E.T. And Elliott rejoin 40 years after the fact in a commercial sequel

Nostalgia is a hell of a drug. It has the ability to reboot franchises on screens of all shapes and sizes. The sheer force of well-placed nostalgia can for all intents and purposes move mountains. Or on the other hand, can–at the very least–get everyone in their affections for a minute or two. Holidays are fuel for nostalgia. Big movies like Star Wars come out, playing on their childhood, while Christmas commercials prey on their memories of yesteryear. In any case, people can’t actually accuse the organizations that utilization old characters to sell them new things–it works.

Which is the reason everyone is here to concede they are total suckers for this new commercial from Xfinity. In addition to the fact that it features characters everyone has known and loved for right around 40 years, however, it additionally reunites them in a really extraordinary manner. Observe, the gathering between E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and his dear companion Elliott, with Henry Thomas back as the grown-up form of the darling character.

As a matter of first importance, this about the exact opposite last thing everyone expected to wake up to on Thanksgiving morning. What wonderful astonishment. The exceptional commercial is designated “A Holiday Reunion” and fills in as a kind of mini-sequel of the 1982 Steven Spielberg movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. In that film, a young boy named Elliott (Henry Thomas) becomes friends with an outsider from a different world and hides him in his rural home. He calls him E.T. furthermore, he gradually acquaints him with his family: brother Michael (Robert MacNaughton), sister Gertie (Drew Barrymore), and mother Mary (Dee Wallace).

In the long run, the government finds out about E.T’s. presence on Earth and the little alien escapes and flees back to his home world. His farewell scene with Elliott and his family positions up there as one of the more tear-jerking moments throughout the entire existence of the film. “I’ll be right here,” E.T. tells Elliott, placing a finger on the young boy.

In “A Holiday Reunion,” an older E.T. returns to Earth and believes he’s unearthed Elliott once again. In any case, it’s really Elliott’s children, who look a ton like him and Gertie as children. Henry Thomas comes out of his home, excitedly rejoining with his old companion. (Who’s chopping onions?) The two interfaces, with E.T., once again invited into Elliott’s home. Be that as it may, precisely like previously, the outsider’s time on Earth is restricted.

The commercial is for Xfinity, possessed by Comcast, which additionally claims Universal Pictures–the organization that initially brought us E.T. An abbreviated version showed up on TV, yet the full 4-minute rendition is accessible on the web.

“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,” Thomas said of the ad, via io9. “It’s really a win-win.” Thomas also said that Spielberg was apparently on board for the commercial, “because the integrity of the story isn’t lost in this retelling.”

Toward the day’s end, it might be a corporate-branded method for taking advantage of nostalgia, however, it works. A debt of gratitude is in order for calling home once more, old companion.