Hiya!

It’s just a week until the official start of the Christmas season. Actually, the citizens of the Philippines have already been celebrating the season for a couple of months now. That’s beside the point. What I like to focus on are the traditions we do each and every year to bring in the yuletide period. That would include decorating the home with holiday cheer, pushing your way through the crowded malls to buy presents, getting caught in traffic because of all of the shopping and parties and many more.

There is one yearly tradition I do want to talk about now. That would be the annual discussion on whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie or not. I do have to agree with my partner on this site that, yes, Die Hard is indeed a Christmas movie. It’s hard not to with all of the references to the holidays baked into the film. Besides, is there any law which states all Christmas movies have to be all about good cheer? If there is, cite that piece of legislation to me!

Anyway, I have to say the first Die Hard and its sequel, the aptly titled Die Hard 2, can both be considered Christmas flicks. After that, however, things turn for the non-Christmas-y. After Die Hard 2, John McClane‘s adventures weren’t set during the season of good cheer. Die Hard With a Vengeance was set during the summer. Both Live Free or Die Hard and A Good Day to Die Hard could have been set on any day, actually.

Honestly, a part of me believes this contributed to the Die Hard franchise’s diminishing quality over the years. Is my belief unfounded, though? Well, the only way to find out is to debate against myself! So, should all of the Die Hard movies have been set during the Christmas season? Let me find out!

First off, the first couple of movies set what felt would be the standard for every future John McClane adventure. He would unexpectedly find himself going against a group of bad guys and it just so happened to happen during what is supposedly the most joyous time of the year. I mean, these two movies established something happens to him during that time period. So, why not do that with the next few movies then? The audience already expects this! So, just go through with that!

Then again, it would get kind of ridiculous how John McClane would never be able to celebrate the holidays in peace. Heck, if Die Hard With a Vengeance happened during Christmas, the series would have become almost like a meme with how silly the timing would be. So, switching things up might have allowed the franchise to be taken more seriously.

However, I do have to think about another Christmas movie staple: Home Alone. All of the Home Alone movies follow the same plot. A kid is left home alone for Christmas and he has to find a way to defend his home from cartoony people from breaking in. It’s a tried-and-true formula and it’s something you expect from the series. They may change the kid during the later movies but the basic premise stays the same.

Then again, like the Die Hard films, the Home Alone movies didn’t exactly maintain a good level of quality in subsequent entries. Honestly, I do think Home Alone 3 was still passable. The movies after that? Ugh! I really wanted to like last one, Home Sweet Home Alone. I tried but I just found it to be incredibly unfunny and unfun. So, maybe it wouldn’t have mattered if the later Die Hard movies happened on Christmas or not. Law of diminishing returns and whatnot.

Then again, if it wouldn’t have mattered if the later Die Hard movies were set during the holidays or not, then why not just set it during the season then? If it wouldn’t have hurt the output, then why not just have fun with it and set it during Christmas? At least setting it during the season would’ve given the last two movies some personality! They could’ve added more Christmas puns and references to make it at least memorable! Instead, the last couple of Die Hard flicks were just blank action movies that just so happened to have John McClane in them.

Still, all of them, even the last two, were huge blockbusters. In fact, Die Hard With a Vengeance, Live Free or Die Hard and A Good Day to Die Hard made $300 million worldwide. Each of them more than made back their budget. Heck, the original Die Hard and Die Hard 2 “only” made $143 million and $240 million worldwide, respectfully! So, the Die Hard movies which did not have a Christmas theme made more than the ones that did! If that’s the case, then it was actually smart for the studios to do switch up the seasons!

In the end, it hurts me to say, after this entire debate with myself, the Die Hard movies didn’t all have to be set during Christmas. While a lot of people, such as myself, do wholeheartedly believe the first couple of Die Hard movies are Christmas movies, that doesn’t mean you have to watch them just on Christmas. Fans love the Die Hard franchise because of John McClane and his quippy one-liners. Fans love the action scenes and how he can get out of it through sheer luck and absurd movie physics. Die Hard may be a Christmas movie but the later ones didn’t have to be.

Byee!

Do you think the other Die Hard movies should have been set during the Christmas season? Let me know in the comments section below!