The X-Files is a 1998 American science fiction-thriller film written by Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz, and directed by Rob Bowman. It is the first feature film based on The X-Files series created by Carter that revolves around a fictional FBI paranormal investigation unit called the X-Files. Four main characters from the television series appear in the film: David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson,Mitch Pileggi and William B. Davis reprise their respective roles as FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner and the Cigarette-Smoking Man. The film’s tagline and sub-title is Fight the Future.

The story follows agents Mulder (Duchovny) and Scully (Anderson), removed from their usual jobs on the X-Files, and investigating the bombing of a building and the destruction of criminal evidence. They uncover what appears to be a government conspiracy attempting to hide the truth about an alien colonization of Earth. Viewed in the context of The X-Files chronology, the film’s story takes place between seasons five (episode “The End”) and six (episode “The Beginning”) of the television series, and is based upon the series’ extraterrestrial mythology.