Macaulay Culkin Sparks Holiday Debate: Die Hard Isn’t a Christmas Movie

It is December, so naturally we are debating Die Hard again. This time, the grenade lobbed across the tinsel came from the guy who booby-trapped his house with paint cans.

Macaulay Culkin vs. Die Hard (yes, again)

Macaulay Culkin is on the road with his 'A Nostalgic Night with Macaulay Culkin' tour — screenings of Home Alone followed by a Q&A. At the Long Beach stop, he talked through his go-to holiday watches and then tossed out a take that got the room buzzing (and booing), per People.

"Die Hard isn't a Christmas movie."

• He said 'A Christmas Story' was a fixture in his house growing up.
• He shouted out 'Scrooged' as an underrated gem they still watch constantly.
• 'Elf' gets a thumbs up from him, but it does not hit the nostalgia button since he did not grow up with it.
• On Die Hard, he argued it is simply set at Christmas. Swap the holiday to St. Patrick's Day and, in his view, nothing about the plot changes. The crowd booed; he joked he would meet any challengers at the loading dock and doubled down. His point of contrast: try moving Home Alone to St. Patrick's Day — the holiday is baked into that story.

That stance puts him on the opposite side of a lot of people who have been flying the Die Hard-is-holiday-fare flag for years. For the record, the film's screenwriter Steven E. de Souza has said it counts as a Christmas movie. Writer Bryan Wolford has also laid out the case. And by that broader 'if it is set at Christmas, it is a Christmas movie' logic, fans sometimes lump in other action titles like First Blood, Lethal Weapon, Cobra, Invasion U.S.A., A Force of One, and even On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Meanwhile, 'A Christmas Story' alumni plant their flag

Peter Billingsley — yes, Ralphie himself — recently came down on the pro-Die Hard side. He pointed to McClane and Holly's fractured marriage finding forgiveness by the end, the whole 'hope and joy' vibe, plus the seasonal details like Christmas music and a snowy finish. His bottom line:

"In my opinion it is a Christmas movie."

So where do you land: Team 'Yippee-ki-yay, it is absolutely a Christmas movie' or Team 'Culkin is right, it is just set in December'?