Bruce Willis' Battery Commercial Sparks New 'Die Hard' Movie Rumors

Advance Auto Parts latest commercial proclaimed, "DIEHARD IS BACK," and starred Bruce Willis as John McClane and De'voreaux White as Argyle.

Using the storytelling tools of the ever-popular movie series, the ad follows McClane as he attempts to get himself out of trouble by charging his car battery. 

The clip triggered some serious nostalgia, leading many fans to believe that it might foreshadow the release of a new Die Hard movie in 2020. 

The two-minute-long commercial kicks off with a tension-filled scene in which Bruce (as John McClane) discovers that his car broke down at the worst of times. 

To circumvent potential catastrophes, he walks over to a nearby petrol station, grabs the DieHard Battery from the shelf — only for danger to rear up its ugly head. 

Imitating the style and narrative structure of the much-beloved movies, the commercial tells the story of McClane's desperate quest to fix up his car and regain his sense of safety. 

Unfortunately, the ad is unrelated to the Die Hard franchise, even though it draws on the unmistakable aesthetic and storytelling style of the famous movie series. 

The first rumors about a new Die Hard movie began to circulate sometime around 2018. 

Drawing a sharp contrast between the glory days of McClane's early adulthood and his much wilder adventures as an aging man, the planned movie was supposed to shed light on hitherto unseen aspects of the police officer's life. 

According to Daily Express, the film ran under the title of Die Hard: Year One before the creators decided on the slicker and more to-the-point McClane.

"The idea that he’s not very significant in this movie is not accurate at all. We are gonna explore John McClane in his 20s. But just as prominent is the 60-year-old version," producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura explained in a previous interview with Entertainment Weekly. 

Unfortunately, the movie was scrapped when The Walt Disney Company acquired 21st Century Fox, a studio on the brink of insolvency, in 2019. 

As part of the larger-scale overhaul, the mass media giant decided to scrap a significant percentage of the titles in development, McClane included. 

The Walt Disney Company has yet to comment on the fate of the next instalment of the Die Hard series. For the time being, it's perhaps best to assume that the commercial was released to promote DieHard Battery, one of the products carried by Advance Auto Parts — and that it is by no means indicative of what may or may not happen next to the long-shelved movie.