The “Die Hard” franchise hasn’t found a good day to die hard as of yet, it seems.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the franchise will live to see its 6th instalment being developed at 20th Century Fox. Len Wiseman, who directed the 4th “Die Hard” film aka “Live Free of Die Hard”, will return to helm and develop it alongside producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura.
The project is going to be a prequel-sequel kind of movie as it would be an “origin story” for Bruce Willis‘ near-immortal character, John McClane.
It will mostly be set in 1979, with a younger actor portraying a younger version of McClane. It will show how young McClane, who was still a regular cop in gritty New York City, became “the rough and tumble cop that audiences know”.
Willis has not signed on to reprise his signature role yet, but he will most likely appear in scenes bookending the movie.
— len wiseman (@LenWiseman) October 15, 2015
The movie is apparently titled after “Die Hard: Year One”, a comic book prequel published by BOOM! Studios in 2009 and 2010. Written by Howard Chaykin, the first 4-issue miniseries took place in New York City during the 1976 bicentennial. It showed McClane working as a rookie cop. The next 4-issue story took place during the 1977 New York blackout.
It remains unclear whether the project will draw from the source material, or it’ll be retelling McClane’s origins.
The project is still in early stages of development and it is looking for a screenwriter to “reinvent” the film series.
According to /FILM, Fox originally planned to turn one of di Bonaventura’s projects into a “Die Hard” sequel. However, Wiseman pitched a different idea and Fox decided to move forward with it. Di Bonaventura decided to stay on board.
The “Die Hard” franchise grossed nearly USD1.5 billion worldwide to date. The 5th film, 2013’s “A Good Day to Die Hard”, was widely considered by fans as the worst “Die Hard” film, but it still made USD304 million at the worldwide box office.
So, would you see “Die Hard 6”? Who do you think should star alongside Willis? Share your thoughts in the comments box below.
