Almost 35 years after its original release, Macaulay Culkin has an idea for a sequel to Home Alone that would keep him at the center of the tricks and traps.
Why It Matters
Home Alone is one of the most beloved Christmas movies of all time. The franchise catapulted Culkin to fame, and he became one of the most popular child stars in 1990s Hollywood. The comedy follows 8-year-old Kevin McCallister, who is accidentally left behind when his family travels to Paris for Christmas. When two bumbling burglars attempt to rob the house, Kevin fights back with a series of elaborate traps.
The film was a box-office success on its release and was the second-highest-grossing film of 1990, bringing in $476 million worldwide. Culkin returned for the film’s sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, in 1992, which featured a cameo from now-President Donald Trump.
What To Know
Culkin shared the sequel idea during a stop on his “A Nostalgic Night with Macaulay Culkin” tour.
Now 45, Culkin said that he “wouldn’t be completely allergic” to making a return as the burglar-fighting, red sweater-loving Kevin in a sequel to Home Alone, but the script would have to be “just right.”
And luckily, he already has an idea. “I’m either a widower or a divorcee,” Culkin said, explaining his vision for the film.
“I’m raising a kid and all that stuff. I’m working really hard, and I’m not really paying enough attention, and the kid is kind of getting miffed at me, and then I get locked out. [Kevin’s son] won’t let me in… “
“He’s the one setting traps for me,” Culkin said.
He said that the house would become a “sort of metaphor” for the relationship between father and son. His character would have to “get let back into son’s heart.”
“That’s the closest elevator pitch that I have. I’m not completely allergic to it, the right thing,” he said.
Culkin’s remarks come after the film’s director, Chris Columbus, told Entertainment Tonight in August that a follow-up in the Home Alone franchise should not be made.
He said at the time, “I think Home Alone really exists as, not at this timepiece, but it was this very special moment, and you can’t really recapture that.”
“I think it should be left alone,” Columbus said.
There were several other Home Alone films made without Culkin and Columbus’s involvement, however: Home Alone 3 in 1997; Home Alone 4 in 2002; Home Alone: The Holiday Heist in 2012; and Home Sweet Home Alone in 2021.
What People Are Saying
Many iconic properties have been given the remake treatment in recent years, from Mean Girls to the upcoming sequel to The Devil Wears Prada, and while these films can often have a mixed reception, social media users seem keen on Culkin’s Home Alone idea.
Social media user @BayesianNuance, in a post on X viewed over 390,000 times: “Ok I’m sold. Do Kevin’s rich parents pay for him to have his own big house or is he living a normal, sad divorced dad life?”
Social media user @ShadowwwTrading, in a post on X viewed over 40,000 times: “The plot could be wayyyy simpler than that. I’ve always wanted to see a movie where Kevin is a parent who actually leaves his own child home alone and spends the movie trying to get home to them. Planes, Trains And Automobiles style. While his kid fends off intruders LOL.”
Social media user @yallititanup, in a post on X viewed over 100,000 times: “Imagine Joe Pesci coming out of retirement for a home alone sequel.”
Social media user @mim_maryam, in a post on X viewed over 30,000 times: “Culkin’s kid-outsmarting-dad twist could slap harder than the original if they nail the traps and keep it raw, not some sappy reboot mush.”
What Happens Next
Whether a new film in the Home Alone franchise will come remains to be seen.