What Went Wrong
The X-Files: I Want to Believe
By Shalimar Sahota
December 1, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
If you’re going to bring back two beloved characters from a popular TV show that ended six years ago, then the premise had better be good. Instead, Mulder and Scully are in something that could pass as an extended TV episode.
The X-Files creator Chris Carter had wanted to make a second movie while the TV show was still running, and again right after the series ended. The reason it took so long for another X-Files film to come about was a legal issue about profit participation between Carter and 20th Century Fox. It eventually turned into a very long lawsuit that prevented filming, and wasn’t resolved till early 2007. Once production was underway, the plot was kept secret, with the script supposedly kept in a safe while the majority of actors had only read the scenes that they were in. David Duchovny built a bit of buzz, as he revealed in interviews that the film would be “the horror movie of the week aspect,” of the show, saying, “It’s like one of the classic episodes from the first couple of seasons.”
The FBI is in Somerset, West Virginia searching for one of their own agents, Monica Bannan (Xantha Radley), who recently went missing. Led by agents Mosely Drummy (Xzibit) and Dakota Whitney (Amanda Peet), their investigation is a little strange when a former priest, Father Joe (Billy Connolly), contacts the FBI, claiming to be receiving visions of her, and that she’s alive. He eventually leads them to a man’s severed arm, which happens to have her blood on it. Weird. This is the point when you call Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson), so Agent Whitney sends for them, believing that Mulder’s insight just might help them track down their missing agent.
With a modest production budget of $30 million, The X Files: I Want to Believe opened in the US on July 25, 2008. It reached #4 with an opening weekend take of $10 million. The film had the misfortune to open during the second weekend of The Dark Knight; not the best move. Duchovny and Anderson, as well as writer/producer Frank Spotnitz, blamed the release schedule for its poor box office. “The only thing worse would be to open with Batman,” said Duchovny, “and nobody would’ve done that.” On its second weekend it dropped a huge 66% down to #9 with $3.3 million. The film took just $20.9 million at the US box office. It did a little better overseas, taking $47.3 million. Finishing with a tidy worldwide sum of $68.3 million, it certainly wasn’t a flop, but it was a was a major step down when compared to the previous film, Fight the Future, which opened to $30 million back in 1998 and ended with $83.8 million in the US. It also finished with $189 million worldwide.
The TV series was still in full swing back when Fight the Future was released (slotted between the fifth and sixth season), whereas with I Want to Believe, the TV series had ended a good six years previously. The other difference was that the first film felt like a blockbuster, dealing with a huge government conspiracy about aliens on Earth. I Want to Believe, felt like a small-scale thriller.
“It was a very tough situation, having a pretty small scale movie opening a week after one of the biggest movies of all time,” said Spotnitz in an interview with iF magazine, which took place after the film had opened. However opening a week after The Dark Knight didn’t pose such a problem with Sony’s Step Brothers, which opened the same day as I Want to Believe, and earned $30 million that same weekend. It also had surprisingly better reviews! Spotnitz addressed the issue, highlighting how I Want To Believe was catering to the same target audience as The Dark Knight. “I think the bigger problem was that we weren't counter-programming, like Step Brothers and Mamma Mia! were,” said Spotnitz. “If you were looking for a dark, scary movie experience, you were almost certainly going to The Dark Knight that weekend, unless you happened to be a big X-Files fan.”
Apart from the characters, the story didn’t really have much to do with anything that was covered on The X-Files series. In this regard it works well as a standalone film. However, it also means that fans can do well to give this a miss. The film struggles in the first act to get Mulder and Scully back together and working with the FBI in the first place, and once it does they’re in a rather lacklustre scenario. The body swapping/transplant situation is certainly X-File territory, but it involves just one person and looks more like it’s taking place in someone’s extended shed. Enlarging the premise might have made more of an impact, maybe including more victims and locations beside Virginia.
Marketed as a blockbuster (the brilliantly effective trailers make it look more exciting than it actually is) it was lacking elements one expects from a blockbuster released during the summer movie season. There are no explosions in this film, and while guns are seen, they are never fired. “I'm guessing a lot of the critical reaction is based on what they were expecting the movie to be, given its release date, rather than what the movie actually is,” said Spotnitz. I would have to agree, really, and if Fox wanted the film to play better, they should have scheduled it outside of the summer.
I hadn’t really watched a lot of the later seasons of the TV series, yet in the run up to the film’s release I was intrigued. The story just wasn’t a strong enough pull. Having now seen it, there are some elements I enjoyed, testing one’s belief and a slight play on religious faith (“Maybe it’s not God doing the sending”). In the end there are some episodes from the TV series that are more exciting than this film. Thing is, the acting is fine from everyone (Billy Connolly is actually very good in this), and technically it looks and sounds great. But even if you have the best talent on board, if the story isn’t up to snuff, then what’s the point?
The TV series concluded with Mulder learning that an alien invasion of Earth was planned for 2012. Another X-Files film that refers to these events has been talked about, and the intention had been to release it in 2012. Had The X-Files: I Want to Believe shown strong box office, I’m sure 20th Century Fox would fast track the idea. Given where we are now, it seems highly unlikely to happen.