Bruce Willis to Make Die Hard 4

He may be a little older, but John McClane is definitely back in action, as Bruce Willis announced today that he will star in a fourth Die Hard movie next year with the subtle title of Live Free or Die Hard. And the next Die Hard in the Bruce Willis franchise is coming quick, supposedly set for release on June 29th. 2007, according to Variety, with production starting as early as next month. Die Hard 4 tosses its hat into what's already been called "sequel summer" with Shrek the Third, Harry Potter 5, Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Ocean's Thirteen, Spider-Man 3, Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer, Evan Almighty, The Bourne Ultimatum, and Alien vs. Predator 2 ALL scheduled to open during the summer months of 2007. Now we can add Live Free or Die Hard to the long list of Summer 2007 sequels.

The Die Hard franchise began with the highly influential first film in 1988, which catapulted Bruce Willis from TV star to movie action star. Since then, through two sequels - Die Hard 2: Die Harder and Die Hard With a Vengeance, the franchise has earned $740 million and that doesn't even touch the very lucrative DVD sales or the fact that one of the three movies plays on cable pretty much every week. The Die Hard movies are a staple of the action genre and Live Free or Die Hard will be the first film in the franchise since 1995. With Sylvester Stallone going back to Rocky and maybe Rambo and Harrison Ford continually talking about making another Indiana Jones adventure, it was only a matter of time before John McClane and the Die Hard franchise resurfaced.

Bruce Willis is set to star in Live Free or Die Hard but Len Wiseman, the man behind the Underworld films, which star Kate Beckinsale, will direct the film. According to The BBC, Live Free or Die Hard will feature a modern terrorist threat, an attack on a US computer network that could "bring the country to a standstill." Of course, John McClane will save the day. Well, we assume he will.

According to MTV.com, Justin Long (Dodgeball, Accepted) is in talks to join Bruce Willis in Live Free or Die Hard as a computer-savvy accomplice. No word on whether or not Bonnie Bedelia or Reginald VelJohnson might cameo. MTV also quoted Twentieth Century Fox, the studio producing Live Free or Die Hard, as saying that this fourth installment in the Bruce Willis franchise will feature the "biggest, most realistic set pieces in the franchise's illustrious history."

Production rumors and even scripts for Die Hard 4 have circulated for the better part of the last decade with different versions hitting the net and different screenwriters taking a crack on John McClane. As noted by MTV, Mark Bomback (Godsend) and Doug Richardson (Die Hard 2, Hostage) both took recent shots at reinventing the Die Hard franchise under their pen.

Before Bruce Willis saves the world again in Live Free or Die Hard, Bruce Willis will be seen in Fast Food Nation from Richard Linklater, Alpha Dog with Justin Timberlake (which has been long-delayed, but is now scheduled for January 2007), and The Astronaut Farmer with Billy Bob Thornton and the hard-working 51 year-old has already had three movies released in 2006 - the thriller Lucky Number Slevin, the action film 16 Blocks, and the animated Over the Hedge.

[Additional Sources: MTV, Reuters, BBC, IMDB]