Gillian Anderson Blames Batman For X-Files Failure
When your movie bombs at the box office it is easier to find other reasons for the failure rather than facing that truth that your movie sucks. Gillian Anderson, the X-Files’ Dana Scully, is blaming the success of Batman for the box office failure of the X-Files, she said:
“It’s (The X-Files film) had a bit of a rough time in the States. It’s opening against one of the highest grossing movies, Batman.
“People in the States are so used to lots of CGI (computer-generated imagery), action and sex and we don’t really off a lot of that in this film.”
To be honest, I have no clue why they even did this movie. It has been 10 years since the first X-Files movie and most people probably forgot about the X-Files series. I guess that David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson were short on money.
Hopefully, other TV shows will see it as a sign and spare us from more TV shows turned movies (and by that I mean, please don’t make a Friends movie!)
15 babblicious comments:
I agree with Gillian - so she needs to stop being attacked for what she said. She’s right. EVERY movie has been killed by BATMAN that has opened, and hasn’t been given the same chance it would have been given if it didn’t open against BATMAN. Every single movie that has opened in the past few weeks has been completely overshadowed by a mediocre movie with a phenomenal performance by a great actor who happened to kill himself - the entire draw of the film.
@Maria: Did you even see the movie? I actually paid to see it with my father and brother and let me tell you, it was a huge let down.
The plot was shaky at best and the only X-Files thing about it was the title. I mean, the only thing that made the psychic any psychic at all was the quoted bible verse that was the address, oh, and the barking dogs.
I really wish I could get my $5 back…
While there’s no doubt that all other movies got crushed by Batman, I’m not sure this movie would have been able to stand on it own even if Batman had come out after it.
@Marla:
So Batman making just a little bit more money than the Mummy this weekend is killing it? (They both pulled in over 40 mil.)
The Dark Knight is a fantastic piece of film, and the X-Files is for fans of the series. Even the producers have been saying that. That and the fact that it really doesn’t appeal to anyone outside of the fanbase of the series. I’m a sci-fi kinda geek, but I don’t really want to see it.
You’re also basing that off of 2 weeks at the box office since TDK got released. What has come out besides X-Files? Another Will Ferrel movie and The Mummy sequel.
Woo hoo well let me just run to the theater for those because I haven’t seen THAT before!
“…a mediocre movie with a phenomenal performance by a great actor who happened to kill himself - the entire draw of the film.”
The entire draw of the film? You are certifiably insane. How about the legions of fans from almost 70 YEARS of Batman history? How about the millions of people who loved the last film, Batman Begins? How about one of the most gifted casts ever assembled (Christian Bale, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Maggie Gyllenhahl, AND the aforementioned Heath Ledger)? The Dark Knight id one of the best reviewed movies of the year (second only to Wall-E on Rotten Tomatoes), yet you, in all your wisdom, consider it only mediocre with a dead actor the ONLY draw? I withdraw my assessment that you are insane.
You’re merely stupid.
Gillian, your movie bombed because it sucked. There was no aliens, and there was no conspiracy. What the hell? It’s like the first movie never existed. I personally enjoyed the “long episode,” but was very disappointed. I thought the movie was just an extended episode.
So now you’re a big douchebag, thanks Gillian.
X-Files was irrelevant 8 years ago when the first movie came out.
No one cares, and it was barley marketed. Batman had nothing to do with it.
@Marla:
I have to agree with Andrew. I went to see the X-files with my parents, and it was a complete waste of time. It completely got boring after about an hour. It didn’t even fit with the series, it felt more likely as if I was watching a mystery & solve type of movie. Want to know something else? My parents and I were the only ones sitting in the theater, no one else came. It was only us, and believe me a lot of people were at the movies.
Secondly, I disagree with BATMAN destroying every film. Even though majority of the films have not seen the light of day, Step Brothers did. Step Brothers became the #1 comedy in America for about a week or two.
Thirdly, I must blame Gillian Anderson. First of all, why didn’t they release this about 10 years ago, when X-Files was actually popular? Now adays, most teenagers and kids don’t even know what X-Files is. And how the hell are you going to release a film that really did not follow the original X-files? When I saw this movie, I really thought, “Wow, this seems more like Moulder and Scully are old and that they don’t matter anymore.” How can she blame BATMAN, when her movie had no originality, was completely boring, and a big waste of time.
@ marla
okay the entire hype was not from the death of heath ledger. Did you even watch the x files movie? I mean if it was a good movie it would be doing good, it’s not like it released the same time as batman. Plus the mummy 3 also came out after batman and it didn’t do terrible. So i think you should know all the facts. Batman is a movie that everyone was waiting for for a while now, no one was really hyped for the x-files movie. And batman was not a mediocre movie maybe you shouldn’t judge a good thing.
As a HUGE fan of XFiles, this movie totally sucked. It was so bad I was embarrased I took my son to it and even had to admit I watched the series at one time. I wanna see space ships, aliens, coverups, and I saw nothing short of a bad Law and Order episode.
There was one other guy in the theater with us and after the movie we both looked at each other and said “What the hell was that?”
I give this movie a big D- and that’s being Generous. I would have rather played video games in the lobby.
One more thing, did anyone catch it when Mulder tried calling “Scully” but he called “Gillian” I am serious… he called the REAL actor’s name.. amazing.
March, that is not correct: He did look up his contacts in his mobile phone and you could see three of his contacts: Gillian, Scully and a third one I don’t remember…
X-Files fans have been demanding a new movie ever since the last movie 10 years ago. They had TEN years to think about this one and this is what they came up with? My theory: They didn’t put a thought towards the movie until about half a year ago when they up and decided to finally make one. They banged out a script in a half an hour at a starbucks and decided to shoot it.
The movie sucked. Period. TDK had nothing to do with it. Period.
actually, a friends movie would be fucking amazing, and a great idea. think about it. Friends are a much more popular and a better series then the x files, and i think making a movie would be a great idea for friends
Gillian isn’t wrong. Batman is something like the third highest grossing movie of all time… and that was on its third weekend. The problem with the X-Files was its low budget and its lack of advertising. I am an X-phile, so in that respect I loved seeing the film and the characters, but I agree they did not focus enough on the back story. As for people saying it as like a long episode…that was Chris Carter’s intent. He did not want to do a big alien conspiracy movie. A lot of that was wrapped up at the end of the series. This movie’s problem was that there wasn’t enough time to deal with the “Mulder Scully Relationship” , to wrap up what they had been doing for 6 years, and to introduce new characters and a plot. This should have been a three episode mini series on fox instead of a film.
I have 3 things to say:
1. Gillian shouldn’t blame The Dark Knight because it was more successful. It was a great movie and that’s why it profited.
2. The X-Files movie wasn’t that great. I liked the TV series, but the movie wasn’t like the TV series.
3. Has Gillian Anderson even seen The Dark Knight? CGI doesn’t seem to play a big part and there is absolutely NO sex. All you ever see is one brief kiss and a couple “putting themselves back together” (though fully clothed) when Bruce comes into the room. So nothing, pretty much.