Home Alone

The conception of Home Alone arose from a personal dilemma that producer John Hughes had faced. Hughes explained that "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?'"[4] Hughes then wrote eight pages of notes that developed into the screenplay of the film.[4] Imagining that children are naturally most scared of robbers, Hughes also worked that aspect into the plot of the film.[4]

Home Alone was initially a Warner Bros. production. Hughes had promised the studio he could make the movie for no more than $10 million, considerably less than most feature film production budgets of that era. Concerned that the film might exceed that amount, even minimally, and that Warner would insist on keeping to it, Hughes met secretly with 20th Century Fox before production to see if they would be interested in funding the project if Warner proved as inflexible as the producer feared. A copy of the script was "clandestinely" delivered to Fox, according to executive producer Scott Rosenfelt, bypassing the legal restrictions that would have otherwise prevented Fox from seeing it until the project was in turnaround.[5]

Early in production, the film's budget grew to $14.7 million, well past the limit Warner had imposed. The studio 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. Warner, unconvinced, shut down production the next day. It quickly resumed as Fox took up Hughes on his earlier offer. The final budget would grow to $18 million.[5]

Hughes had originally asked Patrick Read Johnson to direct, but he was already committed to Spaced Invaders.[6] He then turned to Chris Columbus, who had left National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation before shooting started, because of a personality clash with starring actor Chevy Chase, who Columbus said treated him "like dirt".[7] Hughes then gave him the script for both Home Alone and Reach the Rock; Columbus accepted the former, as he found it funnier and liked the Christmas theme.[8][9] Columbus became the director of the film.[9]

Macaulay Culkin (pictured in 1991) was the child star of the film.

Hughes suggested to Columbus that they cast Macaulay Culkin in the main role, because of his experience with the child actor while shooting Uncle Buck. Columbus met with other actors for the part, by his count "hundreds and hundreds" (actually 200), as he felt it was his "directorial presponsibility".[9][10] Columbus finally met with Culkin and agreed he was the right choice for the role.[9]

For the role of Harry, one of the bandits, Robert De Niro and Jon Lovitz were considered for the role. After both rejected it, Joe Pesci accepted it.[11] The role of Uncle Frank was originally written for Kelsey Grammer, but given to Gerry Bamman when Grammer was unavailable.[12][13]

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 was told there was no money in the budget for a pay increase he sought, so he quit. Daniel Roebuck was quickly hired to replace him, but after two days of rehearsal, Columbus did not see any chemistry between him and Pesci and decided to bring back Stern.[5] Roebuck later admitted that, although he was upset to be fired from the production, he now believes the experience to be "such a little blip of unimportance."[14]

John Candy had only one day to film his scenes; it took 23 hours. He was paid $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.[5]

The Home Alone house in Winnetka, Illinois.

Principal photography took place between February and May 1990.[15][16] Some scenes were shot in a three-story single-family house located at 671 Lincoln Avenue[17] in the North Shore village of Winnetka, where Hughes's previous films Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, She's Having a Baby, and Uncle Buck had also been shot.[18] The kitchen in the film was shot on location, along with the main staircase, basement, attic and most of the first floor landing.[19] The tree house in the back yard was built specifically for the film and dismantled after filming ended.[11] All the other interiors 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.[5] The scenes inside the church were shot at Grace Episcopal Church in Oak Park, Illinois.[20]

For the film within a film, Angels with Filthy Souls (a parody of the 1938 crime film Angels with Dirty Faces), shooting took only one day. To create the illusion that the film was a 1940s gangster film, the scene was filmed with black-and-white negative film and Johnny's office used authentic items from that era.[21]

Cinematographer Julio Macat 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.[5] 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.[22] 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.[9]

On the set, Pesci and Stern both had difficulty refraining from swear words, which became annoying to Pesci, since Culkin was on set as well. In fact, the only swear word that made it into the film was "shit", accidentally said by Daniel Stern when his shoe fell through the doggy door.[23][10] Pesci's use of "cartoon cursing", or menacing gibberish, garnered comparisons to Looney Tunes character Yosemite Sam.[24]

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."[9] Stunts were originally prepared with safety harnesses, but because of their visibility on camera, the film's final stunts were performed without them.[9] According to Buzzfeed, an injury had occurred between Pesci and Culkin during one of the rehearsals where "Harry tries to bite off Kevin's finger." Culkin still has the scar.[10]

Initially Columbus hoped to have Bruce Broughton score the films, 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.[9] Columbus was later able to get in touch with Steven Spielberg, who helped him contact John Williams to produce the final score.[9] 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,[25] and on CD on May 27, 2015.[26]

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.[2] 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.[36] Home Alone proved so popular that it stayed in theaters well past the Christmas season. It was the No. 1 film at the box office for 12 straight weeks, from its release weekend of November 16–18, 1990 through the weekend of February 1–3, 1991.[37][36] It was dethroned from the top spot when Sleeping with the Enemy opened with $13 million.[36] It nevertheless remained a top ten draw at the box office until the weekend of April 26 that year, which was 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.[38] 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.[39] The film is listed in the Guinness World Records as the highest-grossing live-action comedy ever[40] and held the record until it was overtaken by The Hangover Part II in 2011.[41]

By the time it 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 ($399 million at that time), according to the home video box. Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold over 67.7 million tickets in the United States.[2] It was also the highest-grossing Christmas film until it was surpassed by Dr. Seuss' The Grinch in 2018.[42][43] According to William Goldman, the film's success prompted the creation of a Hollywood verb: "to be Home Aloned", meaning to have a film's box office reduced by the impact of Home Alone.[44]

On Rotten Tomatoes, Home Alone holds an approval rating of 65% based on 54 reviews, with an average rating of 5.65/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Home Alone's uneven but frequently funny premise stretched unreasonably thin is buoyed by Macaulay Culkin's cute performance and strong supporting stars."[3] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, it has a score of 63 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[45] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[46]

Variety magazine praised the film for its cast.[47] Jeanne Cooper of The Washington Post praised the film for its comedic approach.[48] Hal Hinson, also of The Washington Post, praised Columbus' direction and Culkin's performance.[49] Although Caryn James of The New York Times 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.[50] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a ​2 ¹⁄₂ 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 [him] to really care about the plight of the kid [Kevin]". However, he praised Culkin's performance.[51]

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly magazine gave the film a "D" grade, criticizing the film for its "sadistic festival of adult-bashing". Gleiberman said that "[John] Hughes is pulling our strings as though he'd never learn to do anything else".[52] Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film 3 out of a 5-star rating and praised Culkin's "vivid screen presence, almost incandescent with confidence." However, he criticised his acting, calling it "a bit broad and mannered".[53] 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".[54]

Naomi Barnwell of Roobla said that "Home Alone has all the ingredients that make for a great kids’ film".[55] Adrian Turner of Radio Times commented "[Home Alone is] a celebration of enterprise that captured the heart and wickedness of every child on the planet."[56] According to TV Guide, "[Home Alone]'s slapstick falls flat and only the pain remains."[57] Marielle Sabbag of Vocal wrote "Everything about [Home Alone] is beautiful and has a realistic quality."[58] Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Times criticised the fact that "there is a reason why this film plays better as a trailer than as a full-length film."[59]

Following the film's release, Home Alone gradually became a Christmas classic.[60][61][62][63] It was praised for its quotable phrases,[64] morals,[65] traps,[66] and main character.[67] Hannah-Rose Yee of Stylist called the ending "very sweet" and praised the score from John Williams, calling it "fantastic".[68] 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."[69] Matt Talbot from Simcoe.com said that the Wet Bandits were "fantastic" and "never [got] old" on "repeat viewings."[70] Michael Walsh of Nerdist noted the church scene as "One of the best, most touching scenes [in the film]".[71]

At the 12th Youth in Film Awards, Macaulay Culkin won Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture.[72] The film was nominated for two Academy Awards, 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.[73]

The 1989 French film 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.[74] 3615 code Père Noël director René Manzor threatened the makers of Home Alone with legal action on the grounds of plagiarism, alleging that Home Alone was a remake of his film.[75][76] 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.[77]

The film was followed by a commercially successful sequel in 1992, 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.[78] 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 as stereotypical 1930s mobster Johnny.[79] 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.[80]

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 that does not fall into the same continuity.[81] On November 25, 2012, a fifth film, The Holiday Heist, premiered during ABC Family's Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas programming event.[82] Similarly to the third film, it does not focus on the McCallister family.[83]

On August 6, 2019, Disney announced plans to reboot the franchise on its Disney+ streaming service.[84] On December 10, 2019, Archie Yates, Ellie Kemper, and Rob Delaney were announced as the cast for a reboot. Yates will not play Kevin, and will have a new story. The story reportedly "sees Kemper and Delaney play a wife and husband who, in order to save their home from financial ruin, go to war with a kid who has stolen a priceless heirloom." Dan Mazer will direct, from a script by Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell, and produced by Hutch Parker and Dan Wilson. The film will be a production of 20th Century Studios, and marks the first Fox produced project on Disney+. It is set to film in early 2020 in Canada.[85][86]