Olympus Has Fallen and 5 other obvious Die Hard knockoffs

Hollywood has been riding Bruce Willis' coattails for decades

Olympus Has Fallen
(Image credit: Facebook/Olympus Has Fallen)

Today's biggest new release is Olympus Has Fallen, an action flick that follows tough-as-nails secret service agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) as he goes up against a group of terrorists who have kidnapped the president. And let's face it: If the producers were really honest, they'd have called the movie Die Hard in the White House.

Since Die Hard achieved massive critical and commercial success in 1988, many films have mimicked its basic structure. Indeed, "Die Hard on a ________" has become a trope unto itself, resulting in some Die Hard-sized successes (1994's "Die Hard on a bus," better known as Speed) and some massive failures (1997's "Die Hard on a boat," better known as Speed 2: Cruise Control). Here, five rather ridiculous examples of "Die Hard on a ________" movies:

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Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.