I never thought I’d write a Die Hard story – let alone a story about a potential new Die Hard movie – with such a heavy heart. That’s because the latest installment, A Good Day to Die Hard, was such a disgraceful pile of animal excrement, the idea of seeing Bruce Willis sully the reputation of my favorite on-screen character simply kills yet another vital chunk of my already damaged soul.
But A Good Day to Die Hard, against all possible odds, was a lucrative pile of animal excrement (earning more than $300 million worldwide), and so the wheels appear to be turning on a sequel. Brace yourselves. TotalFilm reports that screenwriter Brit Ben Trebilcook is penning a screenplay for a sixth Die Hard movie – currently working under the title Die Hardest -- that the screenwriter says “could be the Rocky Balboa of the Die Hard franchise.”
It is extremely faithful to the franchise and characters, and is a natural progression,” Trebilcook says. “It’s also a very plausible storyline.”
That instantly makes it better than the Chernobyl-based Good Day, which made little sense at any point. The report says that Trebilcook’s narrative would start in New York City but move to Tokyo, where the bulk of the action is set. He has been put into contact with some in the Die Hard universe thanks to his work on Knockout, a video-game-themed action thriller produced by Larry D. Webster – who served as a consulting producer on John Moore’s Die Hard sequel.
None of this is set in stone. It’s barely written in sand. Even Trebilcook says there are “many hurdles to leap yet” before this movie moves forward. He builds in the escape clause of saying “producers might go back and find some other source material to base the next one on, like they did with the first and second.” And as a consulting producer, Webster doesn't likely have the power to snap his fingers and make the movie happen-- odds are he's stirring up this conversation to try and convince the studio to pay attention to him. But there’s a sense we may see yet another Die Hard movie, something Willis admitted while doing press for Good Day. At the very least, a sixth movie HAS to be better than the steaming garbage served up in Mother Russia, right? Are you willing to give Die Hard yet another chance?
