Home Alone (franchise)

Home Alone is a series of American Christmas family comedy films created by John Hughes. Each film is directed individually by Chris Columbus, Raja Gosnell, Rod Daniel, and Peter Hewitt. The plots revolve around children who find themselves left alone during the holiday season, faced with the challenge of defending themselves and their homes from criminals.

Home Alone
Official franchise logo
Based on	Characters created by John Hughes
Starring	Various (See list below)
Production company	20th Century Studios
Distributed by	20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Disney+ Disney-ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution
Release date	1990-present
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$70 million (1–3)
Box office	$914,762,040 (Cumulative of 5 films)

Films

Film	U.S. release date	Director	Screenwriter(s)	Producer(s)
Home Alone	November 16, 1990 (1990-11-16)	Chris Columbus	John Hughes
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York	November 20, 1992 (1992-11-20)
Home Alone 3	December 12, 1997 (1997-12-12)	Raja Gosnell	John Hughes	John Hughes & Hilton Green
Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House	November 3, 2002 (2002-11-03)	Rod Daniel	Debra Frank & Steve L. Hayes	Mitch Engel
Home Alone: The Holiday Heist	November 25, 2012 (2012-11-25)	Peter Hewitt	Aaron Ginsburg & Wade McIntyre	Kim Todd
Untitled sixth film	TBA	Dan Mazer	Mikey Day & Streeter Seidell	Hutch Parker and Dan Wilson

Home Alone (1990)

Main article: Home Alone

Home Alone is primarily a coming-of-age story about an 8-year-old boy named Kevin McCallister. He is the youngest of five children who is frequently tormented by his older brothers and sisters. After events transpire between him and his family, he wishes he had no family when his mother is punishing him for what he feels are unjustified reasons. She warns him to be careful what he wishes for and he ignores it. He wakes up the next day to discover he is the only one left in the house. He thinks his wish came true and that he is finally alone without his obnoxious family. In reality, he was left home by mistake. His family is en route to France for a holiday trip. While his parents realize their mistake and scramble to get back to the United States, Harry and Marv, a pair of thieves known as the "Wet Bandits", attempt to burgle the house and Kevin must foil them with a collection of homemade booby traps. They get arrested at the end of the film. The film became the highest-grossing film of 1990,[1] grossing $476,684,675 worldwide.[2] Despite a lukewarm reception from critics, it was popular with audiences. It was also nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Original Score for John Williams and Best Original Song for "Somewhere in My Memory", but lost to Dances with Wolves and Dick Tracy respectively. Macaulay Culkin's performance garnered him a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, but lost to Gérard Depardieu for his performance in Green Card.

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)

Main article: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

Set one year after the events of the first film, Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) loses track of his family at the airport to which he mistakenly gets on a plane headed for New York City while the rest of the McCallisters fly to Florida. Now alone in one of the largest cities in the world, Kevin cons his way into a room at the Plaza Hotel and begins his usual antics, but when he discovers that the burglars he previously encountered are on the loose again he stops them from robbing an elderly man's toy store before Christmas.

Home Alone 3 (1997)

Main article: Home Alone 3

Home Alone 3 does not center on Kevin or any of the original cast and characters, but instead on Alex Pruitt, a young boy who is left home alone with chickenpox, but soon recovers. At the same time, four burglars working for a North Korean terrorist group are sent by their boss to retrieve a top-secret microchip that can act as a cloaking device for a missile. They succeed in retrieving it and hide it in a remote controlled car, but due to a luggage mix-up at the airport with the Pruitts' neighbor Mrs. Hess, the car lands in the hands of Alex who is given the car for shoveling the snow in her driveway. The burglars begin systematically searching every house on his street. Once they realize he has the chip, they prepare to invade his house. He devises elaborate traps and bamboozles the four crooks with the help of his pet rat, his brother's pet parrot and some intricate tripwires, all the while monitoring them with a video camera on the race car. The film was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Remake or Sequel, eventually losing the award to Speed 2: Cruise Control.

Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House (2002)

Main article: Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House

The fourth installment was directed by Rod Daniel and premiered as a television film on ABC on November 3, 2002. This film returns to the original's main character, Kevin (played by Mike Weinberg), and one of the two Wet Bandits, Marv (played by French Stewart). Kevin's parents have separated, and he lives with his mother. He decides to go spend Christmas with his father and his rich girlfriend, Natalie, but finds himself having to deal with his old nemesis Marv, and his new sidekick wife Vera (played by Missi Pyle) who replaces Harry. It was released to Region 1 DVD on October 20, 2003. Filming began on July 29 in Melbourne. Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House is the first film in the series that was not theatrically released.

Home Alone: The Holiday Heist (2012)

Main article: Home Alone: The Holiday Heist

On March 15, 2012, ABC Family announced the development of the fifth installment in the Home Alone series. It premiered exclusively on ABC Family's Countdown to the 25 Days of Christmas on November 25, 2012.[3] The film stars Christian Martyn, Jodelle Ferland, Malcolm McDowell, Debi Mazar and Eddie Steeples.[4] The story centers on the Baxter family's relocation from California to Maine, where Finn becomes convinced that his new house is haunted. When his parents become stranded across town, Finn sets traps to catch his new home's ghosts, but instead proves troublesome for a group of three thieves (McDowell, Mazar, and Steeples).

Future

Main article: Home Alone (upcoming film)

In August 2019, following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced that a reboot of Home Alone is in development, and would premiere on the company's streaming service, Disney+ by Fox Family.[5][6] By October of the same year, Dan Mazer had entered negotiations to direct the film, with a script co-written by Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell. Hutch Parker and Dan Wilson will serve as producers. The plot is said to center around a child named Max, who faces off against a married couple after he steals something of theirs. Filming was reported to begin in the first quarter of 2020, with casting underway.[7][8] In November, it was confirmed that the film would be shot in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, taking place from February to April.[9] In December 2019, Archie Yates was cast as the new lead, with Rob Delaney and Ellie Kemper cast in the roles of the new antagonists.[10] In July 2020, Ally Maki, Kenan Thompson, and Chris Parnell had joined the cast.[11]

In February 2020, it was announced that characters from the first two films including Kevin, Harry, Marv, and Buzz would be making appearances in the upcoming film.[12] In April 2020, it was reported Macaulay Culkin would return to play Kevin McCallister in the film.[13][14] By March 2020, The Walt Disney Company paused production on all their live-action feature films, including the Home Alone reboot which had begun filming in Canada, as a precaution to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.[15] No word on when production will resume on the project has been made as of August 2020.

Short film

Film	U.S. release date	Director(s)	Screenwriter(s)	Producer(s)
Home Alone Again with the Google Assistant	December 19, 2018 (2018-12-19)	Mike Warzin	TBA	TBA

Home Alone Again with the Google Assistant (2018)

In an advertisement short film titled Home Alone Again with the Google Assistant for the Google Assistant published on December 19, 2018, Macaulay Culkin reprised his Home Alone role as Kevin McCallister. The ad recreates scenes from the original 1990 film, where Kevin shaves his face, jumps on his parents bed, and decorates a Christmas tree all while asking the Google Assistant to set reminders for him. The advertisement quickly went viral.[16][17] Ralph Foody, Joe Pesci, and Daniel Stern also appear in their Home Alone roles via archival footage and audio.[18]

Cast and crew

Principal cast

Key

• A dark gray cell indicates the character was not in the film.
• A ^V indicates the actor or actress lent only his or her voice for his or her film character.

Character	Films
	Home Alone	Home Alone 2: Lost in New York	Home Alone 3	Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House	Home Alone: The Holiday Heist	Untitled sixth film
Kevin McCallister	Macaulay Culkin			Michael Weinberg		Macaulay Culkin
Harold Lime	Joe Pesci					TBA
Marvin Merchants	Daniel Stern			French Stewart		TBA
Peter McCallister	John Heard			Jason Beghe
Kate McCallister	Catherine O'Hara			Clare Carey
Buzz McCallister	Devin Ratray			Gideon Jacobs		TBA
Megan McCallister	Hillary Wolf			Chelsea Russo
Linnie McCallister	Angela Goethals	Maureen Elizabeth Shay
Jeff McCallister	Michael C. Maronna
Uncle Frank McCallister	Gerry Bamman
Aunt Leslie McCallister	Terrie Snell
Fuller McCallister	Kieran Culkin
Rod McCallister	Jedidiah Cohen
Tracy McCallister	Senta Moses
Sondra McCallister	Daiana Campeanu
Brooke McCallister	Anna Slotky
Old Man Marley	Roberts Blossom
Gus Polinski	John Candy
Heather McCallister	Kristin Minter
Mitch Murphy	Jeffrey Wiseman
Mr. Hector		Tim Curry
Pigeon Lady		Brenda Fricker
Cedric		Rob Schneider
E.F. Duncan		Eddie Bracken
Alex Pruitt			Alex D. Linz
Peter Beaupre			Olek Krupa
Earl Unger			David Thornton
Burton Jernigan			Lenny von Dohlen
Alice Ribbons			Rya Kihlstedt
Karen Pruitt			Haviland Morris
Mrs. Hess			Marian Seldes
Parrot			Darren T. Knauss^V
FBI Agent Stuckey			Christopher Curry
Stan Pruitt			Seth Smith
Molly Pruitt			Scarlett Johansson
Jack Pruitt			Kevin Kilner
Vera Merchants				Missi Pyle
Mr. Prescott				Erick Avari
Molly Merchants				Barbara Babcock
Natalie Kalban				Joanna Going
Finn Baxter					Christian Martyn
Alexis Baxter					Jodelle Ferland
Sinclair					Malcolm McDowell
Jessica					Debi Mazar
Mr. Hughes					Eddie Steeples
Catherine Baxter					Ellie Harvie
Curtis Baxter					Doug Murray
Simon Hassler					Bill Turnball
Mason					Peter DaCunha
Mr. Carson					Edward Asner
Max						Archie Yates
TBA						Rob Delaney
						Ellie Kemper
Angels with Filthy Souls / Filthier Souls characters[lower-alpha 1]
Gangster Johnny	Ralph Foody
Snakes	Michael Guido
Carlotta		Clare Hoak

Additional crew & production details

Film	Crew/Detail
	Composer	Cinematographer	Editor(s)	Production companies	Distributing companies
Home Alone	John Williams	Julio Macat	Raja Gosnell	Hughes Entertainment Twentieth Century Fox	20th Century Fox
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Home Alone 3	Nick Glennie-Smith		Bruce Green Malcolm Campbell
Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House	Teddy Castellucci	Peter Benison	John Coniglio Michael A. Stevenson	Fox Television Studios 20th Century Fox Television	Disney–ABC Domestic Television American Broadcasting Company 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Home Alone: The Holiday Heist	David Kitay		John Coniglio	Original Pictures Fox Television Studios Manitoba Film and Video Production Tax Credit	ABC Family 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Untitled sixth film	TBA	Mitchell Amundsen	TBA	20th Century Studios Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures	Disney+

Reception

Box office performance

Film	Release date	Box office revenue			Box office ranking		Budget	Reference
		United States	International	Worldwide	All time domestic	All time worldwide
Home Alone	November 16, 1990	$285,761,243	$190,923,432	$476,684,675	#38 (#36^(A))	#68	$18 million	[19]
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York	November 20, 1992	$173,585,516	$185,409,334	$358,994,850	#137 (#138^(A))	#151	$20 million	[20][21]
Home Alone 3	December 12, 1997	$30,882,515	$48,200,000	$79,082,515	#1,807	N/A	$32 million	[22]
Total		$490,229,274	$424,532,766	$914,762,040			$70 million
List indicator(s) A grey cell with N/A indicates information is Not Available. ^(A) indicates the adjusted totals based on current ticket prices (calculated by Box Office Mojo).

Critical and public response

Film	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic	CinemaScore
Home Alone	65% (54 reviews)[23]	63 (9 reviews)[24]	A[25]
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York	33% (54 reviews)[26]	N/A	A-[25]
Home Alone 3	29% (24 reviews)[27]	N/A	B+[25]
Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House	N/A (2 reviews)[28]	N/A	N/A
Home Alone: The Holiday Heist	N/A (1 review)[29]	N/A	N/A

Other media

Video games

Home Alone (1991)

Main article: Home Alone (video game)

Home Alone was released in 1991 on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Sega Game Gear, Amiga, MS-DOS, Nintendo Entertainment System, and Game Boy. The purpose of the game is to escape the Wet Bandits while bringing all the McCallister's fortunes from the house down to the safe room in the basement. Once all items have been sent down the chute to the basement Kevin must make it past rats, bats, and ghosts he encounters in the basement, then fight the spider king so he can make it to the safe room to lock away all his families riches.

Home Alone 2 (1992)

Home Alone 2 was released on the Super NES, NES, and Game Boy in 1992, and the PC, Sega Genesis, and NES in 1993. Though it is based on the film in terms of plot and additional dialogue, the game was different from the film. The NES port uses sound effects from the early 1990s Simpsons games; Bart vs. the Space Mutants for example. The Super NES version, while boasting a soundtrack with the Super NES traditionally realistic sounding instrument synth, suffered due to slightly post-8-bit graphics and sound effects, as well as a disjointed feel of incontinuity between stages. The game got negative reception from Electronic Gaming Monthly.[30]

Home Alone (2006)

Home Alone is an action game based on the first film and released in Europe only.[31][32] The game was published by Blast! Entertainment Limited and released for the PlayStation 2 on December 1, 2006.[32] The game features 10 levels, each taking place inside a house. The player chooses from one of four playable characters: Carl, Carly, Kelly or Kevin. The player's goal is to use objects to defeat burglars attempting to break into the house. The game includes a two-player option.[31]

See also

Related film

In July 2018, it was announced that Ryan Reynolds was attached to produce Stoned Alone, an R-rated movie inspired by Home Alone. Augustine Frizzell will serve as director, with a script written by Kevin Burrows and Matt Mider based on the story concept by Fox Executive, Matt Reilly. The project will be a joint-venture production under Reynolds' Fox-based Maximum Effort Productions, while George Dewey serving as an executive producer.[33] The premise of the proposed project was stated as 'reminiscent of the hallowed comedy classic'. The plot centers around a weed-growing 'loser' who misses his plane for a holiday skiing trip. He decides to get high, and as the paranoia side-effects set in, he believes he hears a break-in. As he discovers thieves have broken into his home, fully stoned and fueled by the weed, he tries to 'defend his castle'.

By August 2018, Frizzell stated that the script was being tweaked in order to enhance the emotional Christmas-side of the story, with the goal being to have Stoned Alone feel as much like the original Home Alone films as possible, noting how important it was as a fan of the films and Chris Columbus it was to get the story right. She stated that production will not begin, until everyone involved feels like they've reached that point.[34]

Other appearances

Macaulay Culkin appears in three of the five episodes of the Jack Dishel online web series :DRYVRS, in which he portrays a fictional version of his Kevin McCallister character who is PTSD-riddled as a result of the events of Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York and an unseen third encounter.[35]

In response to Culkin's appearance, Daniel Stern reprised his role as Marv in a short video titled Home Alone Wet Bandit Resurfaces and Responds to Kevin McCallister’s Threatening Video published on December 24, 2015, in which he sends his old partner in crime, Harry Lime, a plea for help about McCallister hunting down other robbers, promising to return to help him defend himself against Kevin's traps.[36]

In the 2019 film Detective Pikachu, the lead character Tim Goodman (played by Justice Smith) enters his father's apartment and discovers the TV on with the movie Angels with Filthy Souls playing on it. Regarding its inclusion, director Rob Letterman stated, "Truth be told, we were just looking for the perfect placeholder...Mark Sanger, our editor, dropped it in, and it just fit perfectly."[37]

Notes

1. At a couple points in the series, Kevin is seen watching an in-universe series of black-and-white Gangster films known as Angels with Filthy Souls and Angels with Even Filthier Souls respectively. Ralph Foody portrays the main character Johnny in both in-universe films and is the only character to appear alongside the McCallisters and the Wet Bandits in the first two Home Alone films.

References

1. Home Alone – Movie Review, retrieved February 11, 2011
2. "Home Alone (1990)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved May 29, 2010.
3. "ABC Family Presents 'Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas' Starting Sunday, November 18". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on October 14, 2012. Retrieved October 7, 2012.
4. "Watch ABC Family Shows, Movies & Full Episodes - ABCFamily.com". ABC Family. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
5. Woodyatt, Amy (2019-08-07). "Disney to remake 'Home Alone' for its streaming service". CNN. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
6. "Disney to remake Home Alone". BBC News. 2019-08-07. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
7. "Exclusive: New Details on Disney-Fox's 'Home Alone' Reboot". Observer. 1 October 2019.
8. Sneider, Jeff (1 October 2019). "'Borat' Writer Dan Mazer in Talks to Direct 'Home Alone' Reboot for Disney+". Collider.
9. Boshra, Basem (November 26, 2019). "'Home Alone' reboot will be filmed in Montreal". Montreal.
10. Kroll, Justin (December 10, 2019). "'Home Alone' Reboot Taps 'Jojo Rabbit's' Archie Yates, Ellie Kemper, Rob Delaney (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
11. "Ally Maki, Kenan Thompson, and Chris Parnell Join Disney+ 'Home Alone' Reboot -". 2020-07-15. Retrieved 2020-07-16.
12. "Kevin McCallister Is Officially Appearing In Disney's 'Home Alone' Reboot". www.tyla.com.
13. "Macaulay Culkin Will Reportedly Be Paid Over $2.5 Million To Appear In 'Home Alone' Reboot". ALT 103.7. 2020-04-10. Retrieved 2020-07-21.
14. "Macaulay Culkin reportedly set to appear in 'Home Alone' reboot". NME Music News, Reviews, Videos, Galleries, Tickets and Blogs | NME.COM. 2020-04-09. Retrieved 2020-07-21.
15. D'Alessandro, Anthony (March 13, 2020). "Disney Pausing Production On Features 'Little Mermaid', 'Home Alone', 'Nightmare Alley' & More Until Coronavirus Calms Down".
16. Darrah, Nicole (2018-12-19). "Macaulay Culkin reprises 'Home Alone' role in new Google ad". Fox News. Retrieved 2018-12-19.
17. Dellatto, Marisa (2018-12-19). "Macaulay Culkin reprises 'Home Alone' role; internet screams". New York Post. Retrieved 2018-12-19.
18. O'Kane, Caitlin (2018-12-19). "Macaulay Culkin is "Home Alone" again in new ad". CBS News. Retrieved 2018-12-19.
19. "Home Alone (1990)". Box Office Mojo.
20. "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)". Box Office Mojo.
21. "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York Production Budget". The Numbers.
22. "Home Alone 3 (1997)". Box Office Mojo.
23. "Home Alone". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
24. "Home Alone: Reviews". Metacritic. CBS. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
25. "CinemaScore". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on July 22, 2018. Retrieved November 7, 2018.
26. "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
27. "Home Alone 3". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
28. "Home Alone 4". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
29. "Home Alone: The Holiday Heist (2012)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
30. "Electronic Gaming Monthly's Buyer's Guide". 1995. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
31. "Home Alone". Blast! Entertainment. Archived from the original on February 13, 2007. Retrieved September 28, 2017.
32. "Home Alone (European)". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 15, 2014. Retrieved September 28, 2017.
33. Fleming, Mike, Jr. (2018-07-25). "Ryan Reynolds At Center Of 'Home Alone' Revise; Augustine Frizzell To Helm R Comedy 'Stoned Alone'". Deadline. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
34. Giroux, Jack (2018-08-07). "Director Augustine Frizzell Wants to Make 'Stoned Alone' an "Emotionally Well-Balanced Christmas Film" [Exclusive]". /Film. Retrieved 2019-08-27.
35. Ehrlich, David (December 17, 2015). "See Macaulay Culkin Revisit Traumatized Home Alone Character". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on August 22, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2015.
36. Pearl, Diana (December 26, 2015). "The Wet Bandits Are Back! Daniel Stern Releases a Video Response to Macaulay Culkin's "Home Alone" Parody". People. Archived from the original on August 22, 2017. Retrieved December 27, 2015.
37. Ashcraft, Brian (May 14, 2019). "Detective Pikachu Director Explains A Most Unexpected Easter Egg". Kotaku.