Fans of The X-Files TV series; which ran from 1993, to 2002, and became an instant success on both sides of the Atlantic, thanks to its procedural nature, high level suspense, and the constant investigation of the existence of aliens, and government conspiracies; were somewhat disappointed when the series’ follow on film (subtitled I Want to Believe), failed to live up to their eager anticipations.
Despite reuniting the series original partnership; by bringing back David Duchovny (Californication), and Gillian Anderson (The Last King of Scotland), to play F.B.I. agents Fox Mulder (the conspiracy nut desperate to prove the existence of aliens so that he can find his abducted sister), and Dana Scully (the sceptic assigned to vet Mulder’s wild theories) respectively; I Want to Believe garnered only a lackluster reception at best, because it abandoned the core principals of the series, and told a random supernatural tale, rather than the alien conspiracy story fans were hoping for; something David hopes will be rectified in the next movie.
When recently questioned about the possibility of making a third X-Files movie (the first; Fight the Future; was released during the middle of the series’ original run), David Duchovny admitted that 20th Century Fox had been “scalded” by the poor reaction to the second film, and that he believed it failed because “the authors strayed too far from the roots of the series.”
Duchovny also felt that being released in the summer hurt the movie; which is clearly more suited to a winter audience, given the sci-fi/thriller/supernatural material; and let slip, that a third X-Files film is now “being written,” and that it “will be much closer to what the public expects, with government conspiracies, etc.”.
However, despite the news that there’s a script in the works that X-Files fans may actually want to see get made into a movie, the project still hasn’t been greenlit by 20th Century Fox; who still hold the rights to the franchise, and would have to approve if any film was to go ahead; meaning that at this point, not only is a third X-Files still some distance away from a theatrical release date (or even principal photography), but that it’s still largely a pipe-dream.
