Die Hard returns to theaters in time for Christmas

Yippee-Ki-Yay, Moviegoers! Die Hard will be back in theaters next week, just in time for Christmas. But it’s not a Christmas movie…is it? It’s debated year after year: does the 1988 action flick qualify as a holiday film or not? According to many, yes. The holiday is even mentioned in AMC’s write-up: “A New York City cop faces overwhelming odds when his Christmas visit to California is interrupted by a hostile invasion of his estranged wife’s office building.”

On the topic, we made our own case a few years ago that Die Hard is in fact a Christmas movie. Personally, I can’t take that stance. Die Hard qualifies as “Christmas-adjacent”, like Lethal Weapon, In Bruges and Eyes Wide Shut. Christmas is part of the films in one way or another – typically being set during the holiday season – but it’s not a big enough part of the plot to put it in the genre. (Sure, the Christmas party is key, but it could have just as easily been a retirement party.) And while Kevin McAllister probably could have taught John McClane a thing or two about foiling bad guys and you could draw a link between a machine gun and a Red Ryder carbine action two-hundred shot range model air rifle, there’s just not enough in Die Hard to make it bonafide Christmas fare. Heck, McClane doesn’t even consider Run-DMC’s “Christmas in Hollis” a Christmas song!

Director John McTiernan previously weighed in on the topic, saying it wasn’t up to him to decide if Die Hard is a Christmas classic or not. “If the audience decides they want to make it a Christmas movie, it’s a Christmas movie…It turns out that way. It wasn’t intended as a Christmas movie, although the fact that it was deliberately built around Christmas – but not intended to be a Christmas movie.” Got it?

Regardless of whether it has joined Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story in your holiday viewing rotation, Die Hard still remains one of the greatest action flicks ever made and a prime example of Bruce Willis’ star power.

Do you consider Die Hard to be a Christmas movie? Is it an annual watch for you around the holiday season? Let us know!