The director behind the first two Home Alone films has shot down rumours of a reboot, saying that he thinks the whole thing would be a “mistake”.
Chris Columbus is an Oscar-nominated director who was behind the iconic 1990 Christmas classic, and the fan-favourite follow-up: 1992’s Home Alone 2: Lost In New York. Both were penned by John Hughes.
In the 1990 and 1992 films, child actor Macaulay Culkin starred in the lead role – playing a young Kevin McCallister, who is left forced to battle off intruders after being left without parental supervision over the holidays.
Although it has been nearly 35 years since Culkin took on the role, there has been some talk in recent years of a potential reboot of the franchise, which would see him return to the role. While nothing has materialised, fans’ hopes were raised when the actor said in a Q&A last December that he would be open to returning as McCallister if the pay was high enough (via ComicBook).
Now though, Columbus has put a dampener on the idea, saying that he would not be on board with the project (if it were to materialise) as he doesn’t think it would be worth pursuing.
“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,: he said in a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight. “I think it’s a mistake to try to go back and recapture something we did 35 years ago. I think it should be left alone.”
While McCallister and Columbus’ involvement in the hit film franchise finished after the 1992 sequel, there were subsequent films in the Home Alone series that involved other directors and other child actors taking on the role of Kevin.
The first of which, Home Alone 3, arrived in 1997, and was followed by 2002’s Home Alone 4. In 2012, another was made called Home Alone: The Holiday Heist and this was followed by a sixth version, called Home Sweet Home Alone, which dropped back in 2021.
In 2018, there were rumours of an R-rated reboot of the films, called Stoned Alone, and featuring Ryan Reynolds, although this never materialised.
The home that featured in the first two films –a five-bedroom, six-bathroom residence in Winnetka, Illinois – has often been at the centre of discussion online, with fans questioning how the family were able to live in such a luxurious property.
Last year, Columbus finally put the rumours to rest, and revealed what Kevin McAllister’s parents did for a living to have such a lavish home.
Before then, the house went back on the market after having been fully renovated and expanded in 2018. It was listed with an asking price of $5.25million (£4.13million). The half-acre plot of land includes an indoor basketball court, a movie theatre, a poker room and Lego statue of Culkin in his iconic scream pose.
In other news, Culkin and Catherine O’Hara, who plays his mother in the movies, recently reunited as the former accepted his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
