s spaceship. At the time, Steven revealed to the Harper Bazaar, the movie is about how I felt when my parents broke up (Corliss 78). In the words of a USA Today columnist after E.T.s release, Steven is the first director since Alfred Hitchcock to become a household name (Graham 530). In addition to earning Steven yet another Oscar nomination which he lost again, E.T. grossed nearly 400 million dollars beating fellow buddy Lucass blockbuster, Star Wars.Because Steven was always interested in so many projects, he was never able to attend to all of those he wished. Thus, in 1984, he founded his own production company, Amblin Entertainment. The result would be a number of great films including Gremlins, The Back to the Future Trilogy, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Growing tired of creating action packed stereotypical Spielberg pictures, in 1985 Steven made his first attempt at serious filmmaking, The Color Purple. The story evolved around a woman, played by Whoopi Goldberg, who is oppressed by the men around her. The film, though received by most as deeply moving, received criticism for what some called insensitivity to the realities of poverty, brutality, and black experience (Graham 531). The film made Whoopi Goldberg into huge star and earned eleven Academy Award nominations. Ironically, Steven was snubbed for Best Director and the film failed to win one award in what would mark the beginning of the Academys reputation for disregarding films that deal with African-American culture. His first attempt at serious filmmaking would lead to 1987s Empire of the Sun, a film about a British boys experience within a Japanese concentration camp during World War II. Once again, his fathers influence showed up on screen. Empire of the Sun and The Color Purple would be among Stevens least commercially successful efforts.In an attempt to rebound off of 1991s box office flop, Hook, Steven released in the summer of 1993 what would become at t...
