I don't think the 2002 E.T. release was small scale. There was plenty of hype at the time. The most unintentionally funny of which was an outdoor(?) screening at the Winter Olympics, where they got American athletes to prattle for the camera about how good the special edition was over the original version. I somehow doubted they even knew what they were talking about, and some were a bit young to be claiming to have seen it in theaters the first time around!
