Summary
- While director John McTiernan agrees that it is a Christmas movie, star Bruce Willis does not.
- The movie was released in July 1988 (hardly promoted as a Christmas movie but yet a summer action blockbuster)
- While the movie is set on Christmas Eve, it is a movie that involves killing, taking people hostage etc.
- The movie is full of Christmas imagery and tones. Even Holly is named…. well Holly.
- You decide.
Is Die Hard a Christmas movie or not!?
The debate about Die Hard being a Christmas movie is a weird one. For many years it was just considered an action movie, albeit a very good action movie. The debate about if it is a Christmas movie didn’t really gain traction until the 2000s with the advent of the internet and message boards. That is when the people on both sides started to voice their opinions and the debate began. But is it really? Let’s look at both sides shall we?
It is a Christmas movie
The biggest factors for the “yes” crowd is that the movie literally starts on Christmas Eve with John going to a Christmas party to meet his estranged wife, Holly (yes.. Holly… not Sarah or anything but a name associated with Christmas)
Throughout the movie we see Christmas imagery, from Trees to jumpers to even characters mentioning Christmas (or references to Christmas 21 times)
It is not a Christmas movie
The “no” crowd like to mention how the movie was released in July 1988, which to be fair is not a time to catch Christmas movie goers.
While Christmas and it’s other references are mentioned 21 times by characters – guns (and it’s other references) are mentioned much more.
While the movie is set on Christmas Eve, the plot is essentially about a bunch of criminals trying to steal millions of dollars, killing many in the process and using the fact it is Christmas Eve to achieve their plan.
So what is it?
The truth is… it depends on you. While me personally? We ate GDS view Die Hard as an action movie. But we can see why many people do view it as a Christmas movie. But wanna know the truth? It doesn’t matter if you think it is or not it is simply one of the greatest movies ever made and would give us pleasure to find out if people in 2088 still question.
Want to voice your opinion?
The following X (Twitter) poll will be open until January 3rd 2024.
Is Die Hard really a Christmas movie?
— Games Don't Suck (@Games_Dont_Suck) December 27, 2023
sure, it's set on Christmas Eve… but the movie was released in July 1988 and even Bruce Willis himself said it wasn't. What do YOU think? https://t.co/04jUVXVT1S #DieHardIsAChristmasMovie #DieHard #Christmas2023 #Christmas