Die Hard Is A Christmas Film, According To 20th Century Studios

It's Christmas time, which means one thing - people are arguing about whether Die Hard is a Christmas film. But there's no doubt about it, according to 20th Century Fox. Watch here:

The original movie came out way back in 1988, but in light of the annual debates about whether it is a Christmas film, the studio behind it decided to put the argument to bed with a revamped trailer.

In the rejigged trailer, we hear the voice-over describing John McClane's (Bruce Willis) predicament: "He just wants to spend Christmas with the family.

"But when he gets stuck at the office party, it'll be a holiday he'll never forget."

But the most crystal clear message of all comes when the voice over declares: "This Christmas get ready to jingle some bells, and deck the halls with boughs of Holly.

"Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman - together in the greatest Christmas story ever told."

Well that's that, then.

Although John McTiernan's iconic action-thriller has featured on countless fans' lists of favourite Christmas movies for years, it's status as a festive flick has always been debated.

The main argument against its classification contends that it is essentially an action film - featuring plenty of guns, explosions and quippy one-liners - which takes place at Christmas, and doesn't require the necessary cuddliness to be a Christmas film.

But the film is chock-a-block with Christmas references, which is surely enough to class it as a Christmas film, no?

20th Century Fox

I suppose the lack of clarity on what credentials are required to class a movie as a 'Christmas film' is the whole reason why the debate has raged on all these years.

Willis himself ruled against it as a Christmas film during his Comedy Central roast in 2018.

The 66-year-old quipped: "Die Hard is not a Christmas movie. It’s a god damn Bruce Willis movie."

On the contrary, the film's co-writer offered a rather more sophisticated argument for why it is a Christmas film.

Speaking to Digital Spy last year, Steven E de Souza said: "Some people say to me Die Hard can't be a Christmas movie because you kill people… and I say was Ellis killed? Yes.

"We don't see Ellis killed, he's off-camera, does that still count? Do off-camera deaths count? Yes.

"Well, if we're counting Ellis... now that you, my sceptic about Die Hard being a Christmas movie, admit that off-camera deaths count, the body count in White Christmas is 26,128 people in the Battle of the Bulge, the opening scene in the movie."

Happy then? Die Hard is a Christmas movie, now let's all move on with our lives.

Topics: TV and Film, Christmas

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey