The internet was abuzz Tuesday with rumors that there was a new installment of the “Die Hard” franchise in the works, working under the tentative title “Die Hardest.” Now, that rumor -- and with it that terrible title -- has been put to rest, with Fox flatly denying the story.
It all started when TotalFilm released a report citing the hiring of British screenwriter Ben Trebilcook to pen the sixth film in the “Die Hard” series. Trebilcook had already cooked up an interesting plot point -- the story would begin in New York City before moving to Tokyo for the bulk of the movie's action -- and promised the quality would be high.
“It is extremely faithful to the franchise and characters and is a natural progression. It's also a very plausible storyline,” Trebilcook told the site.
Trebilcook had reportedly landed the gig when he met “A Good Day to Die Hard” producer Larry D. Webster on the set of his new film, “Knockout,” a video game-themed action flick featuring real martial arts stars. He told the site that that connection was invaluable to his involvement with “Die Hardest,” but that there were still “many hurdles to leap yet and two of those are called [series star] Bruce Willis and [producer] Alex Young.”
“[There's] the possibility producers might go back and find some other source material to base the next one on, like they did with the first and second,” Trebilcook added. “Mine though, I feel it could be the ‘Rocky Balboa' of the ‘Die Hard' franchise.”
With such lofty promises, the story sounded too good to be true -- and it was. Screen Crush reports that several sources they spoke to vehemently denied the report, with one at studio Fox saying, “There is no truth to this whatsoever.”
So if you thought the “Die Hard” filmmakers had simply run out of clever puns to use as sequel titles, rest assured that “Die Hardest” will not live. At least, not until the series reaches its 20th installment -- though by that point, they may just title that sequel “Dead.”
[via ScreenCrush]
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