Why the title of the new 'Die Hard' film is basically saying ‘Bruce Willis dies'

Of course there’s going to be another Die Hard film - there was never any doubt surrounding this fact, was there? However, fellow fans of dying hard, we now have an official title! Whereas everyone thought it was going to be called Die Hard: Year One, it has now been revealed as McClane, presumably to distance itself from that Jack Black film that everyone hated. 

Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura told Empiremagazine:

“You can tell our intention by the fact that the title page we handed in [for the script] says McClane.

“We want you to get invested in John McClane more than ever before.”

“I don’t know how you do Die Hard without Bruce. The idea that he’s not very significant in this movie is not accurate at all. We are gonna explore John McClane in his 20s. But just as prominent is the 60-year-old version.”

So they’re gonna flip-flop between the past and the present, which seems strange, because it assumes that McClane had got himself into big-time scrapes before Nakatomi Plaza, which were never mentioned before, to our knowledge.

But hey - McClane? You know, like Logan? All those films with the actual word “die” in the title - Die Hard, Die Hard 2, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Live Free or Die Hard, A Good Day to Die Hard - and Johnny Boy survives? Will this be the one to finally kill him off? 

It makes sense - Bruce Willis is 63 now, so chances are he won’t be making any more Die Hard films after this, so why not kill him off? It would certainly be a sad end to a character who has dealt with so much throughout his life and survived, but a poignant conclusion to the final installment might go some way to atoning for the sins of the previous two entries.

Also, killing off your main character should mean that it’s a definitive end to the series, which is what we need when it comes to Die Hard, really. Of course, there’s always scope for reboots and remakes and sequels focusing on long-lost brothers and such (the “son” angle didn’t quite pan out like they hoped it would, did it?), but it would be nice to put a succinct cap on the whole affair.

So, it’s up to Hollywood’s most handsome director, Len Wiseman (also director of the fourth installment) and the writers of The Conjuring (obviously) to sort it all out. No specific details have been released on the plot yet, but as we mentioned, it’s going to be half prequel/half sequel for some reason - hopefully that “some reason” isn’t so we can introduce a younger John McClane that can continue in subsequent prequels all set in the run-up to the first Die Hard. 

Whatever happens, RIP John McClane, we hardly knew ye. Only joking, we absolutely did - we knew you too much, that became evident when you fired a stupid car into a goddamn helicopter. It’s about time you bowed-out, come to think of it. So, with that, farewell!

(Image: 20th Century Fox/AllStar)