Antoine Fuqua and Gerard Butler were an unlikely pair to deliver a visceral and fun throwback action pic - but they did just that with Olympus Has Fallen, Fuqua's 2013 film that was kindly referred to as, "Die Hard in the White House." Olympus was a moderate success, pulling $98 million domestically and another $62 million internationally (on a $70million budget), warranting this forthcoming sequel, London Has Fallen.

From the title you can guess that the locale has changed, but the setup remains largely the same; former special forces warrior-turned-presidential guard Mike Banning (Butler) is in London guarding president Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart), only to find that they are at the center of an intricate terrorist attack - one that aims to maim a few important national landmarks.

This first teaser for London Has Fallen honors the franchise's '90s action movie throwback feel (hopefully intentionally), with an ominous montage reminding us that, in a certain year, the movie we previously watched happened; but now, in this year, a new installment of the franchise is about happen...

From there, we see familiar faces from the first film, including Butler and Eckhart, Morgan Freeman as the Speaker of The House, Melissa Leo as the Secretary of Defense, and Radha Mitchell as Mike's love interest, Leah.

London Has Fallen Trailer

Other than that, these scenes of violent terrorist attacks on London landmarks could be pulled from any of the G.I. Joe, James Bond or [insert film franchise that has blown up something in London, recently]. In fact, if you threw a few scenes of Kiefer Sutherland into this mix, most viewers might have trouble distinguishing this from the 24: Live Another Day miniseries.

With director Antoine Fuqua not returning to the helm (passing off duties to Banshee director Babak Najafi), there's also the question of whether London Has Fallen will measure up in the action department. With just brief glimpses of footage to go on, there do seem to be some thrilling (if not cliched) sequences that we'll see. Hopefully, the franchise now knows its own identity and strengths (unabashed violent action throwback), and plays to those.

London Has Fallen will be in theaters on January 22nd, 2016.

Source: Millenium Films