Die Hard prequel movie has been scrapped by Disney

Last Updated on August 10, 2021

It's been nearly a decade since John McClane last saved the day on the big-screen in A Good Day to Die Hard, and although I have little doubt that we haven't seen the last of the iconic Die Hard hero, it seems that the latest movie has been scrapped. A prequel film known as McClane would have been directed by Len Wiseman and flashed back and forth between a younger version of John McClane in the '70s and the present-day version played by Bruce Willis, but producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura told Polygon during the Snake Eyes press-tour that the project has been shelved.

"Yeah, no, It’s not happening," di Bonaventura told Polygon. "But what was really interesting was we actually came up with an idea to do it. It was a project that wasn’t Die Hard that then, eventually, shifted over to Die Hard." The Die Hard franchise has a history of taking existing stories or scripts and rewriting them to include John McClane, such as the script for Die Hard with a Vengeance, which was once being considered as a possible Lethal Weapon sequel before it became part of the Die Hard franchise. Lorenzo di Bonaventura also confirmed that the Die Hard prequel would have featured two versions of John McClane.

What was interesting about our idea was it allowed you the ability to meet the young John McClane and use Bruce. So it was really interesting in that way. So you sort of got to see both versions of him. A bit [like The Godfather Part 2].

The Die Hard prequel had been expected to kick off production several years ago, but once Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, it went on the back-burner and now seems to be shelved. As far as what Disney has in mind for John McClane and the Die Hard franchise, di Bonaventura said that he doesn't know what their plans are. As I mentioned above, I'm sure Disney will resurrect Die Hard at some point in the future.