It is tragic that Bruce Willis has been forced into retirement due to being diagnosed with aphasia – a condition that damages the part of the brain that controls language, expression and comprehension and is especially tragic for any actor or performer. Willis certainly appeared in some decent films including The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, The Last Boy Scout, Pulp Fiction, Twelve Monkeys & The Fifth Element. As his career went on he appeared in increasingly poor films with audiences puzzled at his film choices where he would only be in a handful of scenes but would be paid large sum, the reason for which was only made clear on the announcement of his retirement.
The story behind Twelve Monkeys
But it his Die Hard films that are most likely to be his legacy a film that he almost lost out on when studios were reluctant to cast him after his feature film debut as the lead in the flop comedy Blind Date with Kim Basinger.
The Story behind The Fifth Element
The hard-nosed New York cop John McClain became his signature role and the 1988 film directed by John McTiernan, himself hot off the success of Schwarzenegger’s Predator was an instant action classic and still stands the test of time today faring better than many modern day actioners. The success of the film spawned four further films in the franchise which after the second one then abandoned numbers and went for increasingly strained word play on the phrase Die Hard. So Die Hard 3 became Die Hard with a Vengeance, Die Hard 4 became Live free or Die Hard and Die Hard 5 became A Good Gay to Die Hard a title that no one referred to it as.
Die Hard 4K Blu-ray & DVD box set disc review
Rumours of a new film that would feature McClain looking back on his life as a young cop would seem to be now dead in the water (read about it HERE). So we have had a look at the films again in terms of their worldwide box office earnings (and their budgets) to see which was the most popular (and yes, we were surprised too at what is the most successful Die Hard film) and here’s the list starting with the film that earned the least. ‘Yippee Ki-Yay, muddy funsters!‘ (TV edit version)
Title Box office earnings Budget
5) Die Hard (1988) $141m $28m
4) Die Hard 2 : Die Harder (1990) $240m $70m
3) A Good Day to Die Hard (2013) $304m $92m
2) Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) $366m $90m
- Live Free or Die Hard (2007) $388m $110m
So there you have it and as to whether Die Hard is a Christmas film or not director John McTiernan finally answers it here…..
