Spielberg vows to never digitally alter his old movies again

"When E.T. was re-released, I actually digitized five shots where E.T. went from being a puppet to a digital puppet. And I also replaced the gun when the FBI runs up on the van, now they have walkie-talkies. So there's a really bad version of E.T. where I took my cue from Star Wars and the digital enhancements of A New Hope that George put in. I went ahead, because the marketing at Universal thought we needed something to get the audience in to see the movie, so I did a few touch-ups in the film. In those days, social media wasn't as profound as it is today. But what was just beginning erupted in 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. That's the last time I ever decided to mess with the past. What's done is done, and I'll never go back into another movie I made, or have control over, to enhance or change it."

"The filmmaker previously addressed the controversy around the E.T. special edition during a 2011 interview, where he said he regretted altering the film, not because of the controversy, but because he was disappointed in himself, adding that he ultimately realized he, "robbed people who loved E.T. of their memories of E.T." in making those alterations."

movieweb.com/steven-spielberg-no-more-digitally-fixing-classic-movies/

Too bad George Lucas didn't learn this lesson as well.

Did Universal really think that adding a few digital touch-ups would make people rush out to see E.T. again?  In regards to Star Wars and the special edition, part of the reason people went to see it was to see the new scenes with Jabba and Biggs reinserted into the film and not just for digital touch-ups.