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Home Alone 3
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Raja Gosnell
Produced by	John Hughes Hilton A. Green
Written by	John Hughes
Starring	Alex D. Linz Rya Kihlstedt Lenny von Dohlen Aleksander Krupa David Thornton Haviland Morris Scarlett Johansson
Music by	Nick Glennie-Smith
Cinematography	Julio Macat
Editing by	Bruce Green Malcom Campbell
Distributed by	20th Century Fox Hughes Entertainment 1492 Pictures
Release date(s)	December 12, 1997 (1997-12-12)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$32 million
Gross revenue	$79 million

Home Alone 3 is a 1997 family comedy film written and produced by John Hughes. It is the third film in the Home Alone series and the first not to feature actor Macaulay Culkin or director Chris Columbus. The film is directed by Raja Gosnell, who served as the editor of both original films, and stars Alex D. Linz stars as Alex Pruitt, a resourceful boy who is left home alone and has to defend his home from robbers. The film was followed by a made-for-television sequel, Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House, in 2002.

Contents [hide] 1 Story 2 Cast 3 Production 4 Reception 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Story

Four thieves named Peter Beaupre (Aleksander Krupa), Alice Rivens (Rya Kihlstedt), Burton Jernigan (Lenny Von Dohlen) and Earl Unger (David Thornton) have stolen a valuable missile cloaking computer chip for a North Korean terrorist group. They put it inside a toy remote control car to sneak it past security. At San Francisco International Airport, however, Mrs. Hess (Marian Seldes) accidentally takes the bag with the remote control car in it. The thieves then come to Chicago and systematically search every house in Mrs. Hess's suburb to find the chip.
8-year-old Alex Pruit (Alex D. Linz) is then given the remote control car by Mrs. Hess for shoveling snow. He soon becomes ill with the chicken pox, and must stay home. While he is at home, he sees the thieves through his telescope and, twice, calls the police. The thieves leave by the time the police come. After Alex reports the thieves again, they still manage to get away, and the police don't believe him. Alex then decides to take matters into his own hands. He mounts a camera on his remote control car and tries to film some footage of the thieves, who are now searching in a neighbor's house. He successfully films Beaupre, but the remote control car is discovered before it can get away and Alice takes the tape. Wondering what the thieves want with a remote control car, Alex opens it and discovers the stolen chip. Right away, he calls the suburb's Air Force Recruitment Center and informs them about the chip.
The thieves realize that Alex has the chip and go after him. They block off the road to the house, and Alice duct tapes Mrs. Hess to a porch chair in her garage and leaves the door open. By this point, Alex has armed the house with more violent booby traps. After several break-in attempts, they chase Alex. He runs to the attic and goes into the dumbwaiter down to the basement. He then runs outside and calls to Alice, Jernigan and Unger. They see him and notice a trampoline below them. Unger and Jernigan jump, but the trampoline gives way and they fall into a frozen pool. Alice then wriggles her way into the dumbwaiter chute, but falls down to the basement. Alex rescues Mrs. Hess. He is then cornered by Beaupre, but scares him off with a fake gun.
Meanwhile the FBI, which has also been tracking the chip, goes to Alex's school, having intercepted the call Alex gave earlier. Alex's family brings the agents to their house, where the police arrest Jernigan, Unger and Alice. Beaupre, however, managed to escape and hides in the snow fort in the backyard. Alex's brother Stan's pet parrot drives the remote control car into the snow fort and threatens to light fireworks which are lined around the inside. Beaupre offers a cracker, but the parrot demands two. Since he only has one, the parrot then lights the fireworks, and escapes. Beaupre's cover is literally blown, and the police arrest him.
Alex and his family celebrate with their dad returning. Mrs. Hess, who befriends Alex after he rescues her, is there along with the FBI and police while the house is repaired. Alex gets a surprise: another remote control car. In the final scene, where the four thieves are having their mugshot photos taken, they are shown to have Alex's chicken pox.

[edit] Cast

• Alex D. Linz as Alex Pruitt, an eight-year-old child with a high IQ living in suburban Chicago. He is the main protagonist.
• Olek Krupa as Peter Beaupre, leader of the four robbers. He is the main antagonist.
• Rya Kihlstedt as Alice Rivens, sole female of the four robbers.
• Lenny Von Dohlen as Burton Jernigan, one of the four robbers.
• David Thornton as Earl Unger, one of the four robbers.
• Haviland Morris as Karen Pruitt, Alex's mother.
• Kevin Kilner as Jack Pruitt, Alex's father.
• Marian Seldes as Mrs. Hess, Alex's elderly neighbor.
• Seth Smith as Stan Pruitt, Alex's older brother.
• Scarlett Johansson as Molly Pruitt, Alex's older sister.
• Neil Flynn as Police Officer, Chicago police officer.

[edit] Production

Home Alone 3 was pitched at the same time as Home Alone 2: Lost In New York, and it was planned to produce both movies simultaneously; however, those plans fell through.
The idea for a third Home Alone movie was revived in the mid-1990s; early drafts called for Culkin to return as a teenage version of his character. However, Culkin had dropped out of acting. As a result, the idea was changed to make an entirely new film centering on a new cast of characters. It was filmed in New York City with the airport scenes in the beginning of the film being shot in two different concourses at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago.

[edit] Reception

The film grossed $79,000,000 worldwide.^[1] Home Alone 3 was generally negative upon its release. It holds a 24% "rotten" rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 21 reviews and was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for "Worst Remake or Sequel."^[2] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, however, gave the film a positive review (3 out of 4 stars, ironically the highest of the three) and says he found it to be "fresh, very funny, and better than the first two".