Screen Rant reviews X-Files: I Want to Believe

 As Screen Rant’s resident X-Files fan It came down to me to deliver a review for The X-Files: I Want To Believe. As I’m UK-based it took me a week to catch up with the film as it’s only just opened here.

Firstly the film has got some pretty bad reviews, and the opening weekend’s box office was only $10 million – a third of what X-Files: Fight The Future took 10 years ago.

So is the film any good?

Yes and no.

It also depends on how big a fan you are of the franchise.

One of the major criticisms leveled at the film is that it is like an episode of the television series – and a mediocre episode at that. I have to say that this is true. The film does run like a sub-par episode of the series, but even an average X-Files is pretty good.

It’s good to see Mulder and Scully back on screen – even if they do look a bit older – but hey, don’t we all.

The film opens with a female FBI agent getting abducted, and the only lead to her disappearance is a former Priest who is a convicted paedophile – the Priest (played by Billy Connolly) is having visions and he soon leads the FBI team (led by Amanda Peet and Xzibit) to a severed arm in the snow. The FBI promptly seek out Mulder (via Scully) to help with the investigation. In return for his assistance Mulder will get a pardon, and he’ll be free from hiding out at home taking cuttings from newspapers and impaling his ceiling with pencils.

That’s pretty much the first 20 minutes of the film, and if I told you anymore it would give away the big “reveal” that happens about half way through the film, and this is where the film falls flat - there just isn’t enough tension. To compare the film to The Silence of The Lambs (as Chris Carter did) we don’t know what will happen to the abductees, whereas in Jonathan Demme’s film we knew exactly what Buffalo Bill was capable of, and therefore we were afraid. The X-Files was a show that always had plenty of tension, and to have a film version that doesn’t deliver this is a real shame.

However, it is good to see Mulder and Scully back together again (although Scully has very little to do with the actual investigation). David Duchovny really is the star of the show (film?) and it’s his charisma that helps propel the film along. Gillain Anderson however is more wrapped up in a medical subplot that has very little to do with the main story and almost seems like she’s in a different film entirely.

For a summer blockbuster The X-Files: I Want To Believe is light on action, thrills and tension, but it is the X-Files and there’s enough of that familiarity to keep fans of the franchise happy (including a cheap gag at the expense of George Bush), but I feel that it would have fared better at the box office if it opened at a different time of year.

Whatever shortcomings the film has must surely be laid at the doorstep of creator/co-writer/director Chris Carter. If he wants to deliver a film that dissects his own Catholicism he should do so in another venture, here he has just managed to dilute a pretty low key thriller with his religious insecurities. If there is another X-Files movie I hope he hands over the reins to somebody else.

I Want To Believe plays out like an average 1990’s thriller, it’s solid but somewhat lacking. For a casual viewer I’d advise you to check out the series on DVD; for a fan – go and see it – but have your favorite episodes ready for when you get home.

I just hope that this film makes enough money (and with a $30 million budget surely it must) to ensure that a follow-up is made that really delivers an X-Files movie that we all want and deserve.

RoboCop 4 (unless they ignore parts 2 and 3 and do a reboot): Darren Aronofsky, director of Pi and the one movie I liked but I’ll never watch again, Requiem For a Dream, has officially signed on to direct the RoboCop sequel, set further in the future after the program was shut down.  Will it be a new RoboCop, or will Murphy live again?  David Self (Road to Perdition) is writing the script.  Sounds like it’ll be fun, especially since it isn’t a remake!

So I’ve been looking over at Rotten Tomatoes to see how X-Files: I Want To Believe is doing, ratings-wise.  Not so good with a 30% (so far) “rotten” rating.  Sure, it’s still a little early, but wow, that’s not looking so good.  Ebert seemed to like it, though, but others complained that it was more like a boring, long episode than a movie.

Ant-Man: Edgar Wright told ComingSoon.net/SuperHeroHype.com that his adaptation of Scott Pilgrim will come out first, and that Ant-Man isn’t even on the release schedule for Marvel Studios.  My theory is that a draft was written and budgeted and, following The Incredible Hulk debacle, Marvel decided to launch a film franchise of the tiny hero after The Avengers comes out.  It’s a safe way to test the waters.  We’ll find out if that’s the case when The Avengers opens in 2011.

Also, on the fantasy movie front, a couple of news items caught my eye today, so I thought I’d write up a quick movie news grab bag.

First up is Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland 3D movie, of which I’m getting excited about.  Burton and Alice, a match made in heaven!  Anyway, Burton found his Alice in Australian actress Mia Wasikowska.  The film will go into production soon with a projected release date of 2010.

I think this will be a fun movie, and yet another reason to go to the theaters as 3D becomes huge.  The movie is from Disney, so I wonder how dark they’ll let Burton get.  By the way, here’s a look at some 3D movies coming out (or already out).

And then we have director Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are, probably the most frustrating thing I can write about today.  The movie that has had more problems than even the fourth Exorcist movie a few years back, that resulted in two versions!  Remember that?  Funny how all these movies are from Warner Bros., but I digress…

Anyway, as our own Niall Browne reported recently, the WWA movie was taken off WB’s release slate (originally set to open October 2008).  It’s opening exactly one year later, and it looks like major work will be done after a disastrous test screening.

While Jonze will remain involved, Ain’t It Cool News’ “Beaks” had a chance to talk to one of the producers, Gary Goetzman, who said that while WB and Jonze may have differing visions on the film, he also confirmed the studio is backing Spike 100%.  Nothing new, right?

Wrong.  In the article, Goetzman mentions, “Final cut Spike,” which is a reference to the holiest of holies for a director, being able to have final say on a film.  About 10 years ago, a bunch of films came out that gave directors final cut, and they all bombed, including the excruciatingly long Meet Joe Black.

I’m curious if Spike Jonze does indeed have final cut, and if he’s willing to watch that go away so he and the studio can fix the film.  And keep the running time shorter than 2-3 hours.

This is a tragedy and I hope a great film comes out of it.  We’ll be keeping our eyes on the ongoing saga of this film.

Sources: Alice, Hollywood Reporter via Ain’t It Cool News; Wild Things, Ain’t It Cool News, Deadline Hollywood Daily, Rotten Tomatoes, and Super Hero Hype!

However, don’t worry – we’ll always have the Weekend Movie News Wrap Up!

This week:

We have more news on the new RoboCop movie, we take our Tom Cruise news with a pinch of Salt, Christian Bale does some Terminating, we look at another X-Files poster, and Rob Cohen remakes The Monster Squad.

1. Last week I brought you news that Darren Aronofsky was helming the RoboCop remake. Well it looks like the film isn’t a remake after all. The film appears to be more of a sequel to the original films. Bloody Disgusting report that the logline of the film (a logline is the plot – in a line or so) says:

Present day Los Angeles, 20 years after the termination of the RoboCop program, the city decides to reinstate the program.

It’s an interesting concept that appears to be more along the lines of Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns, where they acknowledge the previous films in the franchise (or they acknowledge the original and forget the crap sequels).

It’s interesting news, but I’m not sure if it’s good news. As ever I’ll keep you posted.

Source: Bloody Disgusting

2. It’s Sunday, and that can only mean one thing – I’m going to write about Tom Cruise!

News circulated at the start of the week that The Cruiser was off the spy thriller Edwin A. Salt. The reason – he was too old and not worth his $20 million asking price!

His replacement?

No, it’s not Christian Bale. However, it is rumored to be Will Smith.

“What ?” I hear you scream. “They can’t do that to little Tom!”

Well, I don’t think that they are.

Fox News “jackass” Roger Friedman wrote:

“Cruise is out, and I’m told it’s because of money. Apparently, Tom is unaware of the change in his status in the Hollywood community. Where once he was the top-paid star, Cruise now is in a position where a $20 million salary is not possible. I’m told an internal memo went around among the film’s producers and top creators in which the Cruise situation was discussed and names were gathered for a replacement.

The reasons for Cruise’s departure are not just his diminished popularity, negative public opinion and Scientology — although those would be good enough. It’s also just generational. Cruise is 45. His heyday as a box office star — if he ever had one — is over.”

The “writer” also went on to say :

“Like past huge leading action stars such as Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cruise must face the brutal facts of aging. Ironically, he’s been replaced by Will Smith, whom Cruise has courted for Scientology. Talk about rubbing “Salt” in a wound!

Of course, it doesn’t help that his last big feature, Mission: Impossible 3, was eons ago, in Hollywood terms — 2006. On top of that, even a film shot now and released next summer would have to erase in the audience’s mind Cruise’s upcoming release, Valkyrie, aka The Nazi movie, due next February.”

However, this all sounds a bit too much like kicking somebody when they are down.

The much more reliable folks over at Moviehole however have some insider information that sounds sooooo much more reliable that Friedman’s tabloid musings.

Moviehole state:

“A representative of the film tells us that Cruise is the only person that has been approached about the film – but he isn’t yet on board. ”Tom is not set for the film. Cruise has never been officially attached to the project, but will decide on his involvement once the new script is finished. He was previously concerned that the part was too close to his Mission Impossible character.”

Phillip Noyce is still attached as director.

If there’s anymore Tom Cruise news, you can be sure to find it here. Stay tuned!

Sources: Fox and Moviehole

3. The first official picture of Christian Bale in Terminator Salvation has been released and it shows Bale kicking some Terminator butt.

It would appear that the Terminator in the picture won’t be back!

Maybe Bale hadn’t heard the grosses for The Dark Knight yet!

Source: Aintitcool

4. A new UK poster for The X-Files: I Want to Believe has been released and it looks… very plain.

There’s a very low key marketing campaign on this film and nobody really knows what it’s about yet. Man – I hope that this movie makes some dough, I’d love to see the franchise continued.

It kind of looks like an X-Files poster photographed by Janusz Kaminski (War of The Worlds, Minority Report).

The X-Files: I Want to Believe opens July 25th in the US and August 1st in the UK

Source: Empire

5. Rob Cohen director of the forthcoming Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor is set to produce a remake of cult kiddie-horror flick The Monster Squad.

The 1987 film directed by Fred Dekkar as co-written by Shane Black and features a group of you teenagers battling the Dracula, The Wolfman and The Mummy and the rest of the Universal horror gang.

Cohen said to Bloody Disgusting:

“I am talking withParamount about the ownership rights, we just found out that because of all the different companies being bought and sold, (it was so hard to do) but we believe all the rights are back at Paramount. I have been waiting to finish this (third Mummy) film, to really start the talks about remaking it. Maybe I would direct, maybe someone else withme producing. I really think highly of that that film…I mean, how great is it with The Mummy, the Wolfman, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Dracula, Frankenstein they all were in it! It would be a prime remake!”

I haven’t seen the film in years (although I did catch a few minutes on TV a year or two ago) but it was a fun flick, sort of like The Goonies Meet Dracula.

Something to watch out for. Maybe

Source: Bloody Disgusting

That’s it for another week. See you at the movies!

This week:

We try and figure out Where the Wild Things Are, David Duchovny blogs, Robert Downey Jr goes Holmes, John Cusack sues and Darren Aronofsky may be giving us some Prime Directives.

1. Warner Brothers’ Where the Wild Things Are isn’t out of the woods yet. The $80 million Spike Jones film has been pulled from the WB release schedule.  The film was originally supposed to open this October, but after a test screening went haywire (kids crying and terrified at children’s film is never  a good thing) the release was then shifted to October 2009, but now it’s appears to be going under some major retooling.

Warner Brothers Big Cheese Alan Horn (that is his official title) said this about the current state of the film:

“We’ve given him more money and, even more importantly, more time for him to work on the film. We’d like to find a common ground that represents Spike’s vision but still offers a film that really delivers for a broad-based audience. We obviously still have a challenge on our hands. But I wouldn’t call it a problem, simply a challenge. No one wants to turn this into a bland, sanitized studio movie. This is a very special piece of material and we’re just trying to get it right. We try to take a few shots, sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. The jury is still out on this one. But we remain confident that Spike is going to figure things out and at the end of the day we’ll have an artistically compelling movie.”

It’s good to see that the studio is still behind Jonze, but I just wonder how long that will last. This is starting to sound an awful lot like the troubles that The Exorcist: Dominion had a few years back.

At the very least – expect a few interesting versions of the DVD in 2020.

Source: LA Times

2.  David Duchovny has begun blogging about his X-Files: I Want To Believe experiences. The star will be answering fans questions and sharing stories about the franchise.

Come on – who wants to go online and read what some idiot has to say about movies? …. um I just realized – that’s what I do. Do’h!

Seriously though, it’s a fun blog  (fitting in nicely with Duchovny’s dry sense of humor) so I recommend that you check it out here.

Source: Chud and The Duchovny Files

3. Robert Downey Jr will star as Sherlock Holmes in the Guy Ritchie directed film about the legendary detective which is to be titled..err.. Sherlock Holmes.

The film is being pitched as a more action oriented version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s iconic creation, but it will have to compete with the Judd Apatow produced comedy starring Sacha Baron Cohen and Will Ferrell that also plans to put a modern spin on the literary character. Wait a minute – wasn’t that comedy version already made with Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley as Without A Clue ?

Source: Variety

4. John Cusack seems like a pretty nice guy – but be warned  – make sure that you pay him!

Last year Cusack signed on to the Jan De Bont film Stopping Power, an action thriller with a supposed 51 minute car chase. However, the film was never made (the company didn’t have enough money) and now Cusack is suing to get his $4.5 million salary that was promised in his “pay or play” contract, and an extra $1.1 million for costs and other payments for relocating to Germany for the shoot.

If you don’t know “pay or play” is a contract that stipulates that you get paid whether or not the film is made – hence the reason Nicolas Cage was paid $17 million for not playing Superman!

Source: TMZ

5. We screamed and cried when we heard that MGM were planning a RoboCop remake, but it would seem that the film has taken a very interesting turn. Requiem For A Dream and The Fountain helmer Darren Aronofsky is now in discussions to direct the remake of the 1987 Paul Verhoven original.

Interesting, if there’s a director who won’t play safe it’s Aronofsky. He is after all the man who Warner’s originally brought in to reboot the Batman franchise, but when he delivered a script that was dark, serious and nothing like Batman, he left the project.

Side note – although I own Requiem For  A Dream on DVD I’ve never watched it because I haven’t got over the experience of seeing the film in the cinema. Never has a film left me so shell shocked.

Source: Chud

That’s it for another week.

See you at the movies!

It DOES look very “X-Filesy” to me and I think fans will get all X-cited when they hear the theme music in the trailer. It looks like it’ll be good for those folks and I thought it wasn’t too bad (except for that cliched music towards the very end.)

X-Files: I Want to Believe opens on July 25th.

Source: IGN.com

I can’t think of any more jokes, stories about disinformation for even interesting anecdotes about David Duchonvy’s Calinfornication, except that The Red Hot Chilli Peppers are suing the makers of the show over the use of the title (as in their song… erm – Californication).

So without further rambling – if you continue reading you will see new images from the news X-Files film, that reveal nothing at all…well that we don’t already know…which is nothing.

You know what I mean.

Keep reading.

I’m starting to feel like stills from this movie are like my holiday pictures – I can’t wait to show them off, but people are getting bored looking at the same old snaps!

Below is a picture of Amanda Peet running with a gun. Nice FBI-style trench coat.

Now a nice romantic picture of Mulder and Scully. Awwwww.

Now we have a fascinating picture of Xzibit and Duchovny (Mulder in case you didn’t know, but I didn’t want Xzibit to feel left out) looking down a hole. Possibly.

The FBI go out walking. I didn’t need to tell you that. Did I?

That’s it for now. However, I’m sure that in the coming weeks there will be even more plot free X-Files: I Want To Believe pictures and you can be sure that I will show them to you!

The X-Files: I Want to Believe opens on July 25, 2008. Almost there!

Source: shocktillyoudrop

To see the whole thing, see below.

Mulder and Scully in a scene from X-Files: I Want To Believe

This may turn out to be a great movie, but at least for now I still can’t wrap my head around that title. Seems like it belongs to some weepy romance chick flick. This is turning out to be a weird year for movie titles IMHO.

The X-Files: I Want to Believe opens on July 25th

Thanks to Marcel for sending us a link to the image. You can find an even larger version over at DVD-Forum.at.

So are you ready?

The X-Files: I Want to Believe

Really? That’s the title?

Anyone who reads this site knows I’m not a huge fan of the franchise, but the trailer actually looked pretty good to me. Gotta say though, my first thought when I read that was the title?

Lame.

It’s almost as lame as Quantum of Solace. (Thanks, Jon!)

Regarding the top secret title that was just revealed, Chris Carter stated:

“It really does suggest Mulder’s struggle with his faith.”

Presumably that would be his faith in little green men and not God.

Anyway, I guess that image with Mulder standing in front of a poster with that exact phrase makes more sense now.

The X-Files: I Want to Believe opens on July 25th

Source: Yahoo via XFilesNews

As the July 25th release date approaches (or August 1st here in the UK – damn!) we are slowly but surely being treated to more and more glimpses of the new X-Files sequel.

MitchPileggi.net has scored some pictures from the Sci-Fi sequel spin-off. What is strange con,sidering that they appear on mitchpileggi.net – is that there are no images of Mitch Pileggi (Skinner, if you don’t know).

I mean, there’s nothing overly exciting about these new pictures, but there is just something comforting about seeing David Duchovny standing next to that “I want to believe poster”.

For more Mulder and Scully action… you got it… keep reading.

I feel that this movie is going to be the sleeper hit of the year and I hope that it spawns a franchise. While these new pictures give nothing away they are unmistakably X-Files.

Here are the pictures in all there glory.

The X-Files 2 opens July 25, 2008.

For higher res versions head over to MitchPileggi.net.

Fair enough, I’m quite enjoying this little game, and I can’t wait to see this film when it hits the big screen this summer.

We have seen everything ranging from “leaked” call sheets, a supposed werewolf picture with Chris Carter and even a beautifully photo-shopped picture of David Duchovny mid-werewolf transformation.

Now for yet another news update.

According to XFilesNews.com, Scully works as a doctor in a hospital and the film will be pretty gory: featuring a scene where a woman’s head is chopped off by a “crazy man.” [I don't know how gory this can be if it will no doubt be receiving the mandatory PG-13 rating to bring in the kiddies. - Vic]

We can pretty much bet money that this film will not feature lycanthrope action, but if not that, then what will it be about?

Love, possibly.

You are now about to head into major spoiler territory if this is true, so be warned.

If you really want to know, click below.

Are you sure that you want to know?

Positive?

Sure?

Last chance!

OK!

Now, I don’t believe this picture for a minute, it’s just too damn obvious.

If there is a kiss in this film, then I’m going to guess that it is a platonic one, possibly at the end of the movie.

In my book, this is just more of Chris Carter pumping out disinformation to try and keep the plot a secret and confuse online bloggers. He’s doing a pretty good job of it too!

What do you guys think?

The X-Files 2 opens on July 25th.

Sources: XFilesNews.com and flynetonline.com

As I’ve stated before, Chris Carter already got me with the fake werewolf image. I was silly, I was excited, but once bitten, twice shy. Now I am very suspicious of anything X-Files related.

So what does this new image entail? More werewolves. Well, in particular an image that purports to show a test of David Duchovny in mid-transformation into a lycanthrope and a call sheet to help convince us that this is the case.

Don’t worry, it is a fake – but it seems that Chris Carter is the person behind this barrage of disinformation.

I have to wonder, when will it stop?

Actually, I don’t think it will.

I feel that Carter is hoping that schmucks like me stop posting these stories, because they won’t know what is real and what is fake.

Well Chris, I might not believe you, but I am following this film like Mulder follows a UFO, so no matter how “out there” or bizarre these stories become, I will try and discover the truth.

Just to highlight the effort that these guys went to in order to convince us that the picture was real, here is the original picture, a promo still from Duchovny’s show Californication:

And here’s a side by side comparison for you:

I have to admit they did a really nice job. Heck, they even thickened up Duchovny’s hairline. However, to make it more convincing, you would have thought that they could have chosen a less available image… but I think that Carter gets his kicks from letting us know that they are fake. Sadist!

That’s it for now, but I don’t think that we have heard the last of Carter and his shenanigans.

Like I always say, the truth is out there, and I intend to find it.

It however may take until The X-Files 2 is released on July 25 2009.

Source: Giant Freakin Robot

Here’s a desciption of the teaser:

It showed Billy Connelly leading a line of FBI agents across a frozen lake in the middle of winter. The agents had long poles and were poking them downward into the ice as if looking for something that might not be far from the surface.

From there we cut to scenes of Mulder, Scully and various other people in quick-cut action shots. Running, dragging bodies, etc. In the end we see a brief glimpse of some sort of body frozen in the ice.

It didn’t look to me like this involved werewolves.

When Gillian Anderson, David Duchovney and Chris Carter each came out on stage, the audience went nuts with cheers and applause, so I guess there are one or two people out there besides Screen Rant writers Heath and Niall that are looking forward to this movie.

Someone asked Chris Carter: “Why is this movie worth the wait?”

He replied:

“Because it will scare the pants off you. Because you’ll see Scully and Mulder again.”

Fair enough.

Gillian said that she was surprised to find that it was difficult to get back into the role of Scully. She’s spent so much time since X-Files telling herself when she’s acting “Don’t act like Scully” that she found it difficult to allow herself to slip back into the role.

Duchovney said it was the same for him.

Asked why this movie was a stand-alone story instead of a continuation of the series, Carter replied that he didn’t feel the need to tie it into the series because the first film had already served that function. The first X-Files movie came out right on the heels of the show (or was it still on?) so it made more sense back then that they be connected. This is a stand-alone, cinematic film.

I’m actually very pleased to hear that. An out of context story that doesn’t tie into all the circuitous history the show has had may actually make me want to see this film. Anderson and Duchovney always had great chemistry and the underlying concept of the show was always sound.

I just felt that Carter and crew drove it into the ground with their multi-leveled conspiracies and plot lines that were designed just to throw viewers off track.

Finally, when asked whether he regretted killing of characters because they now could not come back for this new movie Chjris Carter replied:

“Nobody’s ever really dead in the X-Files.”

As our British writer Niall might say: Cheeky bastard.

X-Files opens on July 25th.

I’ve written before about how skeptical I am that these things are being leaked on such a regular basis. Are they being leaked on purpose? Or are they an attempt to throw us off the scent? Knowing Chris Carter, it could easily be either.

However if they are the real deal, then we are getting some interesting information. Although I’d love to get a look at the script, I feel that I’ve already had a glance through it because of the amount of scene descriptions that I’ve read.

The lovely folks at X-Files News have some new pictures of the aforementioned call sheets and as always, if these are accurate they contain some spoilers. One of them is very big, as it involves something very significant that happens to one of the main characters.

So be warned!

.
.
.
.

Last chance!

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

It seems that there are more shenanigans out in the snowy countryside. We discover that Amanda Peet’s character Whitney ends up falling down an elevator shaft (how very “soap opera”) and that scenes take place in a “donor” office. What sort of “donor” office?

Hmmm… interesting.

Now, this could all be total hogwash – planted material that means nothing whatsoever. However if it is real, then we could now have discovered how a main character dies. Now that’s what I call a spoiler!

That’s it for now, but I have to tell you I’m quite proud of myself.

I could have made a crude reference to a shaft and Amanda Peet that could have gained this news item ten times more hits than it will probably get, but I’m not that sort of guy!

X-Files 2 is released on July 25, 2008

Source: X-Files News

First up, the so-called X-Files 2 spoiler picture that I showed you previously is now supposed to be a fake. Movieweb is reporting that it was nothing more than a smokescreen to prevent folks like me from divulging too much plot information.

I’m man enough to admit that I got carried away. It was the werewolf aspect that really got my juices flowing. However, with the recent spate of Wolfman stories that I’ve covered, I can now honestly say that my werewolf itch has been scratched.

However, maybe it’s a double bluff and the film really does involve werewolves. Or maybe I’ve been watching too many Oliver Stone films. We will have to wait and see.

There’s also some good news for fans of the show: X-Files News is reporting that the film will have a presence at the Fangoria horror convention this June and that Mitch Pileggi will be returning to role of Assistant Director Walter Skinner in the new film. This information was gleaned from yet another leaked call-sheet.

This is were I get very suspicious: There seem to be too many leaked call sheets floating around from this production, which means one of two things:

1. Somebody is very bad at their job and they can’t keep these things away from prying eyes.

2. Somebody is very good at their job and they keep passing out phony call-sheets to spread even more disinformation.

X-Files News is also reporting that the budget for the new film is $35 million and that pre-production started in August, and not November as originally believed.

So what does all this mean?

It means that X-Files 2 isn’t a product of the strike, and that the film’s long gestation period had come to a natural conclusion. It would appear that this isn’t a slap-dash film, so we should have a well crafted script and not something that was knocked together to fit a release date (but we all know that Fox wouldn’t do that, cough X-Men 3 cough).

The $35 million budget is also quite low, which would indicate that the film could be very light on special effects, or that the film got a bargain quote form a special effects house. Beat that Industrial Light and Magic!

At least The X-Files is living up to its conspiracy background. It’s difficult to uncover and we don’t know who to believe. One thing is for sure, the truth is out there, and I intend to discover what it is.

X-Files 2 is scheduled to open on July 25th, 2008.

Sources: X-Files News and Movieweb

The site has some pictures of houses in Pemberton that will be used in the film. I know, I know, how is that newsworthy? Well it’s not really, however what is interesting are the details that you can get from the call sheets that have been photographed from the set.

The sheets let us know that all of the main cast members will be present and correct. First up on the call sheet is Bobby Wingood, who is assumed to be David Duchovny and Marylin Ramsey, who is probably Gillian Anderson.

Also we learn that Billy Connolly is on set – possibly playing the character of Father Joe. Is he a priest? Is he somebody’s dad? We will find out soon.

Amanda Peet will possibly play Assistant Special Agent in Charge Whitney and Xzibit may be Agent Drummy while Callum Keith Rennie and Fagin Woodcock (what an unfortunate name) will be “Abductors”.

Now to get a bit spoilerific:

.

.

.

.

.

Father Joe uncovers a dead body and the abductors are trying to abduct the character of Monica, played by Xantha Radley.

How much of this information has been put out there to throw us off the scent? Only Chris Carter knows, but if it’s real its an interesting scoop.

As to how this connects to that X-Files picture from last week? I have no idea.

The truth is slowly but surely getting out there, so stay tuned to Screen Rant for further developments.

X-Files 2 opens on July 25th, 2008.

Source: XFilesNews.com

All that changed today, and we now have the best behind the scenes pictures yet! However, I do have to warn you: This is an EXTREME SPOILER!

If you want to know as little as possible leading up to the release of the film look away NOW!

If you really want to know, click below.

Are you sure that you want to know?

Positive?

Sure?

Last chance!

OK!

This picture just makes me giddy with excitement.

We’ve been promised a “non mythology” film and by heck they seem to be giving it to us. The last werewolf related X-Files was way back in the first series and it was one of the best episodes in that particular season.

This film is looking more and more promising.

Roll on summer.

Source: Joblo.com

The first official pictures of the film have been released, and it’s very exciting news, there are loads of action shots of… er, Mulder and Scully walking and looking at a computer.

Okay, nothing exciting there, but X-Files creator and the film’s director Chris Carter told USA Today that the film will not involve the conspiracy plot line that bogged the show down in the last few seasons.

Carter is quoted as saying :

“We want a stand-alone movie, not a mythology conspiracy one.”

This is great news for fans as I believe the first feature suffered because they tried to connect it to the show, and because of this the film doesn’t stand up well on its own (or even beside the series for that matter).

Carter then goes on to say:

“There’s a whole audience I want to introduce X-Files to. There were kids who couldn’t watch it on TV because it was too scary. Now they’re in college. I wanted a movie that everyone could go to.”

Again, this is all good news, and if all goes well we might just have a new franchise starter, much like the original Star Trek film series, only lets hope that it has more consistent quality.

There may not be much to excite Vic, yet, but for fans of the show, this is nothing but good news.

It looks like the publicity machine is gearing up on this one, so stay tuned for more developments.

Source: USA Today

One thing that stands out is that Mulder (Duchovny) is wearing casual clothing, while Peet and Xzibit are wearing suits. This supports the information that came out last week stating that they are F.B.I agents.

And where is Scully?

Gillian Anderson probably had a later casting call – but don’t worry X-Files fans… she is in the film. Here are one of the pictures from the set of the movie:

You can see more images at Xfilesnews.com.

That’s just eight months from start of production to projection on the big screen. Seems pretty quick to me, but as I recall X-Men 3 met a seemingly impossible production schedule as well.

Then again, we all know how well that movie turned out.

What I don’t understand is how much of an audience the studio expects there to be for this movie. The TV series dragged on far too long, with so many red herrings dispensed that eventually even the most hardcore fans of the show became disgusted with all the dead end, go nowhere leads and abandoned the series. When word of a movie came out, folks assumed that maybe they would finally get some closure and satisfaction in a final chapter on the big screen.

Unfortunately that didn’t happen. Many questions were left unanswered and the overall effect was one of a letdown.

So now, 10 years later we’re getting another movie.

Will this one answer all the questions? I don’t know. Do I care? Not at all.

I realize that every movie/TV franchise has it’s core fanbase, but when I hear people talk about how J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek movie is doomed because their aren’t enough fans to make it a profitable endeavor, I wonder how in the world can X-Files 2 succeed? I can only assume that Star Trek has a far larger fanbase than X-Files does. Then again I suppose if the budget is small enough it wouldn’t take much to make this show a profit.

I guess I just wouldn’t be surprised if this movie was being made but was going either straight to DVD or maybe would end up on Fox TV or the Sci Fi Channel. But a theatrical release? This should be interesting.

X-Files 2 is scheduled to open on July 25th, 2008.

Source: Latino Review

Consider this a rumor for now, but if it’s true, I’d say part of the reason for starting production after nearly a decade, is because of the Writers Guild strike that will likely happen this Thursday, November 1, 2007, along with potential Actors Guild and Directors Guild strikes next July. Studios need as many movies as possible, to avoid a complete drought of new flicks. I plan on updating the Writers Guild strike very soon, so stay tuned!

(For the record, I’m excited about the return of X-Files.)

Source: Comingsoon.net