Universal Pictures debuted the first trailer for Skyscraper during Super Bowl 52 Sunday, and social media users are accusing the Dwayne Johnson blockbuster of ripping off 1988 action classic Die Hard.
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The action thriller sees the Fast & Furious and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle star as former FBI Hostage Rescue Team leader and U.S. war veteran Will Ford, who sports a prosthetic leg and now assesses security for skyscrapers.
While on assignment in China, Ford finds the tallest, safest building in the world suddenly ablaze — and he’s been framed for it. Wanted and on the run, Ford must find those responsible, clear his name, and somehow rescue his trapped family from gun-wielding bad guys.
“My family is trapped 244 floors in the air,” Ford says, as he’s seen beaten and bloody, using duct tape to fashion makeshift gloves before using rope to tether himself to the stories-high building.
The trailer sees Ford engaging in a one-man war against foreign bad guys with guns, pulling off daredevil feats and impossible escapes, as he attempts to rescue his wife and two young daughters.
Potential moviegoers immediately compared Skyscraper to the original Die Hard, where Bruce Willis’ police detective John McClane is forced to single-handedly infiltrate a towering office building to rescue his wife and mother of his two young children.
So they’re remaking #DieHard with The Rock and calling it #Skyscraper ? 🙊
— Will Kennedy (@willkennedynews) February 5, 2018
“So they’re remaking Die Hard with the Rock and calling it Skyscraper?” asks Will Kennedy on Twitter.
“Love the trailer for the Rock’s new movie Not Die Hard,” jokes Brett Erlich.
Love the trailer for the Rock’s new movie Not Die Hard.
— Brett Erlich (@bretterlich) February 5, 2018
Social media users pointed out the obvious similarities, but did point out the minor difference of Will Ford being differently abled with a prosthetic foot:
**WRITERS ROOM**
“Are we worried this is going to be panned as a Die Hard ripoff?”
“Give The Rock a prosthetic foot.”
“Are we worried we’re going to make TOO much money?”
— Zach Harper (@talkhoops) February 5, 2018
Somewhere in Hollywood: “I have this completely original idea for a movie for The Rock: a dad has to save his wife from terrorists on the top floor of an unfinished skyscraper.”
— Jim Geraghty (@jimgeraghty) February 5, 2018
“Yippy kai-yay IF YOU SMELL WHAT THE ROCK. IS. COOKING,” joked Ken Yeung, while Drew Olanoff dubs the movie “Die Hard: As a Rock.”
Yippy kai-yay IF YOU SMELL WHAT THE ROCK. IS. COOKING.
— Ken Yeung (@thekenyeung) February 5, 2018
Die Hard: As a Rock
— drew olanoff (@yoda) February 5, 2018
Others still compared Skyscraper to 1974 action disaster flick The Towering Inferno, which saw a disastrous fire break out in the world’s tallest building.
Wait, The Rock is in a remake of Die Hard AND The Towering Inferno? SIGN ME UP
— Rich Siegel (@siegel) February 5, 2018
Glad The Rock is remaking my favorite movie pic.twitter.com/wCQd3R5DG7
— Chase Mitchell (@ChaseMit) February 5, 2018
“I dunno how The Rock has all this time to do terrible good movies, charm his way through [HBO series] Ballers, embarrass [Fast & Furious co-star] Tyrese publicly and still love his family, but somehow he does,” writes Rae Sanni.
I dunno how The Rock has all this time to do terrible good movies, charm his way through Ballers, embarrass Tyrese publicly and still love his family, but somehow he does.
— Rae Sanni (@raesanni) February 5, 2018
If The Rock wants to keep making the same movie over and over again I’m here for that. #SuperBowl
— Jamal Thalji (@jthalji) February 5, 2018
“If The Rock wants to keep making the same movie over and over again,” writes Jamal Thalji, “I’m here for that.”
Skyscraper is the latest from Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions, under producers Beau Flynn (San Andreas, Baywatch), Hiram Garcia (San Andreas, Central Intelligence), and director Rawson Marshall Thurber (director of We’re the Millers and Central Intelligence).
Skyscraper opens July 13.
