“Die Hard” is a Christmas movie, and Dish has the numbers to prove it. Not sure? Watch it for free.

Authored by theknow.denverpost.com and submitted by zibrahim
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Whether you believe the movie “Die Hard” is most definitely not a Christmas flick or you just don’t care — it doesn’t matter to Dish Network. Customers still can watch the movie for free.

The internet video service is offering the classic 1988 action thriller as a free on-demand download for subscribers through Dec. 26. The movie, starring Bruce Willis, has all the features one normally wouldn’t associate with Christmas: terrorists, shooting, kidnapping and all sorts of explosive mayhem. And it all starts with a company Christmas party.

So, of course it’s a Christmas movie, according to Dish. (And yes, Dish said that this is despite the movie being released in July.)

But Dish offers more evidence that it’s a holiday must watch: Last Christmas Eve, 1,329,806 Americans watched “Die Hard,” which is more than “Home Alone” or “The Santa Clause.” It was the 10th most watched movie on Christmas Eve last year.

Dish counted up 300,000 hours of “Die Hard” were recorded on Dish DVRs last Christmas Eve.

Throughout the 2016 holiday season, 2.4 million people watched the movie. The number nearly doubles to 4.3 million if you count Die Hard 2, which again takes place on Christmas Eve.

According to other Dish stats, Rochester, NY watched the most “Die Hard” of cities nationwide. Denver didn’t even make the top 10 even though the second movie was partially filmed at the old Stapleton International Airport.

To watch the movie for free, you’ll need to be a Dish customer with an internet-enabled set-top box. The on-demand movie will be available until the day after Christmas.

Is "Die Hard" a Christmas movie? Yes, of course!

Updated Dec. 15, 2017 at 12:50 p.m. The following corrected information has been added to this article: Because of a reporting error, this story has been updated to reflect the numbers are from Dish Network.

sushipusha on December 16th, 2017 at 03:44 UTC »

I remember when Die Hard first came out, I knew nothing about it (pre internet). All I remember about the trailer was Ode to Joy blasting from the speakers and words saying "Prepare To Be Blown Out of the Theatre!"

And I was.

straya-mate90 on December 15th, 2017 at 21:51 UTC »

Its not Christmas till i see Hanz Gruber falling from Nakatomi Plaza.

Prax150 on December 15th, 2017 at 20:25 UTC »

Yippee ki-yay, Mr. Falcon.