Film fans have gathered under the stars at London's Somerset House for a very special screening of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of outdoor cinema Film4 Summer Screen at the historic venue, the public were allowed to choose for themselves which film they would like to watch at Somerset House for the first time.

Steven Spielberg's 1982 classic emerged the favourite out of the 8,000 votes cast, and an audience of over 2,000 people gathered to watch the film and donned E.T. masks in honour of the world's most loved extra-terrestrial.

Charlotte Nimmo, Head of Live Events at Somerset House, said: "We are celebrating our 10-year anniversary, and we gave the public the chance to vote for the film they saw tonight.

"We chose 10 films that we've shown over the last 10 years and the public voted and they chose E.T.

"It's the first time we've ever shown the same film twice in the last 10 years.

"We've given out E.T. masks to everyone in the courtyard so they can have their moment dressed like E.T. to enjoy the evening.

"People arrive at around 6 o'clock when a DJ starts playing, they bring full picnics - lots of food, lots of wine, and then as the sun goes down, at around nine o'clock the film begins."

Film 4 Summer Screen at Somerset House 2014 opened on Thursday August 7 with the UK premiere of Two Days, One Night, attended by its star, Oscar-winning French actress Marion Cotillard.

The annual event features classic and cult films, UK and world premieres and talks and Q&As from people in the movie business.

It closes tonight (August 20) with the premiere of vampire comedy What We Do In The Shadows, co-written, co-directed and starring Jermaine Clement of Flight of The Conchords fame.