Yeah, I had noticed how close their opening weekends were. When I saw the movie Saturday night, there were about 20 people in the theater. Ouch.

jam2 | July 28, 23:44 CET

I love Scully and Mulder, but the movie wasn't that good. Serenity should win by a landslide over a few weeks' time.

bojojoti | July 29, 00:16 CET

Wow. Especially considering that "The X-Files" opened on a thousand more screens.... Kinda depressing news for Chris Carter and crew.

MaryQue | July 29, 00:28 CET

And the box office take will only get smaller. X-Files is going to do very poorly.

Zeppo | July 29, 01:05 CET

I think they should've waited until the juggernaut that is The Dark Knight died down a bit.

Dan Corson | July 29, 01:07 CET

I haven't seen this movie yet but I've been told by a number of US based friends who are usually spot on with their opinions that this was the absolute final nail in the coffin for the X-Files franchise. I'm still going to go and see it but I have to say that it's now purely out of some morbid curiousity of how bad it really is.

I'm a pretty forgiving fan when it comes to my favourite franchises (I own all five Highlander movies and I'm one of the few that actually thinks The Source is half decent, so that should tell you how open-minded I am ;)) but The X-Files had pretty much lost me even before the show had ended. The final two episodes were an awful way to end the show and I was really hoping that this movie would return Mulder and Scully to their former glory. I think I may have been a little too hopeful this time.

Bored Now | July 29, 01:08 CET

It wasn't a bad movie. Mulder and Scully were Mulder and Scully. It's just that the case itself was rather unremarkable, and it wasn't a MOVIE. It was small in scope, quiet, and nothing exploded. This was more about goodbye to the characters than it was about what they were investigating.

I dunno, I enjoyed it.

pat32082 | July 29, 01:21 CET

I enjoyed this X-Files film, but I didn't love it (and I had loved those early seasons of X-files) because I think they failed to focus on the things the fans really wanted to see. If it had been about any of the opened ended mysteries from the TV show then I think there would have been more excitement generated.

embers | July 29, 01:30 CET

this makes me sad...I actually turned to Joss to fill the void the X-Files left when it went off the air...

The movie was disappointing, but its difficult to have a movie when the basic premise of the show (two FBI agents investigating the paranormal) doesnt exist anymore. Was the movie true to where the characters are 6 years after the finale? Yes. Did it make a good movie? No. Or maybe Joss has just spoiled me these past 6 years and there is no going back.

Vespa | July 29, 01:38 CET

See, I was fine with this one being a "monster-of-the-week" type movie. Most of my favourite episodes were standalones so although I love all the arc related stuff I was perfectly happy for this one to just tell a good X-Files type story.

My issue (assuming that it's even close to being as bad as I've been told) is that of all the subjects that they could have gone with, all the various and wonderful monsters and creatures that might have featured in this movie, the story they finally went with is just kinda dull. Even the cautious praise that pat32082, embers and Vespa gave it above seems to suggest to me that the opportunity to rebuild the once great X-Files franchise has been lost and the chances of seeing the movie series and the conclusion of the alien colonisation arc have just gone right out of the window.

Bored Now | July 29, 01:44 CET

The impression I had was that the film was basically a glorified TV episode. Perhaps the X-Files franchise is better suited to lower budget, direct-to-DVD things, except I'm not sure they'd go for that.

I've been watching the series again recently, and it hasn't got the spark it used to have for me. I'm less credulous now, and the mythology is both confusing and inconsistent. It'd be so nice if this film tried to give a definite explanation for everything, even if it had to contradict some episodes -- could have a nice tagline too, "X-Files: The Truth is Here". I can dream, perhaps. I haven't finished watching the series again yet, so perhaps more was explained in the series than I remembered, but it doesn't seem like it so far.

MattK | July 29, 01:46 CET

I find it funny that people wanted to see anything to do with the mythology. That's part of the reason people came to hate the show was because the mythology was so large and complicated and non-sensical for its own good, and just got lamer in the final seasons.

There's no way to conclude it and have it be satisfying, because Chris Carter couldn't even tie it together in the glorified clip show/recap that was the finale.

I was glad to see the characters again and see their lives now and have the movie be a standalone case, I just wish that case was more creepy/fresh/whatever-else-fits. But considering they covered everything and anything in nine years, it had to be hard to do.

ETA: And maybe someone can finally explain to me what would make a TV show movie a movie and not just "a bigger episode of the TV show."

That's what people said about the first X-Files movie too, and that was grander and bigger in its scope. That's what I read people saying about Serenity. What makes something a movie? There's movies that don't have explosions or gunfights or spaceships or battles or....and people don't go, "That was just like a big episode of a TV show."

I don't get it.

[ edited by pat32082 on 2008-07-29 02:01 ]

[ edited by pat32082 on 2008-07-29 02:02 ]

pat32082 | July 29, 01:54 CET

pat32082:

Speaking personally of course, I was only asking for more mythology precisely because the TV show didn't deliver on that. I honestly did prefer the stand alone episodes in the series more, but I don't really want to watch more of that until I know what on earth is going on in their world.

As for the movie, I can't speak for it specifically because I haven't seen it, but what I meant by "glorified TV episode" is one that follows a procedure, i.e. mystery, they get called in, mystery deepens, one or more of them gets into a situation that threatens their personal safety, mystery is resolved, perhaps with some minor ambiguity left at the end to leave you thinking. I don't know if that's what this film is, and I intend to go and see it when it comes out here anyway, but that is the impression I've had from several reviews. ETA: Compared with a film that isn't based on the TV show format, and instead has something original to bring to the table, whatever that might be.

[ edited by MattK on 2008-07-29 02:43 ]

MattK | July 29, 02:42 CET

I loved every season of the X-Files. I enjoyed the last two seasons just as much as the first seven. I can't understand why people hated them so much.

I enjoyed "I Want to Believe" a lot. I would have preferred a different plot. I didn't think the plot was bad, but I was expecting something else. This movie was about Mulder and Scully more than anything though.

I'm hoping it does well on dvd cause I want to see a third movie about the alien invasion, wrapping up the entire series, hopefully titled, "The X-Files: Resist or Serve" (not to be confused with the video game that came out a while ago).

xerox | July 29, 02:57 CET

Highlander, I agree with your sentiments completely with regard to how they picked this X-file out of all possible stories. Quite underwhelming. I just don't get it.

When I first heard that they were making another movie, my initial reaction was, "Meh, what's the point?" I thought that the mythology had devolved into an incomprehensible mess by the end of the series. But then I heard it was going to be a stand-alone X-file. By the time it was released, I was eagerly anticipating the movie 'cause omg, I loved that show and those two characters back in the day! (I have a very very soft, mushy spot in my heart for this show).

This movie will not appeal to people who aren't already knowledgeable. No doubt about it. It is slow-paced, fairly low budget, and the main plot isn't all that interesting. For fans of the show and Mulder and Scully, it has some interesting things to offer though. It was nice to see where these two characters ended up after the end of the series. So it was worth the price of admission to me. But I don't see it making much (or any) profit and therefore, I don't think fans can expect to see any more movies. Which in my estimation is a little sad. I could see them making a series of similar lower budget, standalone movies that would be quite successful with good solid plots as their foundation. But with this box-office failure, I don't think it's gonna' happen.

JossIzBoss | July 29, 03:18 CET

I do think there is no basis for comparing X-Files and Serenity: X-Files ran for years and the stars were well known, but had waited a long time for this sequel and went with a weak script. While Serenity was (as we know) based on a cancelled TV show, was made quickly after the cancelation, with a cast of mostly unknown actors and with a title that wouldn't even tell most of the public that it was Sci-fi much less based on Firefly (however it was made with a really brilliant script). I would say the financial situation is just a coincidence.

embers | July 29, 04:11 CET

(X-Files movie spoilers invisible)

The plot was not merely boring, but distasteful. Unless you're a member of that crowd that sees something valuable in watching Law and Order: SVU, most people don't want to get to know a serial pedophile in the movie theatre, or at all. Not to mention that, in violation of attendees' expectations, the main plot wasn't really supernatural at all, and the psychic connection was questionable.

On the other hand, I went to the movie hoping for some good Mulder/Scully moments, and on that count, IWTB delivered and then some. Will non-fans care? Probably not, but it made it all worthwhile for me.

Sabbrielle | July 29, 04:38 CET