ET Sequel in the works?

There was a period, post-Charlie'sAngels, during which Drew Barrymore was considered something of a sure-thing, box-office-wise. But then Fever Pitch grossed nothing-million it's first weekend, and even though that was probably totally Jimmy Fallon's fault, now it looks like Blondie is sort of grasping for straws. That must explain this rumor I just heard, that she's been hassling Steven Spielberg into making a sequel to E.T.

"Drew has spoken to Steven about it", says SouthFlorida.com. "Although he thought she was joking at first, he's actually giving it serious thought. Drew thinks the world needs another feel-good movie like 'ET' right now and she's prepared to work with Steven to make it happen".

After the first film swept the western world, Spielberg apparently wrote a treatment for a sequel. Called E.T. 2: Nocturnal Fears, it had the titular, loveable alien coming back to Earth to save the planet from a race of evil aliens. Spielberg subsequently said he'd never do a sequel, but the description I just read of this theoretical Drew-motivated project sounds pretty close to Fears - although hopefully they'd ditch the porntastic subtitle. Nobody's been able to get Barrymore or Spielberg on the phone to confirm or deny any of this, but Moviehole talked to a couple of, um, less busy members of the original cast and for what it's worth, Dee Wallace-Stone is totally against it.