Die Hard Dropping Its Christmas Setting Was A Huge Franchise Mistake

While Die Hard’s second sequel was a solid follow-up, dropping the Christmas setting of the first two movies still ended up being the creative choice that tanked the franchise as a whole. The Die Hard series, like its hero John McClane, was stuck in an unenviable position after the success of the first sequel. Die Hard 2 was a huge hit like its predecessor, but the movie’s decision to land John McClane in another life-or-death scenario on Christmas Eve wasn’t lost on critics or fans. Die Hard 2 got away with some hilariously cheeky self-referential one-liners about how unlikely these events were, but the franchise couldn’t pull this off again.