When we reported that plans for a new X-Files movie were underway, many fans were understandably skeptical. Well, all of you Dana Scully-like skeptics can relax. It’s actually going to happen this time.

The film is scheduled to begin production on December 10th in Vancouver, the old stomping grounds of the 1993-2002 FOX series. The supernatural thriller doesn’t have a title as yet but 20th Century Fox has announced that the film’s release date is July 25, 2008, a short seven months after the start of filming. The second X-Files movie’s box office competition will include Sony’s Step Brothers comedy (starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly) and an Ice Cube family comedy from MGM.

“X-Files 2” will reunite David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully and will be under the direction of series creator Chris Carter. Carter co-wrote the screenplay with former X-Files executive producer Frank Spotnitz. No word if FBI Assistant Director Skinner (Mitch Pileggi) or other series trademark characters will return for the big screen outing.

As previously mentioned, the movie will have a standalone storyline that won’t be centered around the series’ long-running mythology. The rest of the film’s details are being kept under wraps but the studio did say that the story would take the complicated Mulder/Scully relationship in new directions.

If the new X-Files movie does well at the box office, Duchovny believes there will be more. He said, “I think it could work very well as a sequel, an authentic franchise that will hold up — much more so than Mission: Impossible.” Stay tuned!