No, Chris Carter will not tell you what happens in the new "X-Files" movie.
"I think people are going to like it better if they're surprised," said the director/co-writer of the new film (opening July 25) based on his acclaimed science-fiction series.
Only recently did Carter release the movie's title: "The X-Files: I Want to Believe."
The title is a reference to a poster hanging on the office wall of FBI agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny), but there's more to it than that.
"It's really emblematic of Mulder's struggle of what is his faith, his belief in the paranormal," Carter said from his L.A. offices, where he's finishing editing on the movie. It also reflects the struggle of Mulder's partner, agent Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson). "Hers is the dilemma of pure science, being a medical doctor, and her faith, being a Catholic."
Carter and his writing partner Frank Spotnitz have been working on the movie pretty much since the TV series left the air in 2002. The "pretty much" was a much-publicized dispute, since settled, between Carter's company and Fox over profit participation on the series.
The profit dispute "could be the best thing that could have happened," Carter said. "It created an appetite for the show."
When Carter gathered Duchovny, Anderson and the rest of his "X-Files" team on the set, he said, "It was like we never left, and at the same time it was a big deal because we were doing a movie and not a TV series."