A Third X-Files Movie Headed our Way?
Didn’t the second X-Files movie tank at the box office? Let’s be honest, before you read this headline did you even remember that there was a second X-Files movie? Last year Fox released The X-Files: I Want to Believe, which turned out to be a huge box office disappointment. It reunited the original series stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, but even that nostalgic bit wasn’t enough to carry the film. Now there’s word that a follow up is on the horizon, and with possible recasts! More on the story below.
Over at Moviehole, they’re suggesting that 20th Century Fox may be looking to reboot the franchise. Reboots usually include recasting of the main characters and starting from scratch. Likely, the studio will go back a few years and follow a “year one” format similar to what Warner Bros. did with Batman Begins. This is only one side of the story though. Gillian Anderson has been quoted as saying a third film is already in development for 2012.
So much speculation is surrounding this franchise and I don’t understand why. The X-Files has a cult following there’s no denying that, but the last movie was just bad. There’s no getting around it. I also blame the studio, because the marketing for it was horrible. I literally saw a poster and a TV spot only a week or so before it’s release last year. That’s not good promotion.
I don’t think a reboot is the answer, and I’m not sure if I want to see another sequel either. Can we just let this go? The show had several successful seasons on TV, and the first film was a hit. Fox needs to just cut their losses and move on.
What do you think about another X-Files film?
Friday, August 21, 2009 6:07PM
Don't agree with you on any of the points with the exception of the marketing for the last film. I Want to Believe was a beautifully crafted film that actually dealt with major themes of the series, as well as serious issues. I do think some people don't see beyond literal aliens in the series (which on the balance of the episodes for all the seasons were included in very few episodes), and couldn't understand the relevance for the last film. But it would be silly not to continue the franchise with the 2012 mythology already in place. The last movie made Fox money before it even went to DVD, so why wouldn't they make another one?
Friday, August 21, 2009 6:32PM
I am all for another movie, as long as there are no recasts. Surely Fox isn't that stupid. No one but David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson could possibly play Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, regardless of what age they are supposed to be, and anything pre-X Files wouldn't generate a whole lot of interest. I think they have the perfect lead in with the mytharc and 2012. I hope they go for it. Afterall, the second movie didn't match the first at the box office, but it still made twice what it cost to make it.
Friday, August 21, 2009 7:29PM
Gillian never said no such thing, you are speculating and imagining – too bad, since you mislead your readers and gain a bad reputation of an unreliable (to say the very list( source.
Friday, August 21, 2009 9:25PM
Honestly, there needs to be a better storyline if they're going to make a third movie. I'm an X-Files fan, so I got the second movie plot. But it was kind of a vague and there wasn't enough of Mulder and Scully together like old times. Sure, we got SOME relationship stuff in there. But we need an sex scene. Come on, I think it's the least we deserve at this point.
Friday, August 21, 2009 3:55PM
I love love love the X-Files and I want another movie. The second film was released as a summer movie which it wasn’t, it’s a smaller movie which would have done better if released around Halloween maybe, not to mention it came out one week after Dark Knight. There is still hope for a third X-Files film! But if Fox recasts, it’ll tank. No one else can be Mulder and Scully except for David and Gilian
Friday, August 21, 2009 4:42PM
I dont think this has anything to do with “letting this go” or “cutting losses”.
I think it would be rather weak of FOX if they didnt make a 3rd movie. I agree that the marketing for the second movie wasn’t enough. But there were really neat things online. Like some widgets, countdowns, quizzes, a number of different promo spots. All great! But the lack of old marketing with posters (preferably with not too much photoshop) and TV-ads made people who dont use the internet too much almost blind for the movie.
Also I blame them for not protecting the movie from opening the same time as BATMAN! Thats just fail and not well planned when one considers how The X-Files lost audience during the last 2 seasons.
I think they shouldnt have forced the show to go on without Duchovny just for the sake of money, then do a second movie (yay!) but not care for the marketing. “I Want To Believe” wasnt about helicopters. Its was not a tradtional summer spectacular. Maybe it should have been a winter movie.
In a 3rd Movie, which I hope for dearly, I’d also want to have more on screen-time of Scully and Mulder together. I dont want a sex scene. Let other movies do that. X-Files has its own ways to attrackt and eXcite.
I dont see any problems with the storyline to come in XF3. The crew is beyond awesome, committed and talented.
The only thing that needs to happen is FOX realizing that they produced this show and it has its own life. This life doesnt, as you here suggested lie in the past.
There is a date. The date is set. 2012. And if Fox, who has gotten not only money but also a hell of a lot prestige out of this series, does NOT get Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz what they need to make this third movie they way the imagine it, then this would really draw a bad light onto the oh-so-shiny-golden FOX logo!!
I hope for people like Tom Rothman.
the fans are out there. If you have seen how the fans screamed for “X-files! X-files!” in Sarajevo this week, you know it is true.
Friday, August 21, 2009 11:47PM
agreed. I loved the show obsessively even after it went off the air, but IWTB was a horrid mess, and I think they need to cut their losses and move on. enough damage has been done.
Friday, August 21, 2009 11:48PM
I dont think this has anything to do with "letting this go" or "cutting losses".
I think it would be rather weak of FOX if they didnt make a 3rd movie. I agree that the marketing for the second movie wasn't enough. But there were really neat things online. Like some widgets, countdowns, quizzes, a number of different promo spots. All great! But the lack of old marketing with posters (preferably with not too much photoshop) and TV-ads made people who dont use the internet too much almost blind for the movie.
Also I blame them for not protecting the movie from opening the same time as BATMAN! Thats just fail and not well planned when one considers how The X-Files lost audience during the last 2 seasons.
I think they shouldnt have forced the show to go on without Duchovny just for the sake of money, then do a second movie (yay!) but not care for the marketing. "I Want To Believe" wasnt about helicopters. Its was not a tradtional summer spectacular. Maybe it should have been a winter movie.
In a 3rd Movie, which I hope for dearly, I'd also want to have more on screen-time of Scully and Mulder together. I dont want a sex scene. Let other movies do that. X-Files has its own ways to attrackt and eXcite.
I dont see any problems with the storyline to come in XF3. The crew is beyond awesome, committed and talented.
The only thing that needs to happen is FOX realizing that they produced this show and it has its own life. This life doesnt, as you here suggested lie in the past.
There is a date. The date is set. 2012. And if Fox, who has gotten not only money but also a hell of a lot prestige out of this series, does NOT get Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz what they need to make this third movie they way the imagine it, then this would really draw a bad light onto the oh-so-shiny-golden FOX logo!!
I hope for people like Tom Rothman.
the fans are out there. If you have seen how the fans screamed for "X-files! X-files!" in Sarajevo this week, you know it is true.
Saturday, August 22, 2009 4:34AM
I don't want any more disasters like the last movie and I do not want to see a decrepit Mulder hanging around with no energy or spirit and living in the suburbs. The EDGE is gone with this show. However, in show business NEVER say NEVER, so I did not believe a new Star Trek crew was remotely possible and I was sold 100% with the new guys in the new movie, most of all because it was respectful and good humored about the original.
I just do not think CC has the imagination anymore to really stretch far enough to reanimate what were wonderful character in and out-there show.
Friday, August 21, 2009 10:58PM
The idea that IWTB did poorly because it followed The Dark Knight is ludicrous. XFiles has/had a built in audience of hard core fans. The storyline was stupid, special effects underwhelming and the ancillary actors unappealing. The chase through the unfinshed building was done better in Grotesque from Season 4, I think. Gillian Anderson as the main character didn’t work for me. Mulder in the background was a piss poor decision by whoever was silly enough to do that. Romance? Sex scene? Please,no. Action, Mystery, Adventure…yes.
Saturday, August 22, 2009 8:21AM
I really, really want XF3 to happen! I would DIE from happiness if they announce that it's real! X-Files ROCK and I have to say I LOVED the second movie! It was so thoughtful and intelligent..
But I'll never have enough of The X-Files so:
I WANT XF3!!!!
Sunday, August 23, 2009 12:02AM
I’d LOVE a third film!! The 2nd film deserves another viewing if it disappointed the first time. If you like mulder and scully, you will love it the second time. It doesn’t all quite sink in the first time – I had a hard time with the breakup scene, believing it . I was like Did they just break up? They can’t “break up” over this… The 2nd time, I cried, realizing she Was asking the love of her life to choose and, I just got it more. The first 15 minutes I spent wondering if m and s would be together and barely concentrated on the setup!
Please help us get a third X-Files film.
Saturday, August 29, 2009 2:43PM
fuck you the only correct point you had was about unsuccessful marketing. please dont speculate about a reboot until Chris Carter brings it up in Entertainment Weekly or whatever. Maybe before you laud the second movie as unsuccessful you should check DVD sales, the franchise turned a hefty profit on that movie.
Saturday, August 29, 2009 10:00PM
I'd love a third X-Files film, but strongly disagree with your assessment of the second movie. The extended cut on DVD in particular is an excellent movie. It simply isn't a summer blockbuster, and should have been released in the fall or spring, when quieter, more thoughtful movies can be made.
If you've only seen I Want To Believe once, watch it a second time. It's definitely a film that rewards multiple viewings.
Sunday, August 30, 2009 8:37AM
While I don't share your apparent utter disappointment with the second film, I would actually embrace a third movie — if they made good on their promise and made it about aliens and the pre-appointed end times that was mentioned in the series finale. While I certainly was not impressed by the second film, I thought it was like a "decent" episode at most, but certainly not great. To me, it was very much, "Eh…they could have done a LOT better. Then again, they could have done A LOT worse."
Monday, August 31, 2009 1:24AM
If I Want to Believe ended up in the $5.00 bin at Walmart, I doubt I’d pick it up. But then, I’ve picked up some real duds in that bin. This would just be another, akin to …
Monday, August 31, 2009 9:27AM
I too would love a third feature film. I absolutely loved IWTB, but I have to agree with everyone who said that you really need to see this film more than once. I hated it when I first saw it, but had already planned to see it again with a friend. I ended up seeing IWTB multiple times in the cinema, and by the second time, I began to realise how multi-layered and beautiful IWTB actually is. Also, as others have said, the film has been very profitable for FOX. It wouldn’t make sense NOT to make a third film. But I have to agree: TXF 3 would need better promotion and marketing than IWTB received. There’s definitely still an audience for “The X Files” – just take a look at the countless active websites. Done correctly, “The X Files 3″ would be huge!
Friday, September 4, 2009 1:23AM
I think the 2nd movie was good, everyone is right about the marketing. I would love a 3rd movie that would be awesome, but CC and FS would have to get down to the mythology of the show and bring everyone back Skinner, Doggett, Reyes, and Kersh. Everyone!!! Bring the whole show together one last time and make a heel of a movie for 2012!!
Thursday, September 3, 2009 11:31PM
i thought IWTB sucked. the story really dragged on and didnt make a lot of sense. what was really going on with that “modern day frankenstein” character? and what happened to the boy scully was trying to save? and what was up with mulder and scully in a small boat paddling away to a remote desert island in the end credits? also the fbi left mulder alone for six years when there is no doubt they would have found him sooner considering he was still living in the USA? cmon…total BS. i love the x-files but after watching the extended version of IWTB i feel that the reason it was made is because thats what fans wanted. if there is a third movie i hope that it gives some real closure to the series and lets it die a respectful death. IWTB sucked, period.
Sunday, September 13, 2009 8:31PM
Gillian said they've talked about a third movie not that a third movie was in production and the second movie more than double it's cost of making so the executives of fox said it is up to David, Gillian and Chris to make another movie. And by the way I happend to enjoyed the second movie and I like more every time I see it again. But I agree with you, poor marketing.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 12:13PM
I agree with so many of you fan of the X-Files that the second movie was somehow confusing and for some very disappointing. Where was the magic of the complicity of the Duo Scully/Mulder? It just wasn’t there… But maybe that was the point… they went their separate way for about 6years and we learned that William didn’t make it… definitely the relationship had suffered !
Now as we can recall like suggested TRAUM and we could hope the genius of CHRIS CARTER to get back to the set date of the invasion of the aliens on the year 2012… one episode mentioned that… wouldn’t that be the cherry on the top of the cake? Just imagine for a min ‘Independence day’ reviewed with no super hero like character but just normal human being. Lets keep our fingers crossed for some glorious sci-fi scene anyway in the next and some gore stuff ! Come on give us XF3 !!
Friday, October 16, 2009 12:41PM
[...] pair of extraterrestrial detectives, Mulder and Skully would be returning to the big screen for a third X-Files movie. The sequel to the original blockbuster film entitled, I Want to Believe didn’t fair that [...]
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 9:55AM
WOW The person who wrote this is so wrong! The 2nd movie wasn't bad at all! It was a very good movie the problem was that it was done to feel like an episode of the show, and not a major motion picture, and it was a stand alone film.
I personally don't like that idea much but I love the movie regardless, and with David saying that the next one he wants it to focus on the roots of the series meaning the Alien Agenda, and stuff.
I am all for another movie! Hell is there anyway I can help get it to cinema faster? Name it I will do it!
I'm a die hard fan of the series, and I agree on one point the marketing of the last movie was horrific! And I blame that on FOX who did a butchered job at marketing the movie.
I hope the next one gets the proper treatment that it, and the fans deserve…
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 11:29AM
WOW The person who wrote this is so wrong! The 2nd movie wasn't bad at all! It was a very good movie the problem was that it was done to feel like an episode of the show, and not a major motion picture, and it was a stand alone film.
Saturday, November 7, 2009 5:39PM
Wow. Just about everything you said was either biased or flat out wrong. The movie was good. Granted that’s a matter of opinion but for those that were upset when they heard there were no aliens or smoking men, well you don’t really understand the show and therefore are not qualified to review IWTB. One thing I agree with: marketing sucked. But it still turned profits. And Fox would be stupid to not conclude the arc with a final film. That being said, a reboot of the franchise is an asinine idea. If they want to try and spin-off something with different characters and stories, so be it. But don’t try to replace characters. I do think it would be interesting to see a show where DD is playing a kind of Deep Throat character, guest starring once in a while to give cryptic info to some young FBI agent investigating the paranormal. But even that I feel would be too much of a desperate attempt and ultimately a failure to recreate the magic this show had. Here is to hoping they make a third film, that it undoubtedly kicks ass, and they end it at that. Cheers.
Thursday, January 21, 2010 6:02PM
I’d love to see a third movie but I think the reason the 2nd film flopped is BECAUSE Chris Carter was trying to create a stand alone film. There are millions of worthless sci-fi movies out there for people who just want to see a sci-fi movie. Why would he want to alienate his already built in fan base? It’s like what George Lucas did with those horrible shit-stain, Star Wars prequels. Don’t go messing with the formula if your enormous fan base actually ENJOYS the mythos.
Those of us who have followed the X-Files faithfully from Season 1 (and I’m one of them, I own ALL of the seasons + the first movie because it didn’t suck) LOVE the X-Files mythology. The fans wanted to see some sort of follow up to the magnitude of the first X-Files movie. “I Want to Believe” was just sort of weak. I liked it but I sort of felt cheated. I wanted to know what was going on with the Super Soldiers and the legacy of the Syndicate’s replacement and the Alien Colonization and especially Baby William. If I wanted to just see a generic X-Files episode that had little to do with the 9 years of mythology I’d come to know and love, I would have just stayed home and watched one of the many episodes I own. If I’m going to pay to see a movie, I want it to follow up on the larger scope of the X-files. The X-Files have thousands of fans who WANT to see the mythology!
I’d love to see a third movie just because I’m still waiting for answers to the bigger picture. If they do another one, they need to focus on alien mythos they’ve created. There needs to be answers to Colonization, to Baby William, etc. Those are the things fans will LOVE and if there are new people who do not understand what’s going on, but they liked the movie, they will watch (or buy) the Season episodes and the previous films and become die-hard fans too. If they don’t, well, Carter would have never interested them to begin with.
The 2nd film bombed because the script deviated from what X-Files fans adore. They LIKE complicated plots which involves devotion to the years previous. Return to the mythology and the Fans will come out in droves AND they will love the film. I thought the first X-Files movie was kick-ass! I’m waiting for something like that again. I’m anxious and hopeful that they will follow-through and make something wonderful.
Friday, March 12, 2010 12:08AM
Of course they need a third film. The mythology is still up in the air and we need to find out what happens on dec 22, 2012, and if mulder and scully can stop it. Mulders whole lifes work builds up to that very moment. Also would like to see the aliens track down Mulder and Scullys' kid and have them reunite. Guess he would be about 11 years old. I'll be waiting with my money for this film. Can't wait.