‘Home Alone’ turns 30: Why we don’t need a new reboot movie
When you think of Christmas movies, many come to mind. There’s Elf, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Grinch, and A Charlie Brown Christmas — not many would think of Home Alone 3. Fans of the original two films might not even know there’s more than one terrible sequel of the beloved classics with no one from the original movie.
Last August, Disney announced they would be rebooting Home Alone. The franchise is the first reboot of a 20th Century Fox film by Disney. But Home Alone doesn’t need another reboot. Home Alone & Home Alone: Lost in New York are perfect. Disney’s announcement of a Home Alone reboot is nothing more than a cash grab and a disgrace to the original two movies.
Not everything needs a reboot
Disney has learned this lesson at the box office so many times. Their adaptations of Newsies, The Lone Ranger, John Carter, and most recently A Wrinkle in Time were all box office flops. However, it’s so hard to learn not to make bad remakes when a loss at the box office is a minimal return. Case in point: A Wrinkle in Time’s $32 million profit.
You can argue the live-action remake of A Wrinkle in Time was a good decision gone wrong. Still, the other three are great examples of movies that didn’t need a remake — Home Alone falls into that category, especially during an anniversary year. Disney should be honoring the popularity of the original movies.
The first two were exceptional. It’s not often a sequel lives up to the original film. Look at Zombieland, fans of the original waited ten long years for a sequel, and when it finally came, it was terrible. Home Alone 1 & 2 are in the pantheon of Christmas movies, and Disney wants to defile their place with another pointless remake.
It’s already been done
Home Alone came out in 1990 and was a box office success. It had an estimated $18 million budget and made over $400 million worldwide at the box office. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York didn’t do as well. It made over $300 million worldwide but had a $28 million budget. The third one turned a profit with nearly $80 million worldwide on a $32 million budget.
Home Alone remakes outside of Lost in New York have not done well at the box office or with the audience. According to Rotten Tomatoes, each subsequent film has taken nose dives with audiences & critics. We can’t even remember what the third one was about let alone the fact someone made a Home Alone 4 & 5.
How would a remake work?
Let’s explore why the original Home Alone worked. Kevin McCallister didn’t have a cellphone or an iPad. You’re telling us this new kid or re-casted Kevin McCallister (Home Alone 3-5 did this) doesn’t have an iPhone, iPad, or some other way his parents can get a hold of him or vice versa?!
Also, what is he going to do to entertain himself? Is he going to sit on the couch and play video games, then move to his bed to play more video games? How is he going to defend himself? Today’s kids don’t have the toys as they did in the 90s or the imagination & creativity to think of all those booby traps.
Casting choices?
Then, who would you get for the role? There is no one Disney can announce that would intrigue us to reconsider watching a Home Alone remake. In December, Variety reported the studio tapped Jojo Rabbit’s Archie Yates to play the starring role. The casting doesn’t make us wish for a Home Alone remake. If they announced Macaulay Culkin was going to return to the part, now we’re talking.
We can see Yates in the role, but it’s the answer to the theoretical question, “Who would play Kevin in a Home Alone reboot?”. But as Jeff Goldblum said in Jurassic Park, “[You] were so preoccupied with whether or not [you] could that [you] didn’t stop to think if [you] should,” or something to that effect, but hey, “Life finds a way”.
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One last thing: anything written and/or directed by John Hughes should never be remade. The man is a legend and deserves better than a cheaply produced Disney+ reboot. But what do you think? Are you excited for another Home Alone reboot, or should they leave the franchise the way it is? Let us know in the comments.
