, it's been CONFIRMED by the director HIMSELF to be a Christmas film!!!
“Call a SPADE, a SPADE; and a TRANNY, a TRANNY, or an IT!!!”.
"THAT'S SOME BAD
SHIT
,
HARRY
!".

Don't Forget Batman Returns On Her Majesty's Secret Service

I think that Die Hard is a Christmas movie. It takes place on Christmas and that's good enough for me.
Welcome to my Nightmare- Freddy Krueger

Of course it's a Christmas picture! It is around my place anyway.
but I see Twister as a love story, so

Of course its primary genre makes it a non-traditional Christmas film at best, but I'd argue it does deal in contemporary Christmas themes like McClane trying to reconnect with an estranged family and Gruber ultimately being focused on opening presents. There's a moral about the spirit of the holiday in there.

@bounce_out
Yes, Die Hard is NOT a traditional Christmas picture, i.e. no Santa, no reindeer, no elves, not family friendly oriented, etc.
However, it IS 110% non-traditional.
I don't get it. You're saying that Die Hard is not traditional, then you argue that Die Hard is non-traditional. Isn't that the same thing? What are you trying to say?
Also: 100% is plenty. That extra 10% is unnecessary.

I sort of agree. Almost everyone in my family (my mom, dad, brothers, and sisters) argues otherwise. They'd rather watch movies like The Santa Clause, It's a wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol, Miracle on 34th street, A Christmas Story, or Home Alone.
To be fair it's a wonderful life for the most part doesn't take place at Christmas for most of the movie. Only the very beginning and the last 30 to 40 minutes takes place at Christmas. The rest takes place different times of the year. I think a reason why people might not associate Die Hard with Christmas is because it's an action film and therefore can be watched when it's not Christmas. Also you mentioned it was released in July of 1988 when most people aren't thinking about Christmas. But whatever.
I think this does feel more Christmassy than Lethal Weapon though. I watched Lethal weapon a few months ago having not watched it in more than 10 years and except for Jingle Bell Rock playing in the credits, the Christmas tree farm scene at the beginning, and the finale where they crash into a house with a Christmas tree inside of it, it really doesn't feel very Christmassy to me. Heck unlike Die Hard nobody says Merry Christmas through out most of the movie.
Green Goblin is great!

LEthal Weapon and Gremlins were both released in the summer of their release years, yet people think of those as more of Christmas movies than Die Hard? Why? I have no clue, I guess people just wanna be selective about it because aide Hard is a lot more violent than the other two, but I vehemently disagree. Die Hard IS a Christmas movie. Pure and simple. Some people just don't like mixing the holidays with their action, I guess. But for me, and a lot of me, they enhance each other

I expect this debate to live on. But great treatise, nonetheless.
Happy trails, Hans.