $60.5 million, while ``Beauty and the Best Special Edition'' has grossed $20.1 million so far. During its original run in 1991, ``Beast'' took in $145.8 million.

``They can win over a whole new generation with children's films essentially by winning over their parents the first time,'' Dergarabedian said of Disney and other studios. ``It's a nostalgia factor for parents and that can bring them back into the theater with their kids.''

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(color) COMING TO A THEATER NEAR YOU... AGAIN!

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TOP REISSUE MONEY-MAKERS

SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co., Inc.

Jon Gerung/Staff Artist