20 Greatest Summer Blockbusters Ever Made

8. E.T. (1982)

RottenTomatoes Score: 98% (9.2/10)

Box Office: $792.9 million

Why It's Awesome: E.T. is the reason people go to the movies, to be presented with an experience unlike anything you can encounter in real life, and be left in absolute awe of. Unquestionably one of Steven Spielberg's biggest triumphs, this superb sci-fi manages to be visually stunning, narratively engrossing and dramatically buoyant all at once.

Spielberg is often criticised for being a "confectioner" and leaning too heavily on sentimentality, but this is one movie where his approach unequivocally works: the bond between a young boy and his new pet alien is so self-evident that it doesn't need to be forced, and as such the inevitable pay-off effortlessly moves audiences to tears.

In addition, there's a terrific John Williams score, a very young Drew Barrymore, and an arc that runs the gamut of human emotion. Even as you get older and more cynical, your inner-child will cling eagerly to this unflappable family classic.