There's been interesting news this week surrounding a pair of enduring action movie franchises.

Firstly, Die Hard. It was revealed a few months ago that a fifth Die Hard movie was in the works, with the plan being this time to pit John McClane against a more worldwide threat. That's in spite of the oft-observed point, of course, that the first Die Hard worked so well precisely because it was the opposite of that. Nonetheless, as the films have moved on, so the playground in which Bruce Willis' McClane operates has expanded.

There's been some further progress on the project of late too, with the news that a screenwriter has been hired to pen the new movie. The Hollywood Reporter has revealed that Skip Woods is penning the next instalment, having already added X-Men Origins: Wolverine and this summer's The A-Team to his curriculum vitae. He also wrote the Hitman movie, which is perhaps a little less promising.

Our guess remains that the earliest we'll see a Die Hard 5 will be in the very crowded summer of 2012.

What we won't be seeing anytime soon, though, is Sylvester Stallone's fifth Rambo movie. The film has been announced in the wake of the modest success of the recent revival of the franchise, and one storyline has bizarrely put forward the idea of Sly tracking down a monster, rather than blasting seven shades out shit out of nasty human beings.

The bit of us that likes watching daft films late at night with a pint of something cheap quite liked the idea of that (although we're not sure we should admit that out loud). But common sense seems to have prevailed, and Stallone has now revealed to Empire that "I think Rambo's pretty well done. I don't think there'll be any more. I'm about 99 percent sure. I was going to do it ... for Rambo to go on another adventure might be, I think, misinterpreted as a mercenary gesture and not necessary. I don't want that to happen."

Stallone is, however, working on a plan for a sequel to The Expendables. That might prove to be the better option...

The Hollywood Reporter