Sad to see the “X-Files†underperform at the box office with just 10 million over the weekend. Read somewhere that Chris Carter was under the gun to finish the script before the writer’s strike. The trailer looked ho-hum. Kind of hard to believe that he didn’t have a few polished “X-Files†screenplays tucked away for a rainy day. Looks like I won’t be holding my breath for another installment.
A few weeks back, Stephen King made a dire prediction in “Entertainment Weekly†about the film’s fate. His argument was that big studio genre films rarely work as well as the low budget variety. Brought up examples like “The Blair Witch Projectâ€, “Night of the Living Dead†and more recently, “The Strangersâ€. Now I’m not trying to take a stab at one of my heroes, but what the heck is he talking about?
For every “Texas Chainsaw Massacre†and “Blair Witchâ€, there are scores of awful low budget flicks that make you wanna tear your eyes out. When so many are being thrown against the wall, obviously a few are gonna stick. I can appreciate the charm and ingenuity of no/low budget films, but how can the master storyteller not bring up the fact that a lot of it comes down to story -- and a good hook?
And it’s not like studios are cranking out a ton of big budget horror flicks in the first place. “I Want To Believe†might have looked big, but it only cost around 30 million to make. Its poor opening weekend had more to do with the lack of a strong concept and lackluster marketing. Even the hardcore fans couldn’t be bothered.