New 'Die Hard' Grabs Biggest Box Office Action With $25 Million
The new "Die Hard" grabbed the biggest box office action of the weekend, beating out comedy "Identity Thief" with Melissa McCarthy and "Safe Haven," the Nicholas Sparks love story adaptation. "A Good Day to Die Hard" paired Bruce Willis with Jai Courtney and raked in $25 million at the box office.
The fifth installment in the "Die Hard" series blasted into theaters this weekend, and is expected to pull in as much as $40 million in Canadian and U.S. theaters when Valentine's Day and President's Day is included. The tally is "right on par with our expectations," Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution at 20th Century Fox Studios, told Reuters.
"A Good Day to Die Hard" and it's $25 million haul may have beaten "Identity Thief" with $23.4 million and "Safe Haven" with $21.4 million, but it's much less than previous installments of the film. The last movie in the series, "Live Free or Die Hard," earned $134 million domestically and another $249 million internationally.
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However, the fact that 57-year-old Willis and his portrayal of John McClane still manages to bring in audiences was not lost on critics. The wisecracking, gun-toting hero has been saving the world from terrorists for 25 years.
"He's one of the few old-guard action stars who still has a solid career going," Paul Dergarabedian, a box-office tracker for Hollywood.com, told The New York Daily News.
In the latest flick, McClane (Willis) goes to Moscow, Russia to help his son, Jack McClane (Courtney) topple a powerful and corrupt Russian official, Viktor Chagarin (Sergei Kolesnikov). In the classic style of the "Die Hard" action thrillers, the two battle terrorists, barely escape explosions, and save the day together.
$61 million more was made by "A Good Day to Die Hard" in foreign theaters, giving the movie about double what the first "Die Hard" made.
"It just shows the consistency of the fan base," Aronson said.
