Courtesy Photo A movie poster of Die Hard 2.

Thirty-five years ago, Die Hard 2 appeared on over 2,500 American and Canadian movie screens, and a portion of the blockbuster movie was filmed in Alpena.

The movie’s main star was Bruce Willis in the second installment of the Die-Hard series.

For a better part of the 1990s, the movie was Hollywood’s highest grossing theater release. Media noted the 124-minute movie was filmed and produced in slightly under ten months. A number of early summer release dates were set. However, the film was not released until July 4, 1990. That opening weekend brought in over $2.1 million in ticket sales.

Die Hard 2 follows the 1988 release of Die Hard, which also featured Bruce Willis

The movie was filmed and produced for $60 to $70 million. Following the initial American and Canadian release by 20th Century Fox with a subsequent world-wide release, the film earned more than $240 million in box office sales. This dollar amount is not reflective of subsequent home rental, DVD purchase, and video game revenue.

The screenplay was adapted from Walter Wager’s 1987 novel 58 Minutes. The novel has the same plot but differs slightly: a police officer must stop terrorists who take an airport hostage while his daughter’s plane circles overhead and has 58 minutes to do so before the plane crashes. 

The movie plot

On Christmas Eve 1990, just two years after the infamous Nakatomi Tower incident (the 1988 movie hostage plot), former New York City police officer John McClane (Willis), is now serving with the Los Angeles Police Department. At the airport he is anxiously awaiting the arrival of his wife, Holly’s inbound flight.

The plot thickens when a renegade military unit shuts down and interrupts the airport’s control tower and runways. This puts incoming flights in a perilous situation with the clock running out and aircraft fuel being consumed.

The military unit’s goal is to free General Ramon Esperanza, a drug lord, being extradited to face charges in the United States.

Action-packed conflicts occur in and around the airport. Especially in the movie’s concluding 25 minutes.

The Alpena connection

The movie was primarily filmed in various Los Angeles studios and locations, Colorado and Washington state sites, and Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan and Alpena.

Why Alpena?

Snowy winter weather was needed along with a long airport runway.

The Alpena filmed scenes included:

– Passengers exiting an airliner from an escape slide

– Landing of giant cargo aircraft

– Various shots of crashing aircraft and wreckage along with survivor searches

A Los Angeles Times article reported that when the movie was being filmed in Washington state, the airport lacked snow accumulation. Alpena County Regional Airport was rapidly identified for its long runways and the region’s snowy environment.

The Times went on to report, “Charter jets and semi-trailers brought an entire production unit to the town in days, filling every hotel room, exhausting the supply of rental cars, and adding 400 local citizens to the casts as extras.”

A January 2013 Alpena News Facebook post collected comments about residents participating or engaged with Die Hard 2.

Resident Paul Labrecque stated he and his wife appeared as film extras.

Wendy Szatkowski Sobeck revealed, “My Aunt Sally Hatch and Aunt Glenda were extras in it. They had a blast!”

Brian Cousineau stated, “Cari Hoeberling Berndt was about the only person that had more than 10 seconds on screen. She was the stewardess when they are getting the passengers out of the plane.”

Finally, Darrel Kelly Milligan quipped, “I portrayed a fireman – just my feet made it in the movie!”

Want to know more?

Should you like to have detailed insight into all the movie’s filming locations go to the following and search under Die Hard 2 filminglocatioins.com.

For trivia and insight on movie scenes and mistakes, visit the following and search under Die Hard 2 funtrivia.com and moviemistakes.com.