John McMclane is going to have another screen appearance. According to Deadline, 20th Century Fox is currently working on a new sequel to the Die Hard movies.
Fox is reportedly asking Len Wiseman, who handled "Live Free or Die Hard," to work with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura for Die Hard 6, which will be called "Die Hard Year One."
Slated to be a prequel, Die Hard Year One is set in 1979, but the studio also plans to leave room for the present-day McClane to appear. This is probably because they want to show McClane's history of how he became the die-hard police officer that he was seen to be since the start of the franchise in 1988. It will still star the original McClane himself, Bruce Willis.
Movie news outlet ScreenRant however, explains that the prequel concept is nonsensical, because in the first Die Hard movie (the one that shot Willis up to stardom), McClane didn't appear to have undergone a similar hard experience, one like he did in LA's Nakatomi Plaza.
The movie news outlet adds that it's there in that first movie where McClane became the hard-to-kill hero in an extraordinary terrorist situation. What are the possible historical events in McClane's life prior to the original plot that will be shown?
According to Coming Soon, these new plans seem to deviate from the Die Hard 6 version that was rumored last year. Those rumors speculate that the franchise will bring Samuel L. Jackson back into the story, as the Academy Award nominee played the role of Zeus Carver in Die Hard With a Vengeance.
As two McClanes are featured, Bruce Willis will star alongside someone who will play a younger version of him. This is not new to him, as he has appeared in movies like 12 Monkeys, The Kid, and Looper, where somebody else plays a younger version of his character.
Wiseman's Live Free or Die Hard in 2007 earned $383 million in worldwide sales. Meanwhile, the fifth installment, "A Good Day to Die Hard," earned over $300 million in worldwide sales despite getting low ratings. This shows that the franchise indeed has potential to rake in a lot of sales.
Sales-wise, this Die Hard 6 news is also timely, as the Die Hard Limited Edition Collection home video release happens this week. The collection includes collectible cards and a 32-page behind-the-scenes book, packed in a replica of the Nakatomi Plaza tower.
