A disappointing month will come to a disappointing end this weekend as the box office offers up yet another underwhelming frame. How underwhelming? While last year gave us a surprisingly-strong debut in Act of Valor ($24.4 million), not one title is expected to reach $15 million by Oscar Sunday. Among new releases, Snitch is in the best shape. The action flick starring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson won a narrow victory on Friday: taking in an estimated $4.14 million from 2,511 locations. Snitch should see a $12 million debut, though that won’t be enough to beat Identity Thief. The comedy holdover took in $4.1 million on Friday, but is expected to earn $13 million over its third weekend in theatres. Debuting in fourth place, Dark Skies earned an estimated $3 million from 2,313 locations. The extraterrestrial-thriller is projected to make $8.4 million through Oscar Sunday, putting it behind holdovers like Safe Haven, Escape from Planet Earth and A Good Day to Die Hard. We’ll have full details tomorrow.

This week on The Collision, we look back on the Die Hard franchise, its influences, its endearing characteristics, its legacy, and the latest film in the series, A Good Day to Die Hard.  As always, we finish up with our recommendations.

Click here to listen to the new episode of The Collision, click here for the previous episode (“Steven Soderbergh and Side Effects“), click here to add the podcast to your RSS, and click here to find us on iTunes. To keep up to date with The Collision, you can follow us on Twitter at @MattGoldberg, @AdamChitwood, and @DrClawMD (Dave Trumbore). Hit the jump to check out the trailers for this week’s recommendations.

A Good Day to Die Hard turned in a good weekend at the box office with $25 million, netting $33 million since its Valentine’s Day opening.  It looked like the Nicholas Sparks adaptation Safe Haven was going to secure the second spot with $21 million, but Identity Thief stole the silver with $23 million.  The comedy, starring Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy, now has $70 million in just 10 days.  Check out the full rundown of the weekend’s Top 10 below:

Before I dive headfirst into what could be considered overselling to the “nth degree”, I have a disclaimer: I’m a total sucker for nostalgia-inducing, high school-centric, coming of age films. With that out of the way, I cannot recommend enough that you watch author/writer/director Stephen Chboksy‘s adaptation of his own novel, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, as soon as possible. The pic hit Blu-ray/DVD this past week and over the course of 24 hours I rented it, watched it, loved it, returned it (yes, somehow late fees are still a thing…), and purchased it for my own collection. I could go on and on about the emotional note the movie hit for me at every turn but I’ll spare you the fanboy torment. Suffice to say that I’ll be looking back fondly on this one for quite a while.

My “Blu-ray/DVD pick of the week” aside, this week’s installment features a week of Die Hard that includes Matt revisiting the entire franchise and A Good Day to Die Hard interviews with Bruce Willis and more, coverage from Steve’s visit to the set of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, a slew of video interviews from this year’s VES Awards including talks with Ang Lee and Wally Pfister just to name a few, Beautiful Creatures interviews with Emmy Rossum and more, and a healthy amount of images from the floor of Toy Fair 2013. Yep, you guessed it, a brief recap and link to each of the above can be found on the other side.

The holiday weekend is off and running at the box office, and it’s a battle of brawn over sap as A Good Day to Die Hard and Safe Haven are neck-and-neck for the top spot.  The fifth entry in the Die Hard franchise netted near-universal negative reviews, and now the pic is performing slightly under expectations at the box office as the actioner took in an estimated $7.2 million on Friday to add to its $8.2 million take on Valentine’s Day Thursday.  Nipping at Die Hard’s heels is the Nicholas Sparks adaptation Safe Haven, which scored an estimated $7.1 million on Friday to combine with its $8.8 million gross on Thursday.  Warner Bros.’ YA adaptation Beautiful Creatures, however, fell flat with a paltry $2.3 million on Friday that puts it in the number 6 slot overall and on track for a very low $11.5 million weekend.  All of this despite the fact that Beautiful Creatures garnered considerably more positive reviews than both Die Hard and Safe Haven.  We’ll have full details tomorrow.

The newest Die Hard movie, A Good Day to Die Hard, opened yesterday, and so we’ve teamed up with 20th Century Fox to give away limited edition infographic posters for the first four movies.  Each poster breaks down the body counts, explosions, plot points, and more for each film.  They posters are pretty neat, and we’re giving away sets to 10 lucky readers.  The posters are on high-quality paper and measure approximately 12″x16″.

Hit the jump to check out the posters, and to find out how to enter.  Be sure to check out my retrospective on Die Hard, Die Hard 2, Die Hard with a Vengeance, and Live Free or Die Hard plus my review of A Good Day to Die Hard.

Opening this weekend is director John Moore’s A Good Day to Die Hard.  The fifth Die Hard film has John McClane (Bruce Willis) teaming up with his estranged son, Jack (Jai Courtney), to settle their differences and take down the bad guys.   The film also stars Yulia Snigir, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Sebastian Koch, Cole Hauser, Amaury Nolasco, Megalyn Echikunwoke, and Anne Vyalitsyna.

During the recent Los Angeles press day I got to speak with Yuliya Snigir. We talked about her love of chess, transitioning from modeling to acting, her audition process, and more.  In addition, we also talked about her other upcoming movies like Delirium and Freezer.  Hit the jump to watch.

This week, I’ve looked back at the Die Hard series, and I can say without hesitation that of the ones that are currently available on Blu-ray, three of the four are worth owning.  Because A Good Day to Die Hard just hit theaters, Fox has released Die Hard: 25th Anniversary Collection, which is a five-disc collection featuring the first four Die Hard films (Die Hard / Die Hard 2: Die Harder / Die Hard with a Vengeance / Live Free or Die Hard), and an all-new bonus disc, “Decoding Die Hard.” The set is Amazon’s Gold Box Deal of the Day for $25.00 (58% off $59.99), so it’s worth a purchase if you don’t own these films on Blu-ray.  It also comes with a reward code to see A Good Day to Die Hard, but see the film at your own risk.

And in case you missed it, Bond 50: The Complete 22 Film Collection is still $129.99 (57% off $299.99), so click here to go pick it up.

Opening this weekend is director John Moore’s A Good Day to Die Hard.  The fifth Die Hard film has John McClane (Bruce Willis) teaming up with his estranged son, Jack (Jai Courtney), to settle their differences and take down the bad guys.   The film also stars Yulia Snigir, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Sebastian Koch, Cole Hauser, Amaury Nolasco, Megalyn Echikunwoke, and Anne Vyalitsyna.

During the recent Los Angeles press day I got to speak with Jai Courtney. We talked about the audition process, the biggest surprise making the movie, working with Bruce Willis, Spartacus, I, Frankenstein, and more.  Hit the jump to watch.

Over the last few days, I’ve looked back at the Die Hard franchise, and tried to explain what makes these films unique.  The obvious answer is John McClane (Bruce Willis).  Willis helped to craft a memorable character who was the wise-cracking, scrappy, desperate hero we can all root for.  But it’s not simply an attitude.  Die Hard is a matter of circumstance and response, and the two best films—Die Hard and Die Hard with a Vengeance—back McClane into a corner and force him to rely on his wits and strength to survive.  He gets the shit kicked out of him, swears constantly, but laughs in the face of near death.  John McClane’s personality lives in A Good Day to Die Hard.  Everything else dies horribly.

Opening this weekend is director John Moore’s A Good Day to Die Hard.  The fifth Die Hard film has John McClane (Bruce Willis) teaming up with his estranged son, Jack (Jai Courtney), to settle their differences and take down the bad guys.   The film also stars Yulia Snigir, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Sebastian Koch, Cole Hauser, Amaury Nolasco, Megalyn Echikunwoke, and Anne Vyalitsyna.

During the recent Los Angeles press day I got to speak with Bruce Willis.  We talked about how John McClane is one of the most popular characters in movie history, what McClane is up to in the fifth installment, how the first Die Hard had one of the best movie villains and that they never should have killed him, and more.  In addition, Willis talked about Sin City 2 and what it will take to get him to work with Luc Besson again.  Hit the jump to watch.

20th Century Fox has released a new clip from director John Moore’s sequel A Good Day to Die Hard, and it demonstrates exactly why it’s probably not a good idea to think you can best a helicopter full of guns.  Bruce Willis’s John McClane and Jai Courtney’s Jack McClane square off against said helicopter in this clip, giving fans a tease of the kind of action they can expect from the fifth film in the Die Hard franchise.  I’ll say this: the CG effects don’t look terrible.

Hit the jump to watch the new clip, and if you missed it click here to read the first entry in Matt’s ongoing Die Hard retrospective series.  The film also stars Sebastian Koch, Yulia Snigir, Cole Hauser, Amaury Nolasco, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Anne Vyalitsyna, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.  A Good Day to Die Hard opens Thursday, February 14th.

It’s been 25 years since Die Hard exploded into theaters, launching a new cinematic hero and changing the paradigm of action movies.  In A Good Day to Die Hard, Bruce Willis reprises his iconic role as police detective John McClane.  Set against the backdrop of deadly corruption and political vendetta in Russia, McClane teams up with his estranged son, Jack (Jai Courtney), to settle their differences and take down the bad guys.  The film, which opens in theaters on February 14^th, also features Sebastian Koch and Yulia Snigir.

At the recent press day, Willis, Courtney and director John Moore talked about why it was time for another Die Hard movie, what makes the McClane character so appealing to audiences, the origin of the signature line, taking the franchise to another country for the first time, and using Mi-24 assault helicopters in the action sequences.  Willis also discussed what it’s meant to him personally to play one of the greatest action characters in film history, why being a father is his favorite job, and how his real life experience has enabled him to play a great on screen dad.  Hit the jump to read more.

This Valentine’s Day, 20th Century Fox is releasing the latest entry in the Die Hard franchise, A Good Day to Die Hard, and today the studio has unveiled a new featurette for the film.  Rather than focusing on the upcoming film, this featurette actually provides a nice look back at the series as a whole.  It plays like a supercut of 25 years of Die Hard, and also acts as a reminder that the Die Hard: 25th Anniversary Blu-ray Collection is now available to purchase.  If you haven’t signed up for our contenst to win a copy of the Blu-ray set, I highly suggest you do so right here.

Hit the jump to watch the featurette “A Walk Down Memory McClane.”  A Good Day to Die Hard opens on February 14th.

I can’t say no to a Die Hard film, especially when they’ve restored the franchise to its rightful R-rating.  Die Hard movies require wise-cracks, swearing, and John McClane (Bruce Willis) getting the ever-loving shit kicked out of him.  Hopefully, McClane’s mission to Moscow, A Good Day to Hard, will deliver in a big way.

I’m pleased to announce that we’re giving away 25 passes to the Atlanta screening of A Good Day to Hard.  Hit the jump to find out how you can check out the film early and for free.  The film also stars Jai Courtney, Sebastian Koch, Yulia Snigir, Cole Hauser, Amaury Nolasco, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Anne Vyalitsyna, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead.  A Good Day to Die Hard opens Thursday, February 14th.