In the summer of 1988, Die Hard premiered and followed a lone detective who must save a group of partygoers on Christmas Eve after they’re held hostage by a group of German terrorists. The movie was a smash hit and eventually received four sequels. Check out our guide below to discover where you can watch all five Die Hard movies in order.
The original 1988 film starred Bruce Willis as John McClane, a detective who arrives in Los Angeles to reconcile with his estranged wife. But after her Christmas Party in Nakatomi Plaza (set in the real-life Fox Plaza in LA’s Century City) is ambushed by a group of terrorists, it’s up to McClane to save his wife and take down the terrorist organization. The movie became a smash hit, eventually grossing over $143 million and becoming the 7th highest-grossing movie of the year.
Die Hard 2 hit theaters in 1990. This time around, McClane arrives at Dulles Airport in Washington DC to meet his wife who is flying in from LA. But a corrupt military leader is also landing at the same time, and his devout followers seize Dulles, shutting down air traffic control and demanding safe passage for their leader…otherwise, planes will crash. The sequel was an even bigger success, grossing $240 million.
Next up was Die Hard with a Vengeance in 1995. The film takes place in New York City after a bomb explodes in midtown Manhattan during the morning commute, and a member of the German terrorist group from the first film claims responsibility. He orders McClane to perform a series of tests, threatening to kill more people if he doesn’t. Yet again, the film grossed even more than its predecessors, raking in over $366 million.
After taking a 12-year hiatus, the franchise returned in 2007 with Live Free or Die Hard. The new film brought the franchise into the modern era and focused on the emerging problem of cyber terrorism. In the movie, McClane is sent to recruit a young hacker to help the government counter-hack a terrorist organization that’s trying to destroy America through technology, compromising the nation’s transit networks and the stock market.
The final Die Hard film, A Good Day to Die Hard, came out in 2013. McClane finds trouble yet again, this time in Russia after a corrupt government official tries to silence a whistleblower. He needs the help of his estranged son, CIA official Jack McClane, to help him get the job done and the duo have an action-packed escape from Russia. Willis ended up reprising his role as McClane for the final time in a 2020 commercial before retiring from acting due to his dementia diagnosis in 2022.
Check out our guide below to find out where you can stream all five Die Hard films in order.
