Skip to content
24 October · 62 days to ChristmasThe advent calendar opens 1 December →
A silver-blue office tower with a warm Christmas party floor stands above palms and city lights, beside a foreground grille, tipped glass and loose red ribbon.

Essential Christmas · 1988

Die Hard

63/100Festive FactorWhy it scores 63 ↓
UK certificate 15132 min
Action

Yes, it counts.

On Disney+ · UK subscription →
Plan this film night ↓Can the kids watch? ↓
Explore this film 14 sections

The CineClaus Christmas score

Festive Factor

Christmas all the way through.

Two paper elves study a tall silver-blue tower model with an amber Christmas party floor, one taking notes and the other pointing towards its roof.

A little magic in the making.

Five ingredients make the Festive Factor.
Open an ingredient to find out more.

Christmas in the storyChristmas is the deadline.15/30

What we ask: Take Christmas out. Does the plot survive? Worth up to 30 of the 100 points.

A world dressed for ChristmasVisibly Christmas for most of it.15/20

What we ask: How much of the running time is visibly Christmas? Worth up to 20 of the 100 points.

The little seasonal details5 of the 10 kinds of Christmas icon we count turn up on screen.8/15

What we ask: How many kinds of Christmas icon turn up on screen: trees, lights, snow, carols and the rest? Worth up to 15 of the 100 points.

A Christmas heartHow far the ending rests on goodwill, family and belief: partly.10/20

What we ask: Does the ending depend on what Christmas means: goodwill, family, redemption, belief? Worth up to 20 of the 100 points.

A returning traditionEveryone looks it up in December (250,000+ searches).11/15

What we ask: Is it actually watched at Christmas in the UK? Worth up to 15 of the 100 points.

38/100

Cosiness Rating Rating

Mixed in tone. Genuinely frightening. A content ending.

Our ruling & the working →

Die Hard is one of the films our scoring is calibrated against, so its Festive Factor is held at 63. The five ingredients add up to 59.

What do these scores mean?

Festive Factor measures how Christmassy a film is. Five ingredients add up to 100: story (30), setting (20), seasonal details (15), emotional heart (20) and returning tradition (15).

Cosiness is a separate score for warmth of tone, sense of safety, visual comfort, a reassuring ending and how easily you can settle into it.

How the Festive Factor works →
Your next film night

Where to watch

United KingdomChecked

Disney+

Included with a subscription
Open Die Hard on Disney+ (opens in a new tab)

Apple TV

Rent or buy
See viewing options on Apple TV (opens in a new tab)

Prime Video

Rent or buy
See viewing options on Prime Video (affiliate link, opens in a new tab)

Rakuten TV

Rent or buy
Search the service for it

Sky Store

Rent or buy
Search the service for it

Die Hard · Rental and purchase cost extra, separately from membership.

Christmas on telly? Channel 4, some years. No broadcast date is confirmed here; a past tradition isn’t tonight’s TV listing.

As an Amazon Associate, Cine Claus earns from qualifying purchases. Buying through a link helps pay for the site - it never changes a score.

Streaming changes constantly and we cannot promise it is still right - check the service before you settle in. Streaming availability information provided by Streaming Availability API by Movie of the Night (opens in a new tab). Sky and Rakuten TV data by JustWatch.

The story

About Die Hard

A New York detective flies to Los Angeles hoping to patch things up with his estranged wife at her company's Christmas party, and arrives just as armed robbers seize the tower and take the guests hostage. Cut off upstairs, barefoot and with no backup, he picks the crew off one at a time while trying to convince the police outside that he exists. Whether it counts as a Christmas film has been argued about in Britain ever since.

The CineClaus verdict

Yes, it counts.

It is set at Christmas, the plot turns on a Christmas party, and the season does real work rather than sitting in the background as set dressing. That does not make it a film you put on with your nan.

It is a Christmas film the way a lock-in is a night out: entirely, and not for everyone. We have done the maths and we are comfortable.

The family desk

Can the kids watch?

15

Our take: not a family film. Sustained violence, a great deal of swearing, and a body count. Teenagers, possibly. Small children, no.

BBFC advice: Contains strong violence, language, nudity and hard drug use.

Content advice & accessibility
Where the advice comes from
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).
Our age guidance
Editorial, separate from the official 15 certificate, and never looser than it.
Subtitles
Check your chosen service and edition for supported tracks.

The series

The Die Hard films

3 films, in release order

  • 1988

    You’re here

    Die Hard

    1988

    You’re on this film’s page
  • 1990

    The film after

    Die Hard 2

    1990

    The first film in the Die Hard series, followed by Die Hard 2 in 1990.

    Not in our catalogue yet
  • 1990

    The sequel

    Die Hard 2

    1990

    Explore film : Die Hard 2 (1990)
A first look

Watch the trailer

Official re-release trailer from Park Circus.

A stepped silver office tower glows with a single Christmas party floor above a palm-lined night skyline, with a tipped glass and vent on a foreground ledge.

Re-release trailer

Die Hard

Watch on YouTube (opens in a new tab)Nothing from YouTube loads until you press play.
The people behind the film

Cast and crew

The faces in front of the camera, and the people who brought the story to life.

Main cast

In billing order
Bruce Willis with a shaved head and light stubble, wearing a navy shirt over a white t-shirt, at a panel event.Bruce Willisas John McClane
Alan Rickman at a film festival in 2007, in a dark jacket.Alan Rickmanas Hans Gruber
Alexander Godunovas Karl
Black and white studio portrait of a young woman with her hair pinned up, wearing a denim shirt and a chain necklace.Bonnie Bedeliaas Holly Gennaro McClane
A smiling man in dark-framed glasses and a black cap and navy polo shirt, looking at the camera in a video-call style frame.Reginald VelJohnsonas Sgt. Al Powell
Close portrait of a smiling older man with short fair hair, wearing a dark jacket and a silver tie, in front of a white event backdrop.William Athertonas Thornburg
Paul Gleasonas Dwayne T. Robinson
Hart Bochneras Ellis

Behind the camera

Directed by
John McTiernan
Original score
Michael Kamen
Writing & production credits
Writers
Jeb Stuart
Steven E. de Souza
Producers
Lawrence Gordon
Joel Silver
Photo credits

Portraits via Wikimedia Commons, each under its own licence, approved for this page by a person. Sources and full photographer credits:

Bruce Willis · Gage Skidmore · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab).

Alan Rickman · David Shankbone · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab).

Bonnie Bedelia · Warner Bros. Television · Source image (opens in a new tab) · Public domain.

Reginald VelJohnson · Sidewalks Entertainment on Vimeo · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY 3.0 (opens in a new tab).

William Atherton · Ilya Haykinson · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab).

Keep the Christmas feeling

Music & soundtrack

That tune you recognised. That score you loved. Take a little of the film into the rest of your Christmas.

The original score album, track by track.

Behind the music. Michael Kamen composed the score.

Explore Michael Kamen →
About this music list

These are the songs and soundtrack we hold for the film, not a complete cue sheet, and they give no scene timings. Album track lists and durations come from MusicBrainz. Spotify and Apple Music links open the matched recordings; links marked Search open a search on that service. Album covers are each release's own, from the Cover Art Archive, credited under the cover.

La-La Land Records ↗ (opens in a new tab) AFI Catalog ↗ (opens in a new tab) MusicBrainz ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Step into the story

Filming locations

The real places behind Die Hard. Choose one to explore.

Find it on the mapFox Plaza, Century City, Los Angeles

© OpenStreetMap contributors (opens in a new tab)

Open larger map ↗ (OpenStreetMap, opens in a new tab)

Map shows the selected place. Drag to explore; use + and − to zoom.

Choose your next scene

Photographs of the real places

There’s more behind the film.
Explore the next place.

Photo credits & location sources

These are photographs of the places, not film stills. Dates vary; photographs do not show current conditions or guarantee access.

Fox Plaza, Century City, Los Angeles · Steven Lek · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab) · AFI Catalog (opens in a new tab)

Fox Studio Lot, Los Angeles · AFI Catalog (opens in a new tab)

Map pins mark the place, not a camera position or a route. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), including any pin positions read from OpenStreetMap.

A little more Die Hard

Film facts &
behind the scenes

For the fans who stay after the credits.

Movie magic

A real tower plus a soundstage copy of its floors

The unfinished Fox Plaza in Century City supplied the exteriors and some of the action. For the office interiors, the studio built a three-storey floor set on a soundstage next door, at a reported cost of about $1.5 million.

Read the story
On your next watchRooms that look like different parts of the same tower but were shot in two places.

Source: AFI Catalog production notes ↗ (opens in a new tab)

On set

Shot entirely in Los Angeles

Despite the New York and Christmas Eve set-up in the story, the whole shoot took place in Los Angeles, finishing in early spring 1988, a few months before its summer release.

Read the story

Source: AFI Catalog production notes ↗ (opens in a new tab)

On set

Stars who did some of their own stunts

Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman each performed some of their own stunts. Willis was also still working on his television series at the time, and the two jobs overlapped for at least one day.

Read the story

Source: AFI Catalog production notes ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Movie magic

Based on a 1979 novel with a different mood

The film adapts Roderick Thorp's 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever, which is where the story of a lone cop in a besieged high-rise comes from.

Read the story

Source: AFI Catalog ↗ (opens in a new tab)

And at a glance

The Christmas in it
No snow on screen. Set on 24 December. Carols and songs heard: Christmas in Hollis, Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!, Winter Wonderland. Set over one Christmas Eve in Los Angeles. No real snow: the closing flurry is paper drifting down from the tower while Let It Snow plays.
Releases and certificates
: In cinemas (US). Opened in Los Angeles and New York in mid-July, a summer release for a film set at Christmas.
: In cinemas, rated 15. Reached British cinemas in early February 1989, more than six months after the American opening.
: Back in cinemas, rated 15. Back in British cinemas for its 25th anniversary year, reclassified at the same certificate.
: Back in cinemas. A limited 30th anniversary run in December.
On television
: Channel 4. A 9pm slot three days before Christmas.
Past showings, not tonight’s listings.
Awards
Nominated: Academy Awards 1989, Best Film Editing.
Nominated: Academy Awards 1989, Best Sound.
Nominated: Academy Awards 1989, Best Sound Effects Editing.
Nominated: Academy Awards 1989, Best Visual Effects.
Won: Japan Academy Prize 1990, Outstanding Foreign Language Film.
Sources & a note on these facts

Each production story is linked to its source, in our own words. Ending details stay behind a spoiler reveal.

From page to screen

The book behind the film

The book

Nothing Lasts Forever

At Amazon.co.uk
Check the current price and availability

As an Amazon Associate, Cine Claus earns from qualifying purchases. Buying through a link helps pay for the site - it never changes a score.

Gifts for film lovers · Die Hard

Something for the Die Hard fan

Little gifts for someone whose Christmas always includes Die Hard.

As an Amazon Associate, Cine Claus earns from qualifying purchases. Buying through a link helps pay for the site - it never changes a score.

For the fan who watches it every Christmas.Sold by the linked retailer
Good to know

Questions about Die Hard

Is Die Hard a Christmas film?

Yes. We class it as an essential Christmas film: it is set on Christmas Eve and the story turns on an office Christmas party.

What age rating is Die Hard in the UK?

It is a 15 in the UK. The BBFC says it contains strong violence, language, nudity and hard drug use.

Where was Die Hard filmed?

In Los Angeles. Fox Plaza in Century City played the skyscraper, and an extra floor was built on a soundstage on the Fox studio lot next door.

When did Die Hard come out in UK cinemas?

It opened in British cinemas on 3 February 1989, after its American release in July 1988, and returned for re-releases in 2013 and 2018.

Who directed Die Hard?

John McTiernan directed it, from a screenplay by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza, with a score by Michael Kamen.

More like this

If Die Hard is your kind of Christmas…

Find another favourite →
Swipe to browse all three →