(Image: 20th Century Studios)
In a surprise move, Disney has announced that a never-before-seen director's cut of the 2008 film "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" will premiere on Disney+ on June 11.
While the original DVD release of "I Want to Believe" did include an extended version, it only added about three minutes of footage and had little impact on the overall film. This upcoming director's cut, however, is being touted as the original vision from director and "The X-Files" series creator, Chris Carter.
(Image: 20th Century Studios)
"I Want to Believe" was met with poor reviews and dismal box office numbers upon its release, earning just $68 million worldwide—a steep drop from the nearly $190 million grossed by its predecessor, "The X-Files: Fight the Future." Last year, during an interview on star David Duchovny's podcast, "Fail Better with David Duchovny," Carter explained why he believes the sequel failed to connect with fans.
"Essentially, I made the movie too scary, and the executives at 20th Century Fox told me so," Carter explained. "They wanted a PG-13 film, so we made cuts to fit the PG-13 rating. I thought, 'Okay, we're good, we've met their requirements.' But the critics, and the people who assign the ratings, said, 'No, this isn't PG-13 yet, you have to cut even more.'"
Carter continued, "I can tell you, you can get away with more on television because they're more lenient than the movie censors, the ratings people. But now I have an opportunity to go back and make the horror movie that I set out to make. It's not just about a director's cut; it's about actually realizing what was in my head that never made it to the screen."