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The Title of 'X-Files 2' Is…

Yup... it's out there...

The X-Files: I Want to Believe

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The truth is finally out there about the new "X-Files" movie title.

The second big-screen spinoff of the paranormal TV adventure will be called "The X-Files: I Want to Believe," Chris Carter, the series' creator and the movie's director and co-writer, told The Associated Press.

Distributor 20th Century Fox signed off on the title Wednesday.

The title is a familiar phrase for fans of the series that starred David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as FBI agents chasing after aliens and supernatural happenings. "I Want to Believe" was the slogan on a poster Duchovny's UFO-obsessed agent Fox Mulder had hanging in the cluttered basement office where he and Anderson's Dana Scully worked.

"It's a natural title," Carter said in a telephone interview Tuesday during a break from editing the film. "It's a story that involves the difficulties in mediating faith and science. `I Want to Believe.' It really does suggest Mulder's struggle with his faith."

"I Want to Believe" comes 10 years after the first film and six years after the finale of the series, whose opening credits for much of its nine-year run featured the catch-phrase "the truth is out there."

Due in theaters July 25, the movie will not deal with aliens or the intricate mythology about interaction between humans and extraterrestrials that the show built up over the years, Carter said.

Instead, it casts Mulder and Scully into a stand-alone, earth-bound story aimed at both serious "X-Files" fans and newcomers, he said.

"It has struck me over the last several years talking to college-age kids that a lot of them really don't know the show or haven't seen it," Carter said. "If you're 20 years old now, the show started when you were 4. It was probably too scary for you or your parents wouldn't let you watch it. So there's a whole new audience that might have liked the show. This was made to, I would call it, satisfy everyone."

Hardcore fans need not worry that the movie will be going back to square one, though, Carter said. The movie will be true to the spirit of the show and everything Mulder and Scully went through, he said.

"The reason we're even making the movie is for the rabid fans, so we don't want to insult them by having to take them back through the concept again," Carter said.

Carter said he settled on "I Want to Believe" from the time he and co-writer Frank Spotnitz started on the screenplay. It took so long to go public with it because studio executives wanted to make sure it was a marketable title, he said.

The filmmakers have kept the story tightly under wraps to prevent plot spoilers from leaking on the Internet, a phenomenon that barely existed when the first movie came out in 1998.

"We went to almost comical lengths to keep the story a secret," Carter said. "That included allowing only the key crew members to read the script, and they had to read it in a room that had video cameras trained on them. It was a new experience."

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Post #1
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Personally, what would make this perfect would be a poster as simple as the actual "I Want To Believe" poster. That would be quite cool.

- bradbrevet
( April 16th, 2008 | 1:33 pm )
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Post #2
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I think I'm confused…It's not going to deal with aliens or any of the mysteries they've spent decades building up? Why in the heck would any fan want to see it?

Speaking as a fan, our motivation to keep watching was almost exclusively to figure out the "big story" they kept alluding to. It certainly wasn't for any character development. Personally, I don't think Mulder and Scully are really that interesting if they aren't hunting down some conspiracy!

Then again, Carter did say they were going to comical lengths to keep the story a secret, so it's possible he's only joking…

- sameasy0urs
( April 16th, 2008 | 3:31 pm )
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Post #3
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sameasy0urs said:
Then again, Carter did say they were going to comical lengths to keep the story a secret, so it's possible he's only joking…

I assure you after spending a day on the set, the filmmakers are definitely avoiding the mythology. And I have to disagree with you on that being a the main point for fans. I was a fan of the show until it went to crap, and I always found the stand-alone episodes to be much more entertaining and the mythology to be a complete bog. I was kind of hoping the film would go with the tone of the extra quirky episodes, which were alway the strongest…but to me the vibe is definitely leaning towards one of horror instead.

- davidfrank
( April 16th, 2008 | 3:42 pm )
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davidfrank said: but to me the vibe is definitely leaning towards one of horror instead.

That's what I got from your interviews. The talk of Saw confused the shit out of me. Obviously, I have said many times in articles already, I am not well versed in The X-Files, but I did enjoy the movie and the conspiracy of keeping the aliens under wraps is interesting to me, but that conspiracy needs to come out in the open.

I did read on one X-Files fan site they thought the show was always a love story between Mulder and Scully, but it seems to me that became a late issue in the series, which often happens to shows when they go on too long. By this I mean they drop what the show is about and turn to love drama, which is what sitcoms tend to do… Friends anyone?

I like the title if it's an alien film, which is what I want, but if it turns out to be werewolves and a Mulder/Scully wedding I am going to be a bit disappointed. As will, I think, anyone not well versed in the show. That's the main reason I don't think the Mulder/Scully romance will be touched on at all. Just a guess though.

- bradbrevet
( April 16th, 2008 | 3:51 pm )
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Post #5
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Oh interesting. I wasn't thinking of it that way. I'm still standing by my statement that Mulder and Scully were not the reasons we kept tuning in…but you've got a point, all of my favorite episodes were stand-alones. I've just got this concept in my head that an X-Files movie after this long needs to be epic and I guess I can't really see some random storyline justifying all of the hype (or effort, for that matter). It seems like going in this direction makes the movie seem like just another episode of the show…albeit slightly longer. Objectively speaking, does it really seem that interesting to wait 6 years only to see one more episode? If that's the case, just call the movie X-Files: The adventures of Mulder and Scully. At least that way we won't have to raise our expectations.

- sameasy0urs
( April 16th, 2008 | 3:52 pm )
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sameasy0urs said: I've just got this concept in my head that an X-Files movie after this long needs to be epic and I guess I can't really see some random storyline justifying all of the hype (or effort, for that matter).

Couldn't agree more.

- bradbrevet
( April 16th, 2008 | 3:53 pm )
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Post #7
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bradbrevet said: Couldn't agree more.

Same here.

Although they didn't deny that an alien invasion movie could be a possibility (which I'd love to see, especially if it was big big big). My feeling is they're making this movie more accessible for nonfans by having it be a standalone story. If it draws big audiences, then they can jump back in with a mythology story for the 3rd movie, in the hope that the people who weren't fans before the 2nd movie will come along for the 3rd movie.

And I also have no idea why reporters and filmmakers kept bring up Saw. I never saw–and still don't–a connection between X-Files and torture porn.

- davidfrank
( April 16th, 2008 | 4:27 pm )
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Post #8
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sameasy0urs said: I'm still standing by my statement that Mulder and Scully were not the reasons we kept tuning in…but you've got a point, all of my favorite episodes were stand-alones. I've just got this concept in my head that an X-Files movie after this long needs to be epic and I guess I can't really see some random storyline justifying all of the hype (or effort, for that matter). It seems like going in this direction makes the movie seem like just another episode of the show…albeit slightly longer.

=D>I totally agree that the movie really needs to be epic, and I completely expect it to be. I have been anticipating a new movie for quite some time and I was beginning to expect it never would happen.

I am, however, very interested in what's been happening with the Mulder/Scully relationship. Although I was one of the many that wanted to two to become a couple, I knew that it would most likely destroy the show [as it does in every series] – the big reason the shows do so well is because of the sexual tension; why this isn't learned is beyond me. However, personally I thought the way the Mulder/Scully relationship was handled was pretty well – behind/between scenes/shows – which left it up to imagination and the possibility that it never really happened in the entirety. Anyway…I'm rambling on – stop her before she writes a book!:-@

Bottomline… I'm stoked for the movie, and very interested to see what Chris and Frank have come up with. I'm sure it'll be a worthwhile trip to the theater.

- melsgirl
( April 16th, 2008 | 5:09 pm )
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Post #9
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sameasy0urs said: I think I'm confused…It's not going to deal with aliens or any of the mysteries they've spent decades building up? Why in the heck would any fan want to see it?

Speaking as a fan, our motivation to keep watching was almost exclusively to figure out the "big story" they kept alluding to. It certainly wasn't for any character development. Personally, I don't think Mulder and Scully are really that interesting if they aren't hunting down some conspiracy!

Then again, Carter did say they were going to comical lengths to keep the story a secret, so it's possible he's only joking…

Speak for yourself. I am a long time fan of the series (since season 1) and it was Mulder and Scully that always had me coming back for more. I was interested in their quest for the truth but more in a symbolic sense. The alien conspiracy storyline became overdrawn and ridiculous in the end. I am just happy to see a straight story of Mulder and Scully investigating the paranormal again (which was just as big a part of the X-Files as the alien conspiracy stuff) something they really did not do since the 7th season.

- Iwanttobelieve
( April 17th, 2008 | 7:19 am )
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