Class action lawsuit: why a hardware company sued ‘Die Hard 2’
In 1988, Die Hard was unleashed upon an unsuspecting world. The modestly budgeted John McTiernan actioner upended everyone’s expectations by raking in around $140 million at the box office, which made it the tenth biggest movie of the year. Naturally, 20th Century Fox immediately began scrambling to assemble a sequel that could capitalise on the love cinemagoers now had for Bruce Willis’ blue-collar action hero John McClane, and in 1990, Die Hard 2 was released to even better box office.
As with most sequels, though, the budget was larger this time around, so Fox tried to mitigate its risk slightly by making some product placement deals. Unfortunately for the studio, one of the deals – with your dad’s favourite power tool company Black & Decker – went pear-shaped and resulted in a class action lawsuit.
The story goes that Black & Decker wanted to make a big marketing push for its new cordless power drill, the Univolt. So, thinking outside the box, the company brokered a deal worth $20,000 with Fox through the marketing agency Krown/Young & Rubicam to have the Univolt show up prominently in Die Hard 2.
What was their plan to work the drill into the film, though? Would McClane use it to gorily dispatch a terrorist marauding through Washington’s Dulles International Airport? Or would the gruff NYPD cop just need to do some quick DIY at home before heading to the airport to meet his wife, Holly? Ultimately, it was decided that McClane would whip out his trusty Univolt in the heat of the action to remove an air-duct grill – which probably makes more sense than associating it with brutal violence or boring home improvement.
Safe in the knowledge that their product would soon be in front of the eyes of cinemagoers worldwide, Black & Decker ploughed $200,000 into an advertising campaign timed to coincide with Die Hard 2’s release and Father’s Day. Its promotional efforts would have reportedly resulted in the Univolt being available in 17,000 stores in the US alone – but then the rug was pulled out from under the company.
You see, only three days before Die Hard 2 was due to land in cinemas, Black & Decker discovered something horrifying: the Univolt scene had been cut from the movie. Angry with Fox and the marketing agency, Black & Decker refused to part with the $20,000 it had promised Fox for the product placement. Then it threw in a $150,000 lawsuit for good measure, arguing that it suffered a “loss of credibility” thanks to the debacle. According to the Michigan Film Office, this was the first product placement lawsuit in history.
Ultimately, Black & Decker got one over on Fox, as the movie studio settled the matter out of court for an undisclosed figure. In the end, it probably wasn’t much skin off Fox’s nose anyway, as Die Hard 2 made a staggering $240 million at the box office, making it the seventh-highest grosser of 1990. Interestingly, though, the scene of McClane using the Univolt has never seen the light of day – not even in any deleted scenes on the film’s various home video releases.
Maybe it’s time someone started a #ReleaseTheUnivoltCut campaign? Or maybe not.
