Josh-da-man

I suspect that DD's new series won't last long. I doubt it runs more than one season.

And I have a feeling Gillian's character on Hannibal won't be around after the third season, especially if season four adapts Red Dragon. I could see her getting killed or not being needed once Hannibal is in custody. (Hope nobody thinks these are Hannibal spoilers since Hannibal Lecter's role in Red Dragon, Manhunter, and Silence of the Lambs is common knowledge.)

arbogast777

I have a feeling if it did happen it would be with a new cast and a fresh slate to build from...

Michael Corvin

Then it wouldn't be X-files.

I'm not saying I wouldn't give it a shot, but X-files was Mulder & Scully. That point was proven in the final few seasons.

dhmac

Yeah, given the basic premise that The X-Files is about one man's search for the Truth and then continuing the series without that "one man" starring in the show made no sense.

d2cheer

Ropes Pierre

Original Desmond

please no

kd5

We liked everything X-Files, would welcome more if done right. I'm just pissed they never followed up on the alien invasion/black oil story lines. Was expecting I Want To Believe to put some closure on the series, was frankly baffled when the plot went off on a huge tangent (even though I enjoyed it, it was still a mystery to me why they went the direction they did). Now that Californication has finished up.....

dhmac

I think the 2nd movie ("The X Files: I Want to Believe") was intended to be a simple standalone storyline in order to restart the X-Files franchise as just a movie series with the plan to have a new movie every few years (kind of like Star Trek movies were before the JJ Abrams reboot). But then the 2nd movie flopped (I think it grossed just $20 million total at the box office) and killed the movie series idea.

Abob Teff

There was a second movie?!

I remember being a hard core X-Phile up to the first movie. By that point I had started to become frustrated with the never-ending additions of new mysteries without progress towards any type of resolution. The first movie was the nail in the coffin for me. I don't think I even watched an episode after it.

That said, I'd like to go back and re-watch the entire thing, but I'm not sure I want to invest that much time into it. A new series might rekindle that desire ...

On a side note, the best episode of the whole series was the one with Alex Trebek and Jesse Ventura as "men in black."

dhmac

Yep, released back in late Summer 2008 with the title The X-Files: I Want To Believe



<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ETC6PxDFTRQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The 2nd movie's plot was mostly like a standalone X-Files episode with next to nothing to do with the show's alien mythology, but at least it did update Mulder and Scully to where they were 6 years after the TV series ended. And it also set up a way to restart the X-Files investigations from where this movie ended.

Unfortunately, the 2nd movie flopped at the box office and now it's been another 6 years since it came out.

Setzer

If I remember correctly, didn't the movie come out the same weekend or right around the time a little movie called "The Dark Knight" released? Probably had a little something to do with the movie flopping at the box office.

My Other Self

It certainly didn't help it, but the movie itself didn't win over many critics or fans. It would have benefited more from a Fall release, but why they chose to make it to begin with is kind of a mystery in of itself to me.

PhantomStranger

I've always read the script for the second movie was mostly a warmed-over 2-parter they had written for the show and had shelved. Fox did not want to commit a huge budget and the alien storyline would have cost more in a second movie. While I like it, I Want To Believe is only for the hardcore X-Files' fan.

stvn1974

I saw The Dark Knight and X-Files on the same day. Then went back and watched The Dark Knight again later that night to see if I had missed the supposed awesomeness of it. Nope, it was still a turd. Perhaps if David Duchovny had overdosed a few weeks before it was released the X-Files movie would have done better.

dhmac

The Dark Knight opened just one week before the 2nd X-Files movie, so the box office juggernaut was underway and it got crushed.

I think if the 2nd X-Files movie had opened in September 2008, it would have done a lot more business instead of being mostly overlooked.

PhantomStranger

How overwhelming was The Dark Knight? The projectionist played it for twenty minutes instead of the planned I Want To Believe in the theater I saw it. Only after a couple complained did they change it.

majorjoe23

And Hellboy 2 opened the week before, leading to a massive drop off in week 2. Both movies would have benefited from different release dates.

Josh-da-man

IWTB was going to flop regardless of when it opened. The story was just too small for a post-series movie. If IWTB was an episode of the tv series it would have a forgotten non-mythology episode that nobody ever mentions again.

The first post-series movie needed to be a big mythology/conspiracy job.

Shannon Nutt

A bigger reason was that FOX only gave Chris Carter $30 million to make the movie - which is peanuts for a franchise film. He was pretty limited as to what he could do in the film, hence the standalone 'Frankenstein' story, as opposed to a bigger mythology film (like 'Fight the Future').

hdnmickey

Most of the mythology episodes were quite effective with what would be a compatively tiny budget.. No need for a Devils Tower set piece or the destruction of Washington D.C. to tell a story about the alien conspiracy.

resinrats

Was the alien invasion supposed to be an ID4 style or a boring ass slowly taking over bodies type of invasion?


When I was into X-Files, I tended to like the stand-alones more since they just dragged out the continuous storyline. Seemed like it was a 2-3 season story they stretched out over 8-9 years.

bunkaroo

X-Files was the Lost of the 90's. I absolutely love the first 5 seasons and the movie, but the show was a perfect example of the "Making it up as we go" philosophy.

Guru Askew

I disagree with this, I think if it were an episode of the series Billy Connelly would have probably been singled out as a standout guest star. If it was an episode of the first half of the series he probably would have been recognized with an Emmy like Peter Boyle.

The story is also bizarre even by X-Files standards and probably would have been recognized as such for better or worse.

hdnmickey

Not what you probably want to see, but it was both.

I think you'll find that the real fans would call many of the stand-alones as some of the better episodes of the series. But it was because of the stand-alones that is went longer than 2-3 seasons.

Around the point of the first movie I felt they had found the perfect blend of mythology and stand-alone. If only they didn't have issues keeping everybody working on the show happy.