So, you might recall that around Christmas time last year, Chris Columbus and Macaulay Culkin pitched their ideas for a new Home Alone movie with Culkin returning to the franchise as Kevin McCallister over thirty-five years later (article linked below).
Well, now it seems that there might be a chance of it actually happening.
According to The Town with Matthew Belloni podcast, Disney has met with Culkin about a return ahead of the franchise’s 40th anniversary in 2030, and is “extremely eager” to make a deal and properly reboot the franchise.
Chris Columbus and Macaulay Culkin discuss Home Alone sequel ideas
That’s all we know for now, but we do know that both Culkin and original movie writer and director Chris Columbus have ideas for how to bring the series back after a string of poorly received sequels in the 90s and 2000s, including Disney’s attempt at rebooting the series in 2021 with Home Sweet Home Alone, which had a fun premise – the kid is the villain – but was handled so very, very poorly.
“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,” Culking said of his idea for a new movie which would put Kevin’s son at the centre of the action this time out, “[Kevin’s son] won’t let me in… and he’s the one setting traps for me.”
Putting Kevin on the receiving side of things this time is certainly a fun idea, and it’s worth pointing out that in the 2021 reboot, it was established that Kevin now owns a home security business, which could play into the story this time around.
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However, Columbus believes that unless Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern return as the bungling thieves Harry and Marv, there’s no point in revisiting the story: “Obviously, the only way to do a Home Alone sequel is you need Mac [Culkin], you need Joe Pesci, and Daniel Stern,” he said last year.
In Home Alone 2, Kevin once again apprehended Harry and Marv and this resulted in them going back to prison, presumably for a very long time, so them coming back for revenge even in old age (Pesci is now 83 and Stern is spry 69) kinda makes sense.
“I always thought,” Columbus goes on, “that those two guys would probably have been in prison for about 30 years and they’re pretty pissed off with you, so I see it as some sort of revenge movie.”
I have to say that with Pesci and Stern both well on now and pretty much retired, I find it very unlikely, as much as I would have loved to see it, that they will be back in a movie like Home Alone.
Referring back to Culkin’s pitch, Columbus thought there was something there for the character for sure: “I like the idea that maybe Kevin’s older, he’s a widower or something like that. He’s raising his kid, and they don’t really get along; he’s working all the time.”
Culkin has another pitch, where he sees Kevon himself repeating the mistakes made by his parents Peter and Kate, played in the original two movies by the wonderful but sadly late John Heard and Catherine O’Hara: “I think there is one of two ways you could do it. One is he actually leaves the kid behind by mistake, so he calls up his mom like, ‘I’m so sorry! I get it now!’ Or, also, I leave him behind on purpose, like, ‘Oh, that made me the man I am today.’ And then he locks me out of the house and he’s setting up traps and things like that. I see them coming, because I’m the expert. [That would] explain why I don’t call the cops or a locksmith. I’m embarrassed, my kid is beating me… the house would be a metaphor for getting back the kid’s heart.”
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Admittedly, Columbus does make it clear he thinks returning to a movie that was made 35 years ago is a mistake, saying: “I think it should be left alone.”
But no matter Columbus’ opinion, if there’s money to be made, Disney will want to make it and, having failed at rebooting Home Alone, they’re going to want to try again and if they can get the original star, Culkin, back, then I’d imagine they’d move mountains to try to make that happen.
And look, I know it’s probably a bad idea, but part of me would like to see Kevin again and find out where he is in his life now.
Anyway, a new Home Alone? Thoughts? I know you have them and I wanna hear ’em all.
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Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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