During the holiday season, many of us have traditions to re-watch our favorite films, such as How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Elf, Christmas Vacation... oh, or Die Hard. The shoot-em-up action flick starring Bruce Willis has sparked quite the debate over the years about whether it should be classified among selections about the North Pole, the magic Christmas and so on. But apparently a lot of folks aren't willing to classify it as a legitimate Christmas movie.
According to a recent poll conducted by Morning Consult/Hollywood Reporter, the majority don't say yippee-ki-yay to the idea of Die Hard being a Christmas movie. Among the 2,200 US adults surveyed, only 25% found it to be holiday fare, and among them, men were slightly more likely to think so than women. Those aged between 30 to 44 were most likely to think of Die Hard as a holiday classic.
This summer marked Die Hard's 30-year anniversary, as the film was released in July 1988. During Comedy Central's Roast of Bruce Willis, the actor closed the show with weighing in his opinion on the debate -- he too doesn't think Die Hard is a movie meant for holiday viewing.
The odds seem to be stacked up against Christmas die-hards, but let's take a moment to discuss why it's a dispute in the first place. Die Hard centers around a Christmas party that John McClain attended at Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve. When a group of German terrorists take the attendees hostage, John becomes a one man army who can take them down and save his wife and the other hostages.
Ok, so it's not exactly the warm and fuzzy holiday films circulating through Hallmark during this time of year. It does revolve around Christmas, and without the holiday in play, the situation of the first Die Hard wouldn't have taken place. It also has holiday songs in the soundtrack and does touch upon family, as he is visiting his ex-wife and just trying to survive so he can get home for the holidays.
I'd guess a vast majority of people who took the survey haven't seen Die Hard in quite some time and remember the film more-so for its action scenes and hilarious one-liners by John McClain. Only fans who have watched it just enough would likely consider it a Christmas movie because of the small ambiance of the holidays it gives off. Plus, any excuse to watch Die Hard is a good one.
There are Christmas films across many more genres than family films or rom-coms, such as in the horror genre -- A Christmas Horror Story anyone? Or what about Krampus? Also, one of the most famous holiday movies there is, Home Alone, is basically the same movie as Die Hard.
While Die Hard may never be officially categorized as a holiday film among the general public, it's not going to stop people from keeping up their annual traditions of watching the flick during the holidays.
