This blatant E.T. ripoff from 37 years ago has managed to become a cult classic in its own right. The very opposite of a cult movie, Steven Spielberg’s 1982 sci-fi adventure is an all-time box office champ, having grossed $359 million domestically, which comes to a staggering $1.38 billion adjusted for inflation.

A film as successful as E.T. was bound to inspire imitators of all varieties. On the positive end of the ersatz E.T. spectrum can be found solid kid-friendly sci-fi movies like Explorers, Flight of the Navigator, and, belatedly, the excellent Iron Giant.

Only one of these wannabes, a 1988 movie with a plot incredibly similar to that of E.T., but made without Spielberg’s cinematic genius, managed to rise from obscurity on a wave of ironic appreciation. Leading the movie’s cult is a big Hollywood star with a penchant for late-night talk show pranks.

Mac And Me Started As An E.T. Ripoff, But Is Now A Cult Classic

Mac and Me was the brainchild of R.J. Louis, an executive producer on the original Karate Kid. As Louis explained in a 2017 Thrillist interview, his vision of a family-friendly sci-fi adventure came about because he believed “It was time for another generation [to have its E.T.].”

Louis then set about copying E.T. in almost every way imaginable, right down to the big brand tie-in. Indeed, Mac and Me outdid Spielberg’s film and its Reese’s Pieces partnership. Louis had done advertising work for McDonald’s and secured the right to feature the brand in his film, turning it into a veritable McDonald’s commercial.

Mac and Me was made for a reported $13 million, more than the $10.5 million that Universal spent on E.T. As it turned out, the youth of 1988 were quite happy with the original E.T., and had no need of their own. The film made just $6.4 million, or $352.6 million less than Spielberg’s.

Louis called Mac and Me’s failure a “heartbreak.” Once released on VHS, the film slowly developed a cult following among connoisseurs of the type of so-bad-it’s-good trainwrecks featured on MST 3000.

The arrival of the internet brought new attention to Mac and Me, which became a hit on YouTube. The film’s legend grew even larger when an alternate ending was discovered on a Japanese VHS release, in which the movie’s disabled protagonist is accidentally sH๏τ by a cop.

Paul Rudd’s Running Mac & Me Talk Show Gag Explained

Count Ant-Man star Paul Rudd among Mac and Me’s cult of admirers. Indeed, Rudd has done more than anyone to grow that cult, thanks to a running talk show prank. It all started in 2004 when Rudd went on Conan O’Brien to promote the Friends finale.

Rudd told O’Brien he had a clip, as talk show guests do when promoting something. But the clip Rudd brought was not from the Friends finale. It was a bizarre scene from Mac and Me, in which the movie’s hero races down a hillside in his wheelchair, plunges off a cliff, and lands in a pond.

Rudd would go on to perpetrate the same prank many more times, the last coming in 2023 on O’Brien’s podcast. What began as a way to mock the tired “I brought a clip” banter from all talk shows turned into a veritable monument to Mac and Me (and Rudd’s ability to sustain a bit).

Mac and Me was released on 4K on August 26.