DIE HARD 6: Hollywood’s recent obsession of Rebooting action franchises

With the recent releases of Rambo Last Blood, Terminator Dark Fate and to some extent Alien: Covenant. We can see a current trend in hollywood. This trend is centered around refusing to let old and beloved franchises die. In this article, I will be focusing on the upcoming Die Hard 6, titled McClane.

The Die Hard franchise has been consistent in terms of quality. This statement is only true when we ignore the horrendous A Good Day to Die Hard. However, the fifth installment was still the 3rd highest earner in the franchise despite being universally panned by critics and audiences. This shows that there is still love for the die hard franchise and that a sixth film doesn’t seem like a bad idea. After the fifth film, fans want to see a more satisfactory end to such a beloved action franchise. Len Wiseman is proposed to direct McClane. He also directed Live Free or Die Hard which for a fourth film in a franchise was pretty good. With that film, he mixed up the formula and tried to bring us something different. It still holds a 82% on rotten tomatoes. However, his last film in the action genre was Total Recall which was an unnecessary and bland remake of a classic. He hasn’t directed a motion picture since 2012 and perhaps McClane could be his perfect come back.

Bruce Willis on the other hand can’t hide his love for straight to DVD action films. For such a talented actor it would be nice to see him star in well know motion pictures. In the last few years, he is mostly known for this work in M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable trilogy. Like Len Wiseman, Bruce Willis needs a proper comeback. The writing team behind the sixth entry come from a strange background, one that primarily exist in the horror genre. The writers Chad Hayes & Carey W. Hayes have helmed The Conjuring films and it seems a strange choice for them to write the next Die Hard film. Although, Chad Hayes did actually star as a mercenary in Lethal Weapon, so he has had some sort of background in the action genre.

This sixth entry comes in an important time in Hollywood. Like I stated in the intro, 3 old action franchises have been rebooted in the last couple of years. Terminator Dark Fate, which I gave a favourable review has bombed at the box office. It is very unlikely that we will see a sequel. Rambo Last Blood received terrible reviews from critics but was generally well liked from fans. Stallone has stated that he is open to doing more instalments, so a sixth film could be a possibility. Ridley Scott’s Prometheus series is in different spectrum to the worlds that Terminator and Rambo have created but its in the same vain of rebooting old franchises and trying to appeal to a new generation. However, the critical factor in these franchises is that most of these reboots and sequels have delivered unfavourable financial numbers at the box office. Perhaps the success doesn’t depend on the quality of these films but its whether audiences actually care about the next chapter.

The question remains, Have these old franchises derailed interest from audiences in recent years? or is it because the films producers have lost what exactly made them appeal in the first place. A good example comes from the flop of Terminator Genisys which was too complicated. What made the first two films stand out was that the premise was simple and easy to follow. We can also look at The Predator which critics and audiences panned. It was a film that took the audiences on a tonally muddled journey. After seeing the film on multiple viewings, I’m still unsure what genre it fits in. It’s scares didn’t live up to expectations and the film was filled with too much comedy. The original Predator had some profoundly disturbing scenes. The scene where they find the skinned bodies is an effective scare because it builds up that the tension filled expectation of what we think the predator is capable of.

However, I still think that McClane has a chance to succeed both critically and financially. The numbers for the previous films have been solid and show there is still interest in this action franchise. Len Wiseman is a good director of action and he is too a fan of this franchise, which is always a plus. The critical factor that could make this film succeed is the plot. From what we have heard, it will be prequel to the first film. The producers want to change the die hard formula and it could be refreshing to see. The film is also set to feature two different McClane’s. Therefore, casting is going to be crucial.

Overall, this is set to be an interesting instalment, one that has a risk of failure but also has heaps of potential if done right.