The Die Hard film franchise has been one of the most successful series of films in recent years, taking over bn. at the box office since the first film came out back in 1988. Talk of the series’ fifth film has been going on for some time now, and Deadline report that the search for the film’s director is finally over, with John Moore landing the duties.
News came last month that after Noam Murro exited the project to direct the 300 sequel, Justin Lin, Nicolas Refn, Joe Cornish, and Moore were all being considered, and Moore seems to have now won Bruce Willis over.
Willis, who has of course had a big hand in the making of the Die Hard films beyond leading the acting, is said to have had long meetings with Moore about the project, and was persuaded by Moore’s love of John McClane, and his ability to shoot action sequences without the use of CGI, which is always impressive to see on the screen.
It was also announced last month that the fifth film would see the story go international, with Russia being named as the setting for the next instalment. Whilst I confess that I’m still yet to see Die Hard 4.0 (a.k.a. Live Free or Die Harder), I did love the first three films in the series, and thought it was still very much on top of its game by the third film, which isn’t always the case with a lot of franchises. So there’s definitely still cause for hope for this fifth film, and with the fourth film almost quadrupling its $100m. budget, there’s clearly still a market for it too.
Skip Woods, whose work on X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Hitman I thought was brilliant, will be writing Die Hard 5, which is shaping up to be something to look forward to. Moore’s own credits include Behind Enemy Lines, his feature debut, and most recently Max Payne, and though I thought the story for the latter was a bit weak, its direction was excellent, and Moore hasn’t missed a beat since his first feature ten years ago. Fans of the franchise can hopefully rest assured knowing that the film is in safe hands, and will hopefully be moving forward towards production soon.
