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. 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.
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.
