‘Steven Spielberg Will Never Digitally Enhance His Movies Again’…
https://screenrant.com/steven-spielberg-movies-digitally-enhanced-et/
Journalist: ‘You’re such a perfectionist and special effects have changed so much in the last 30 years. Have you ever considered going back like they did with Star Wars? Maybe just putting in some shots in E.T.?’
Steven Spielberg: ‘Well, I got in trouble for doing that. When E.T. was re-released, I actually digitized 5 shots where E.T. went from being a puppet to a digital puppet and I also replaced the gun when the F.B.I. runs up on the van, now they walkie talkies. So there’s a really bad version of E.T. where I took my cue from Star Wars and all of the digital enhancements of A New Hope that George put in, and I went ahead, because the marketing at Universal thought we need something to get an audience back and see the movie so I did a few touch up in the film, and in those days, social media wasn’t as profound as it is today but what was just beginning, you know, erupted a loud, negative voice about how could you ruin our favorite childhood film by taking the guns away and putting walkie-talkies in their hands among other things. So I learned a big lesson and that’s the last time I decided to ever mess with the past. What’s done is done, and um, I’ll never go back and do another movie I’ve made and I have control over to enhance or changes.’