E.T. no home: Original model of movie alien doesn't sell at auction

An original model of E.T., created for Steven Spielberg's beloved film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, did not find a buyer after being put up for auction, Sotheby's auction house in New York said.

The piece, a little over a meter high and which had been estimated to fetch between $600,000 (Php34.2 million) and $900,000 (PhP51.3 million), comes from the collection of Italian special effects artist Carlo Rambaldi.

The three-time Oscar winner—including one for "E.T."—died in 2012 at the age of 86.

"Rambaldi's beloved ET model is an extraordinary piece of film history," Sotheby's vice chair Cassandra Hatton told AFP.

"While it did not find a buyer during today's auction, its significance remains undiminished."

The model offered for sale is one of three used by Spielberg for his 1982 film.

In a statement before the auction, Hatton described the model as embodying "the artistry of an era before CGI (computer-generated imagery) took hold, a nostalgic and iconic piece of Hollywood history as captivating as the stories themselves."

Sotheby's said that a separate E.T. sketch made by Rambaldi had sold Thursday, April 3 for over $53,000 (PhP3 million), well above its top-end estimate of $18,000 (PhP1 million).

In 2022, a metallic automaton representing E.T. and also used during the shooting of the successful film was sold for $2.56 million at an auction organized by the American house Julien's.