Source: ShowbizSpy | Posted By: Dan Geer

We all know David Duchovny is a strong supporter of a third X-Files film. He has repeatedly said in many interviews over the last couple of years that, even though the last film wasn’t as successful as they had hoped, he is game for a third film.

But how about releasing it in the summertime, like they did with The X-Files: I Want to Believe? Would that be wise on the part of 20th Century Fox? Duchovny seems to think so. Read on for an excerpt from his interview with ShowbizSpy on the matter!

Regarding making The X-Files 3 a success, Duchovny says (from ShowbizSpy):

“It’s just a matter of spending enough on a movie that can compete in the summertime. We made a movie and released it in the summer, but it wasn’t really a blockbuster movie. And it got kind of overshadowed by the bigger ones. So, we’re saying, make us big. We’ll fight with the big boys.”

Now, while I agree that the third film would naturally need a bigger budget if it is still to be about the 2012 alien colonization plot that was so well-established in the TV series and first feature film, I am not so sure releasing it in the summertime is the wisest move – even though the story may seem more fitting for a summertime release.

To me, releasing it then would simply cause the film to get lost in the mix, hurting it’s take at the box office. I Want to Believe basically went head-to-head with The Dark Knight in the summer of ’08 and all but lost financially. Making the third film a summertime movie would mean that, since the story would take place in 2012, it would have to be released next summer – putting it up against the third “Batman” film, The Dark Knight Rises, as well as other major blockbusters coming out that same summer. Even if the story is bigger and better the third time around, this still seems like an awfully big risk.

While I am an X-Files nut, I know that other “fanboy” films will get more attention if the movie is released in the summer – especially since I Want to Believe was critically panned and not well-received by the general movie-going public. I think that, even with a bigger budget and a more entertaining plot, the film should still come out a bit later in the year, like in September or October when most the biggies have already come and gone. Typically, many comedies and dramas come out then, which would really make XF3 stand out and give sci-fi junkies something to see when nothing else is coming out that fits the “genre” bill. It would all but eliminate the competition, giving the film a better chance to shine.

In the end, the promotion of The X-Files 3 needs to be much better than the last time around. Aside from the need for showing better trailers further in advance (and more often), the film needs to be released at the right time. I think next year is the right time. Next summer, however, is not.

But hey, at least the cast and crew, including Duchovny, still all want to do the film. Now, it’s up to FOX (and I don’t mean Mulder).

Head on over to ShowbizSpy for the rest of the article.