X-Files Marks Spot for Release

Gina Serpe, eonline
Thu Nov 1, 9:25 AM EDT
The release date is out there.

Twentieth Century Fox has at long last unveiled a release date for its forever-in-the-works X-Files sequel, announcing that Mulder and Scully will be reuniting on the big screen June 25, 2008.

Fox also announced that production on the as-yet untitled movie follow-up would kick off Dec. 10 in Vancouver, with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson reprising their iconic FBI agent roles.

While the studio has confirmed key dates for the flick's progression, the X-Files brain trust has, per tradition, revealed little in the way the of plot points aside from classifying the sequel as a "supernatural thriller."

Fox, however, did note that the film, written and directed by X-Files creator Chris Carter, would act a stand-alone story.

Last year, Anderson told Britain's Empire magazine that Carter was aiming to make the film, then still in just the theoretical stages, more of a "really scary horror" movie, rather than "touching on any of the conspiracy stuff."

The announcement of the official release and start dates for the franchise's second installment comes just months after the first solid glimpse of hope in years that another film was in fact in the works.

During the Television Critics Association tour in July, Duchovny let slip that he had finally received a script of the project, which, depending on who's counting, is anywhere between five and nine years in the making.

The first X-Files film, which extended the show's byzantine mythology, arrived in 1998, and raked in an impressive $30.1 million its opening weekend. The move went on to gross more than $189 million worldwide, more than half of which was earned in foreign markets. Producers and talent seemed keen to repeat their box-office takings, particularly when the series ended its nine-season run on Fox in 2002.

But the project seemed doomed in 2005 as contractual tensions between Carter and 20th Century Fox boiled over. Carter filed suit against the studio, alleging he was shortchanged for his part in bringing the show to life.

The legal action was finally resolved out of court last year, paving the way for the second film to end its stint in development purgatory.

The new X-Files film already has company at the box office. Its July 25 release pits the summer tentpole film against Sony's comedy Step Brothers, which reteams Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby stars Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, and MGM's untitled family comedy starring Ice Cube.

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