Well, actually Russ, Die Hard 2 was an adaptation of "58 Minutes" -- a book.
"Die Hard" itself was supposed to be "Commando 2" with Arnold Schwartzenegger. Meanwhile, Die Hard 3 -- jumping a few movies -- was supposed to be either "Lethal Weapon 4" or a sequel to one of Brandon Lee's films (I forgot the name of the movie he starred in for Fox prior to his death on the set of "The Crow").
Die Hard was original, it also started the new genre "Die Hard on a..." action phase of Hollywood. Some examples I can think of are "Die Hard on a Bus" (Speed), "Die Hard on a Boat" (Under Seige), "Die Hard on a plane" (Passenger 57) along with "Die Hard on Air Force One" (Air Force One).
Speed's director was part of the original "Die Hard" crew. In fact, "Pacific Courier" is featured in both films. As the van that Hans Gruber and his band of terrorists use at the start of Die Hard, and as the plane that blows up on the tarmac when the bus crashes into it in Speed...
And to close off this post -- Lucas, Speilburg and Ford have been musing about Indy 4 for a decade. Harrison has lost his star appeal, however, and donning the fedora again may or may not work out -- that'll be up to Speilburg, Lucas and the script.
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