The audiobook was produced by John Williams and Michael Jackson working with Rod Temperton, Freddy DeMann, and Bruce Swedien.

[2][3][4] The 20-page storybook include stills from the movie and the lyrics to the song "Someone in the Dark" (written by Alan and Marilyn Bergman), which Jackson sings on the audiobook.

The recording, on a 12-inch vinyl LP, features original music by John Williams, integrated sound effects from the movie, as well as the voice of E.T.

In 1975, he and his brothers (except Jermaine) moved to Epic Records and in 1979, Michael released his fifth solo album, Off the Wall, to critical and commercial success.

[10] Created by Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and distributed by Universal Pictures (then a subsidiary of MCA Inc.),[11] it starred Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore and Peter Coyote.

The film tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends a good-natured extraterrestrial he calls E.T., who is stranded on Earth.

Jackson biographer Lisa D. Campbell wrote that Jones had learned this during the recording of "She's Out of My Life" (from the Off the Wall album), where the singer also broke down in tears.

Dick Zimmerman photographed Jackson for the Thriller album cover, before again capturing the singer for the accompanying poster to the E.T.

After Epic lodged a $2 million lawsuit, MCA Records was forced to withdraw the album and prohibited from releasing "Someone in the Dark" as a single.

[2][17][20][21] Epic executives had felt that MCA was misleading members of the public into believing the then-recently released single "The Girl Is Mine" was featured on the storybook album.

[19] As a result of the legal restrictions that prohibited the public release of "Someone in the Dark" as a single, the promo copies which were made have since become one of the singer's rarest and most sought-after records; some have been sold for over $1,600.

The song's opening version was later included as a bonus track on the 2001 special edition of Thriller, as well as the box set Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection.

[36] Mark Bego of the Toledo Blade asserted that the song "Someone in the Dark" was "one of the most beautiful ballads" Jackson had ever recorded.

[2] He further commented that the amalgamation of Jones's production, dialogue from the film, Jackson's "effective and emotional" reading of the narrative and the audiobook's "grand soaring orchestration" made the E.T.