Die Hard (film series) reunite with separated wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) in Los Angeles at her company's Christmas party. Holly left to pursue her career with their two children, and uses her maiden name. At the fictional Nakatomi Plaza, East German terrorists break in and take the celebrants hostage. McClane escapes detection and hides throughout the building. He kills off the gang and learns their real plan, to steal $640 million in bearer bonds from the building's vault. In the finale, McClane shoots the terrorist leader, Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), out the window to fall thirty stories. It was released on July 15, 1988
Die Hard list of "The Top 25 Action Movies". Debates have been had about whether or not "Die Hard" should be considered a Christmas film. Some feel that because the events of the film occur on Christmas Eve and its setting includes a Christmas party, that is enough to qualify it as a Christmas film, whilst others feel that since the film is not actually about Christmas and focuses on an action plot involving a lone police officer trying to stop terrorists, it should not be considered a Christmas film. On December 24, 2017, screenwriter Steven E. de Souza stated on Twitter