Gun scenes restored as ET turns 30

Film bosses have reversed a move which had infuriated movie fans and restored footage of guns to box office hit E.T. in time for its 30th anniversary.

A decade ago the images of weapons were edited out of the Steven Spielberg movie, and replaced by walkie-talkies with the aid of digital trickery.

But for a newly remastered version of the film - fully titled E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial - it will revert to the original 1982 sequences.

The 2002 version featured several altered scenes, most famously during the footage in which central character Elliott flies while cycling with E.T., where the images of police with guns were tweaked.

The new version, to be issued on Blu-ray on November 12, will also see the certificate return to a PG. The removal of the guns helped to secure a U certificate 10 years ago.

Craig Kornblau, the president of Universal Studios Home Entertainment, said: "A global cultural phenomenon - and the biggest box-office blockbuster of its day - E.T. brought out the child in all of us."