Live Free or Die Hard on June 29, 2007!

Source: Comingsoon.net

20th Century Fox will release the next installment in the Die Hard action franchise next summer over the coveted July 4 holiday weekend, reports Variety.

Live Free or Die Hard will return Bruce Willis to the big screen as rough-and-tumble New York cop John McClane. The film, set to begin shooting next month, will be released on June 29, 2007.

The movie will face Disney/Pixar's Ratatouille, which is scheduled for the same date, while Paramount's Transformers opens five days later on July 4.

Len Wiseman, who helmed the two Underworld films, will direct from a screenplay by Mark Bomback.

USA Today adds that the film will feature McClane attempting to stop a techno-terrorist from shutting down the nation's computer systems on the Fourth of July. The story takes place around Washington, D.C.

"Our villain is high tech, but the way McClane deals with him is low-tech," Wiseman told the newspaper. "A fistfight still solves a lot of problems." He added that the fourth outing "will be a more epic movie. It's on a much grander scale. The threat is nationwide."

Wiseman said none of the characters from the earlier movies were returning, and no other cast members were being announced yet.