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''Home Alone'' is a 1990 American
Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...
directed by
Chris Columbus Christopher Columbus was an explorer born in Genoa, Italy. Christopher Columbus or Chris Columbus may also refer to: People * Chris Columbus (musician) (1902–2002), American jazz drummer * Chris Columbus (filmmaker) (born 1958), American direc ...
and written and produced by John Hughes. The first film in the ''Home Alone'' franchise, the film stars Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard, and Catherine O'Hara. Culkin plays Kevin McCallister, a boy who defends his suburban
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
home from burglars after his family accidentally leaves him behind on their Christmas vacation to Paris. Hughes conceived ''Home Alone'' while on vacation, with Warner Bros. being originally intended to finance and distribute the film. However, Warner Bros. shut down production after it exceeded its assigned budget.
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...
assumed responsibilities following secret meetings with Hughes. Columbus and Culkin were hired soon afterwards. Filming took place between February and May 1990 on location across
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...
. ''Home Alone'' premiered in Chicago on November 10, 1990, and was theatrically released in the United States on November 16, and it received positive reviews, with praise for its cast, humor, and music. ''Home Alone'' grossed $476.7 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing live-action comedy until the release of '' The Hangover Part II'' (2011), and made Culkin a child star. Moreover, it was the second-highest-grossing film of 1990, behind '' Ghost''. It was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Culkin, and for the
Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
for Best Original Score for John Williams, and Best Original Song for "Somewhere in My Memory". ''Home Alone'' has since been considered one of the best Christmas films. A sequel, '' Home Alone 2: Lost in New York'', was released in 1992.


Plot

The McCallister family is preparing to spend
Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
in Paris, gathering at Kate and Peter's home in a Chicago
suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separ ...
on the night before their departure. Kate and Peter's youngest son, Kevin, is the subject of ridicule by his older siblings and cousins. Kevin inadvertently ruins the family dinner after a brief scuffle with his oldest brother Buzz, in which Kevin's airplane ticket is accidentally thrown away, resulting in Kate sending him up to the attic. Kevin berates his mother for allowing the rest of the family to pick on him and wishes that his family would disappear. During the night, heavy winds create a power outage, disabling the alarm clocks and causing the family to oversleep. In the confusion and rush to get to the airport, Kevin is accidentally left behind. Kevin wakes to find the house empty, and the family cars still in the garage, unaware that they had rented vans to take them to the airport. Thinking that his wish has come true, he is overjoyed with his newfound freedom. Later, Kevin becomes frightened by his next door neighbor, "Old Man" Marley, who is rumored to be a serial killer who murdered his own family. The McCallister home is soon stalked by the "Wet Bandits", Harry and Marv, a pair of burglars who have been breaking into other vacant houses in the neighborhood. Kevin tricks them into thinking that his family is still home, forcing them to postpone their plans to rob the McCallister house. Kate realizes mid-flight that Kevin was left behind, and upon arrival in Paris, the family discovers that all flights for the next two days are booked, and that the phone lines are still down back home in Chicago. Peter and the rest of the family stay in his brother's apartment in Paris, while Kate manages to get a flight back to Scranton,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. She tries to find a flight to Chicago, but all the flights are booked. Kate is overheard by Gus Polinski, the lead member of a traveling polka band, who offers to let her travel with them to Chicago in a moving van. Meanwhile, on Christmas Eve, Harry and Marv finally realize that only Kevin is in the McCallister home, and Kevin overhears them discussing plans to break into the house that night. Kevin starts to miss his family and asks the local Santa Claus impersonator if he could bring his family back for Christmas. He goes to church and watches a choir perform, and encounters Marley, who proves the rumors about him are false. Marley points out his granddaughter in the choir, and mentions he has never met her since she is the daughter of his estranged son. Kevin suggests to Marley that he should reconcile with his son. Kevin returns home and rigs the house with booby traps. Harry and Marv break in, spring the traps, and suffer various injuries. While Harry and Marv pursue Kevin around the house, he calls the police and lures the duo into a vacant neighboring house which they had previously broken into. Harry and Marv ambush Kevin and prepare to get their revenge, but Marley intervenes and knocks them out with his snow shovel. The police arrive and arrest Harry and Marv, having identified all the houses that they broke into due to Marv's destructive habit of flooding them. On Christmas Day, Kevin is initially disappointed to find that his family is still gone, but Kate arrives home and they reconcile. The rest of the family then returns after waiting in Paris until they could obtain a direct flight to Chicago. Kevin keeps silent about his encounter with Harry and Marv, although Peter finds Harry's knocked-out gold tooth. Kevin then watches Marley reuniting with his son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter.


Cast

Credits adapted from
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.


Production


Development

Writer and producer John Hughes conceived ''Home Alone'' while preparing to go on vacation. He said: "I was going away on vacation, and making a list of everything I didn't want to forget. I thought, 'Well, I'd better not forget my kids.' Then I thought, 'What if I left my 10-year-old son at home? What would he do? Hughes wrote eight pages of notes that developed into the screenplay. Imagining that children are naturally most scared of robbers, Hughes also worked that aspect into the plot of the film. ''Home Alone'' was initially set to be financed and distributed by Warner Bros. Hughes promised that he could make the movie for less than $10 million, considerably less than most feature film production budgets of that era. Concerned that the film might exceed that amount, Hughes met secretly with
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...
before production to see if they would fund the project if Warner proved inflexible. According to executive producer Scott Rosenfelt, a copy of the script was "clandestinely" delivered to Fox, bypassing the legal restrictions that would have otherwise prevented Fox from seeing it until the project was in turnaround. Early in production, the budget grew to $14.7 million. Warner demanded that it be cut by $1.2 million; the producers responded with a memo arguing that the budget could not be cut any further. Unconvinced, Warner shut down production the next day, but it quickly resumed when Fox took up Hughes on his offer. The final budget grew to $18 million. Hughes had asked Patrick Read Johnson to direct, but he was committed to directing '' Spaced Invaders''. He turned to Chris Columbus, who had left ''
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation ''National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation'' is a 1989 American Christmas film, Christmas comedy film and the third installment in National Lampoon (magazine), ''National Lampoon'' magazine's National Lampoon's Vacation (film series), ''Vacation'' f ...
'' before shooting started because of a personality clash with starring actor
Chevy Chase Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase (; born October 8, 1943) is an American comedian, actor and writer. He became a key cast member in the first season of '' Saturday Night Live'', where his recurring ''Weekend Update'' segment became a staple of the ...
, who Columbus said treated him "like dirt". Hughes gave him the scripts for both ''Home Alone'' and '' Reach the Rock''; Columbus chose to direct ''Home Alone'', as he found it funnier and liked the Christmas theme. Columbus did an uncredited rewrite of the script, which included the character Old Man Marley. He added the character to give the story a more serious layer, as well as a more emotional, happier ending.


Casting

Hughes suggested to Columbus that they cast Macaulay Culkin as Kevin, because of his experience while shooting '' Uncle Buck''. Columbus met with 200 other actors for the part, as he felt it was his "directorial responsibility". John Mulaney was asked to audition for the role of Kevin after being scouted in a children’s sketch comedy group, but his parents refused the opportunity. Columbus finally met with Culkin and agreed he was the right choice. After Robert De Niro and Jon Lovitz turned down the role of Harry, Joe Pesci accepted it. The role of Uncle Frank was written for Kelsey Grammer, but was given to
Gerry Bamman Gerald G. Bamman (born September 18, 1941) is an American actor and playwright. He is best known for playing Uncle Frank in the films ''Home Alone'' (1990) and '' Home Alone 2: Lost in New York'' (1992), and has also guest starred in several tel ...
when Grammer was unavailable. Daniel Stern was cast as Marv, but before shooting started, he was told that the production schedule had been extended from six weeks to eight. He dropped out after as he would not be paid more for the extended schedule. Daniel Roebuck was hired to replace him, but after two days of rehearsal, Columbus felt he was lacking chemistry with Pesci and brought back Stern. Roebuck later said that, although he was upset to be fired from the production, he now believed the experience was "a little blip of unimportance". Chris Farley auditioned for the role of the Santa Claus impersonator, but he failed to impress Columbus. John Candy was available for only one day to film his scenes, which took 23 hours to shoot. He was paid only $414, since he did the film as a favor to Hughes. In return, he was the only actor Hughes allowed to go off-script; according to Columbus, all his dialogue was improvised.


Filming

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as ...
took place from February 14, 1990, to May 8, 1990, over a course of 83 days. The house exterior scenes were filmed on location at a three-story single-family house located at 671 Lincoln Avenue in the North Shore village of
Winnetka, Illinois Winnetka () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, located north of downtown Chicago. The population was 12,316 as of 2019. The village is one of the wealthiest places in the nation in terms of household income. It was the secon ...
, where Hughes's previous films '' Breakfast Club'', '' Ferris Bueller's Day Off'', '' Sixteen Candles'', '' Planes, Trains and Automobiles'', ''
She's Having a Baby ''She's Having a Baby'' is a 1988 American romantic comedy film directed and written by John Hughes and starring Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern. It tells the story of a young newlywed couple who try to cope with married life and their parent ...
'', and '' Uncle Buck'' had also been shot. The only interiors of the house used for filming in the film were the main staircase, basement, attic and most of the first floor landing, while all the other interiors of the house (including the aforementioned rooms) were duplicated on a sound stage to allow more room for equipment and crew. It was built in the gym and empty swimming pool of the former New Trier High School building, previously used by Hughes for ''Uncle Buck'' and ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'', where the production company had already set up its offices. The house later became a tourist attraction. The tree house in the back yard was built specifically for the film and dismantled after filming ended. Kevin runs away from Marley in Hubbard Woods Park in Winnetka. The church exteriors were shot at Trinity United Methodist Church in Wilmette, Illinois, while the interiors were shot at Grace Episcopal Church in
Oak Park, Illinois Oak Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, adjacent to Chicago. It is the 29th-most populous municipality in Illinois with a population of 54,583 as of the 2020 U.S. Census estimate. Oak Park was first settled in 1835 and later incorporated ...
. For the
film within a film A story within a story, also referred to as an embedded narrative, is a literary device in which a character within a story becomes the narrator of a second story (within the first one). Multiple layers of stories within stories are sometimes c ...
, ''Angels with Filthy Souls'' (the title of which parodies the 1938 crime film '' Angels with Dirty Faces''), shooting took only one day, on the final "test day" prior to the official start of principal photography. To create the illusion that the film was an authentic 1940s gangster film, the scene was filmed on black-and-white negative film, and Johnny's office featured props from that era. Like much of the film, most of the sequence was shot with low, wide angles that, according to journalist Darryn King, "capture the action as if a child were perceiving it". Cinematographer
Julio Macat Julio Macat, A.S.C. (born June 20, 1957) is an Argentine-American cinematographer. Early life and career Born in Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina, Macat started his career off as a camera operator, under the guidance of director Andrei Konchalovsky ...
recalled that Pesci was more difficult to work with than Culkin. The older actor believed some of the dialogue was not of a quality commensurate with his acting ability. He also resented the early unit calls, since they prevented him from starting his day with nine holes of golf as he preferred to do. After he took the assistant director by the collar one day to complain about this, daily call times were moved back from 7 to 9 a.m. to accommodate his rounds. On the other end of the schedule, the crew had limited time to film the many nighttime scenes, since Culkin could not work any later than 10 p.m. due to his age. Pesci said in a 2022 interview with ''
People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...
'' of working with Culkin, "I intentionally limited my interactions with him to preserve the dynamic" and made sure not "to come across on the screen that we were in any way friendly" in order to "maintain the integrity of the adversarial relationship." On the set, Pesci and Stern both had difficulty refraining from cursing, which became annoying to Pesci, since Culkin was on set as well. In fact, the only curse words that made it into the film was "shit", accidentally said by Daniel Stern when his shoe fell through the pet door, and "hell", which was said by both Pesci and Stern after their characters encounter one another after going through Kevin's booby traps and by Johnny to the character of Snakes in ''Angels with Filthy Souls''. Pesci's use of "cartoon cursing", or menacing gibberish, garnered comparisons to '' Looney Tunes'' character Yosemite Sam. The film's stunts also created tension for the crew during shooting. Columbus said, "Every time the stunt guys did one of those stunts it wasn't funny. We'd watch it, and I would just pray that the guys were alive." Stunts were originally prepared with safety harnesses, but because of their visibility on camera, the film's final stunts were performed without them. Troy Brown and Leon Delaney were stuntmen for Pesci and Stern, respectively. An injury had occurred between Pesci and Culkin during one of the rehearsals for the scene in which Harry tries to bite off Kevin's finger. Culkin still has the scar. The tarantula that walks on Stern's face was real.
Senta Moses Senta Michelle Moses (born August 8, 1973) is an American actress. She is perhaps best known for her co-starring role as Phoebe, the lab assistant in the children's series ''Beakman's World'', Winnifred Leeds in '' General Hospital'', Lizzie in ...
, who played Tracy, recalled in 2020 that one of the most difficult scenes to shoot was the family's run through O'Hare International Airport to catch their flight. While it does not last long, it required several days to film. "There were thousands of extras, all expertly choreographed so none of us would be in danger running at full speed through the American Airlines terminal", she told ''
The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...
''. "And we ran at ''full speed''. Sometimes we’d bump into each other, like a multi-car pileup on the expressway, and just crack up laughing ... There were so many setups and narrowly missed moments of disaster, but to my knowledge, no one got hurt."


Music

Columbus initially hoped to have
Bruce Broughton Bruce Harold Broughton (born March 8, 1945) is an American orchestral composer of television, film, and video game scores and concert works. He has composed several highly acclaimed soundtracks over his extensive career and has contributed man ...
score the film, and early posters listed him as the composer. However, Broughton was busy with '' The Rescuers Down Under'', and he had to cancel at the last minute. Columbus was later able to get in touch with Steven Spielberg, who helped him contact John Williams to produce the final score. Traditional Christmas songs, such as " O Holy Night" and " Carol of the Bells", are featured prominently in the film, as well as the film's theme song "Somewhere in My Memory". The soundtrack was released by Sony Classical Records on cassette on December 4, 1990, and on CD on May 27, 2015.


Release


Theatrical

''Home Alone'' premiered in Chicago on November 10, 1990. It was given a wide release on November 16, 1990.


Home media

''Home Alone'' was first released by Fox Video on VHS and LaserDisc in the United States on August 22, 1991, their first video to go direct to sell-through rather than to the video rental market first. It sold 11 million copies, generating Fox revenue of $150 million making it, along with ''
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (or simply ''E.T.'') is a 1982 American science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, d ...
'', the highest-selling video of all time at that point. Due to the sales, the film did not perform as well in the rental market. It was later released on DVD on October 5, 1999, as a basic package. The film was released on
Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...
on December 2, 2008, titled ''Family Fun Edition'', and was released alongside ''Home Alone 2: Lost in New York'' in a collection pack on October 5, 2010. The film was reissued again on DVD and Blu-ray on October 6, 2015, alongside all four of its sequels in a box set titled ''Home Alone: 25th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Christmas Edition''. On September 15, 2020, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment and 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment released ''Home Alone'' on Ultra HD Blu-ray in time for its 30th anniversary in the United States.


Reception


Box office

''Home Alone'' grossed $285.8 million in the United States and Canada and $190.9 million in other countries for a worldwide total of $476.7 million, against a production budget of $18 million. In its opening weekend, ''Home Alone'' grossed $17 million from 1,202 theaters, averaging $14,211 per site and just 6% of the final total and added screens over the next six weeks, with a peak screen count of 2,174 during its eighth weekend at the start of January 1991. ''Home Alone'' was the number-one film at the box office for 12 consecutive weeks, from its release weekend of November 16–18, 1990 through the weekend of February 1–3, 1991. It was removed from the top spot when '' Sleeping with the Enemy'' opened with $13 million. It remained in the top ten until the weekend of April 26, well past Easter weekend. It made two more appearances in the top ten (the weekend of May 31 – June 2 and the weekend of June 14–16) before finally falling out of the top ten. After over nine months into its run, the film had earned 16x its debut weekend and ended up making a final gross of $285,761,243, the top-grossing film of its year in North America. The film is listed in the ''
Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
'' as the highest-grossing live-action comedy ever and held the record until it was overtaken by '' The Hangover Part II'' in 2011. By the time the film had run its course in theaters, ''Home Alone'' was the third-highest-grossing film of all time worldwide, as well as in the United States and Canada behind only '' Star Wars'' ($322 million at the time) and ''
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (or simply ''E.T.'') is a 1982 American science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, d ...
'' ($399 million at the time), according to the home video box.
Box Office Mojo Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which itself is owned by Amazon. History Brandon Gray be ...
estimates that the film sold over 67.7 million tickets in the United States. It was also the highest-grossing Christmas film until it was surpassed by '' Dr. Seuss' The Grinch'' in 2018. The film made Culkin a child star.


Critical response

On
review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 67% based on 61 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Home Alone'' uneven but frequently funny premise stretched unreasonably thin is buoyed by Macaulay Culkin's cute performance and strong supporting stars." On
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100 based on nine critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. '' Variety'' magazine praised the film for its cast. Jeanne Cooper of ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...
'' praised the film for its comedic approach. Hal Hinson, also of ''The Washington Post'', praised Columbus' direction and Culkin's performance. Although Caryn James of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' complained that the film's first half is "flat and unsurprising as its cute little premise suggests", she praised the second half for its slapstick humor. She also praised the dialogue between Kevin and Marley, as well as the film's final scenes. Roger Ebert of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the '' Chicago ...
'' gave the film a out of a 4-star rating and 2 thumbs down. He compared the elaborate booby-traps in the film to Rube Goldberg machines, writing "they're the kinds of traps that any 8-year-old could devise, if he had a budget of tens of thousands of dollars and the assistance of a crew of movie special effects people" and criticized the plot as "so implausible that it makes it hard for imto really care about the plight of the kid evin. However, he praised Culkin's performance. Owen Gleiberman of ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...
'' magazine gave the film a "D" grade, criticizing the film for its "sadistic festival of adult-bashing". Gleiberman said that " ohnHughes is pulling our strings as though he'd never learn to do anything else". Peter Bradshaw of ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
'' gave the film three out of five and praised Culkin's "vivid screen presence, almost incandescent with confidence". However, he criticised his acting, calling it "a bit broad and mannered". Ali Barclay of the BBC wrote "Culkin walks a fine line between annoyance and endearment throughout the film." He also called ''Home Alone'' "a film which manages to capture some of the best qualities of Christmas". Naomi Barnwell of ''Roobla'' said that "''Home Alone'' has all the ingredients that make for a great kids’ film". Adrian Turner of Radio Times commented " ome Alone isa celebration of enterprise that captured the heart and wickedness of every child on the planet." According to ''
TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corporat ...
'', " 'Home Alone''s slapstick falls flat and only the pain remains." Marielle Sabbag of ''Vocal'' wrote "Everything about 'Home Alone''is beautiful and has a realistic quality." Peter Rainer of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'' criticised the fact that "there is a reason why this film plays better as a trailer than as a full-length film." ''Home Alone'' gradually became a Christmas classic. It was praised for its quotable phrases, morals, traps, and main character. Hannah-Rose Yee of Stylist called the ending "very sweet" and praised the score from John Williams, calling it "fantastic". Christopher Hooton of '' The Independent'' also praised the film, calling the film-within-a-film ''Angels with Filthy Souls'' "a fond footnote in cinema history". Matt Talbot from ''Simcoe.com'' said that the Wet Bandits were "fantastic" and "never otold" on "repeat viewings". Michael Walsh of ''Nerdist'' noted the church scene as "One of the best, most touching scenes n the film. ''Home Alone'' remains a highly popular Christmas movie in
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
, when it is played on Polsat every Christmas Eve. In 2010, Polsat did not play Home Alone, which caused over 90,000 people to protest on Facebook. In 2016, over 4.44 million Poles tuned in to Polsat to watch ''Home Alone''. Since the 2010s, its TV trailers even include a tagline that acknowledges this popularity: ''"Christmas without him? It's absolutely impossible!"''.
Julio Macat Julio Macat, A.S.C. (born June 20, 1957) is an Argentine-American cinematographer. Early life and career Born in Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina, Macat started his career off as a camera operator, under the guidance of director Andrei Konchalovsky ...
, the films cinematographer, considers ''Home Alone'' his favorite film out of all the projects he has shot. It was the favorite film of former U.S. President Gerald Ford.


Accolades

At the 12th Youth in Film Awards, Macaulay Culkin won Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture. The film was nominated for two
Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
s, one for Best Original Score, which was written by John Williams, and the other for Best Original Song for "Somewhere in My Memory", music by Williams and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse, but lost to '' Dances with Wolves'' and '' Dick Tracy'' respectively.


Accusations of plagiarism

The 1989 French horror
thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...
'' 3615 code Père Noël'', which is about a young boy who is home alone with his elderly grandfather and has to fend off a home invader dressed up as Santa Claus, has been noted for its plot similarities to ''Home Alone''. ''3615 code Père Noël'' director René Manzor threatened the producers of ''Home Alone'' with legal action on the grounds of plagiarism, alleging that ''Home Alone'' was a remake of his film. ''3615 code Père Noël'' was not released in the United States during its original theatrical run in January 1990 and did not become widely available there until 2018.


Homages

The music video for Snoop Dogg's 1994 song " Gin and Juice" opens with a gag where, after a teenaged Snoop's parents have left him to watch the house in their absence, he places his hands to his face and yells in the manner of Kevin McCallister in the first film, while a title comes on screen reading "Home Boy Alone". In December 2015, Culkin reprised his role as an adult Kevin McCallister in the inaugural episode of the
Jack Dishel Jack Dishel (born Yevgeny Leonidovich Dishel, russian: Евгений Леонидович Дишель; 24 September 1976) is a Russian-American musician, actor, writer, director, comic and producer. Born in the Soviet Union, he grew up in the ...
web series, "DRYVRS", where a visibly disturbed Kevin recounts his experience of being left home alone by his family. In response to Culkin's video, Daniel Stern appeared in a short video reprising his role as Marv, released in conjunction with Stern's Reddit AMA, where he pleads for Harry to return to help protect him against Kevin's traps. The 2016 Christmas-set horror film '' Better Watch Out'' includes a scene where a character who is obsessed with the ''Home Alone'' films demonstrates how, in real life, it would be deadly for someone to be hit in the face with a paint can swung from a distance. On December 15, 2018, Culkin made a guest appearance as himself in an episode of ''
The Angry Video Game Nerd ''The Angry Video Game Nerd'' (abbreviated as ''AVGN'') is an American retrogaming review comedy web series created by and starring James Rolfe. The series centers on Rolfe's titular skit character, often simply shortened to "the Nerd" (sometim ...
'' to review multiple video game adaptations of the first two ''Home Alone'' films, as well as a gameplay session of ''The Pagemaster'' with James Rolfe and Mike Matei in the days following that episode's release. On December 19, 2018, Culkin would once again reprise his role as an adult Kevin McCallister in a 60-second advertisement for Google Assistant, titled ''Home Alone Again.'' The commercial contains shot for shot remakes of scenes from the film. Google Assistant helps Kevin set up the house to look active by remotely turning on lights, devices, and setting up cutouts of people, to have the thieves parked in a van outside (presumably Harry and Marv) steer clear of the house. Additionally, Pesci also reprised his role as Harry, only for his voice making a small cameo. Pesci later appeared in another ad where he watches the short with his friends and jokes about his brief cameo. The 2022 action comedy film '' Violent Night'' references Home Alone several times, and character Trudy Lightston attempts to emulate Kevin McCallister's fighting tactics against the burglars who take her family hostage.


Use in Poland

Films such as ''Home Alone'' and '' Die Hard'' are very popular at Christmas time in Poland, because they were some of the first Western movies to be released in Poland since the end of communist rule. However, the Polish premiere of "Home Alone" took place not during the Christmas season, but on May 22, 1992. Three years later, on Christmas Day (December 25), 1995, at 20:10 CET on TVP1, the Polish television premiere of the film took place. Then three times on December 26, 1997, and December 24 and 25, 1999, the film was broadcast on television TVN. In 29 December 2000, 8.9 million Poles were watching ''Home Alone'' on Christmas Eve; At that time, the broadcasting of the film was taken over by the only nationwide TV station, Polsat (TVN was broadcasting terrestrial broadcasts only in larger cities at that time), which continues it every year (with the exception of 2002, when the third part of the film was broadcast on January 1, 2003) to the present It is Polsat that is mainly responsible for the popularity of the film "Home Alone" in Poland. On Polsat from 2000 to 2001 and from 2003 to 2013, the film "Home Alone" was broadcast alternatively both during the Christmas season (for the first time on December 24, 2003) and in the period preceding it (then the sequel of the film, i.e. " Home Alone 2: Lost in New York" or both films appeared on Polsat in the pre-Christmas or post-Christmas period, but not later than before New Year's Eve. In 2010, Telewizja Polsat did not include the film in the Christmas schedule, which was met with a protest of over 90,000 people on
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...
. Under the pressure of public opinion, Polsat changed its mind, however, broadcasting the film on Christmas Day (December 25) at 20:00 CET and additionally on Boxing Day (December 26) at 12:45 CET. Starting from 2014 (except for 2015, when the film was broadcast only on Christmas Day, i.e. December 25 at 16:40 CET, the comedy "Home Alone" is shown on Polsat every Christmas Eve (December 24) around 20:00 CET. In 2017, about four million people (11.6% of Poland's population) were watching it on Christmas Eve and in 2018 again in Christmas Eve the film recorded the highest viewership with 4.51 million viewers.


Other media


Novelization

''Home Alone'' () was novelized by
Todd Strasser Todd Strasser (born May 5, 1950) is an American writer of more than 140 young-adult and middle grade novels and many short stories and works of non-fiction, some written under the pen names Morton Rhue and T.S. Rue. Biography Strasser was bo ...
and published by Scholastic in 1990 to coincide with the film. On October 6, 2015, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the movie, an illustrated book () by Kim Smith and Quirk Books was released.


Sequels and franchise

The film was followed by a commercially successful sequel in 1992, '' Home Alone 2: Lost in New York'', which brought back most of the first film's cast. Culkin was paid $4.5 million to appear in the sequel, compared to $110,000 for the original. The film within a film, ''Angels with Filthy Souls'', had a sequel in ''Home Alone 2'', ''Angels with Even Filthier Souls''. Both ''Angels'' meta-films featured character actor
Ralph Foody Ralph Wesley Foody (November 13, 1928 – November 21, 1999) was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Johnny in ''Home Alone'' and '' Home Alone 2: Lost in New York''. Early life Foody was born in Chicago, Illinois on Novem ...
as stereotypical 1930s mobster Johnny. A third film, '' Home Alone 3'', was released in 1997; it has entirely different actors and characters as well as a different storyline, with Hughes writing the screenplay. A fourth made-for-TV film followed in 2002: '' Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House''. The movie features some of the same characters who were in the first two films, but with a new cast and a storyline. The fifth film, '' The Holiday Heist'', premiered during ABC Family's Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas programming event on November 25, 2012. Similarly to the third film, it does not focus on the McCallister family. Chris Columbus later revealed that there had been discussions on a sequel starring Kevin's son: "This was talked about maybe 10 years ago I don’t know, we were just having fun with it and we said, 'What if Kevin is an adult and he has a kid?' But it was still Pesci and Stern Pesci and Stern are still obsessed with this kid. They’re going to get this kid." A sixth film was released digitally on
Disney+ Disney+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned and operated by the Media and Entertainment Distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. The service primarily distributes films and television se ...
on November 12, 2021, titled ''
Home Sweet Home Alone ''Home Sweet Home Alone'' is a 2021 American Christmas comedy film directed by Dan Mazer, written by Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell, and starring Ellie Kemper, Rob Delaney, Archie Yates, Aisling Bea, Kenan Thompson, Pete Holmes, Ally Maki ...
''. Devin Ratray, who played Buzz McCallister in the first two films, reprised his role in the film.


See also

*
List of films featuring home invasions There is a body of films that feature home invasions. Paula Marantz Cohen says, "Such films reflect an increased fear of the erosion of distinctions between private and public space... These films also reflect a sense that the outside world is mo ...
, a plot device in thriller films that ''Home Alone'' lampoons *
List of films featuring fictional films A body of films feature fictional films as part of their narrative. These are also called films within films. List of films See also *Story within a story References Further reading * * External links * * *{{cite news , last=Rapold , firs ...
* List of Christmas films * Home Alone (video game)


References


External links

* * {{Good article Home Alone (franchise) 1990 films 1990s Christmas comedy films 1990s crime comedy films 20th Century Fox films American children's comedy films American Christmas comedy films American crime comedy films Burglary in film Compositions by Leslie Bricusse 1990s English-language films Films directed by Chris Columbus Films involved in plagiarism controversies Films produced by John Hughes (filmmaker) Films scored by John Williams Films set in 1990 Films set in Illinois Films shot in Illinois Films with screenplays by John Hughes (filmmaker) Home invasions in film 1990 comedy films Films set in Chicago Films set in Paris Films about mother–son relationships 1990s American films