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Home Alone
The original Home Alone movie poster. (Poster includes the Ontario Film Review Board classification
Directed by	Chris Columbus (Home Alone 1 & 2) Raja Gosnell (Home Alone 3) Rod Daniel (Home Alone 4)
Produced by	John Hughes
Written by	John Hughes (1, 2, 3) Mitch Engel (Home Alone 4)
Starring	Macaulay Culkin Joe Pesci Daniel Stern Catherine O'Hara John Heard Home Alone 3: Alex D. Linz Home Alone 4: Mike Weinberg French Stewart
Music by	John Williams (Home Alone 1 & 2) Nick Glennie-Smith (Home Alone 3) Teddy Castellucci (Home Alone 4)
Release date(s)	November 16, 1990 - October 29, 2002
Running time	414 minutes (all 4 movies)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$70,000,000 (1-3)
Gross revenue	$914,762,040 (1-3)

Home Alone is a series of films that was based on the adventures of a boy named Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin, Mike Weinberg) who gets two burglars arrested, Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern), by using booby traps. However in Home Alone 4, the antagonists for Kevin are Marv (now played by French Stewart), his wife Vera (Missi Pyle), and later his mom Molly (Barbara Babcock), revealed later in the film. 3 has a similar plot but with a new protagonist, Alex Pruitt (Alex D. Linz), and more of a spy theme. The first two films were directed by Chris Columbus, the third film was directed by Raja Gosnell (who was the editor of the first two films), the fourth film was directed by Rod Daniel.
The first two films had Kevin getting separated from his family and trying to get two robbers, Harry and Marv, arrested, whom he bumps into at the climax of the films. The first film became the highest grossing film of 1990,^[1] grossing $476,684,675 worldwide^[2]. The film made a major star of Macaulay Culkin. In Home Alone, Kevin is 8 years old and in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, he's 10.
Home Alone 3 was released on December 12, 1997. It originally was going to have Kevin return as a teenager but Macaulay Culkin dropped out of child acting in 1994, so it was changed to a whole different family and robbers. The film was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award. Home Alone 4: Taking Back The House, a television film, brought back Kevin but the cast was changed, and the plot does not maintain continuity with Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York.

Contents [hide] 1 Films 1.1 Home Alone (1990) 1.2 Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) 1.3 Home Alone 3 (1997) 1.4 Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House (2002) 2 Principal cast and characters 3 Video Games 3.1 Home Alone (1991) 3.2 Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992-1993) 3.3 Home Alone (2006) 4 Gross Revenues 5 References

[edit] Films

[edit] Home Alone (1990)

Home Alone is primarily a coming-of-age story about an 8-year old boy named Kevin. He is the youngest of five and is frequently bullied by his siblings. After events transpire between him and his family, he wishes he had no family when his mother is punishing him for what he feels are unjustified reasons. She warns him to be careful what he wishes for. He wakes up the next day to discover he is the only one left in the house. He thinks his wish came true and that he is finally alone without his obnoxious family around. In reality, he was left home by mistake. His family is en route to Paris for a holiday vacation. While his parents realize their mistake and scramble to get back to the US, Harry and Marv, a pair of thieves attempt to rob the house and Kevin is forced to hold them back with a collection of homemade booby traps. They get arrested at the end of the film. It was directed by Chris Columbus and this premiered as a television movie on Fox in 1993.

[edit] Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)

One year later, Kevin and his family are taking another Christmas vacation, this time to Florida. During the chaos at the airport, he gets separated from them and accidentally gets on a plane to New York City. After enjoying himself there for a while, he runs into Harry and Marv, who have escaped from prison.

[edit] Home Alone 3 (1997)

The film does not revolve around Kevin, but centers on Alex Pruitt, and a young boy who is home alone with the chicken pox, but gets better. At this time, four burglars working for a North Korean terrorist group are sent by their boss to obtain a top-secret microchip that can act as a cloaking device for a missile. They succeed in retrieving it and hide it in a remote controlled car, but due to a luggage mix-up at the airport with the Pruitts' neighbor Mrs. Hess, the car lands in the hands of Alex, who is given the car for shoveling the snow on her driveway. The burglars begin systematically searching every house on his street. Once they figure out that he has the chip, they prepare to invade his house. He devises elaborate traps and bamboozles the 4 crooks with the help of his pet rat, his brother's parrot, and some intricate tripwires, all the while monitoring them with a video camera on the race car.

[edit] Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House (2002)

Although marketed as a fourth installment many see Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House as a reboot due to the absence of any of the regular cast and a different storyline that does not reflect the continuity of the first two films. It was directed by Rod Daniel and premiered as a television movie on ABC on November 3, 2002. The film returns to the original's main character, Kevin (played by Mike Weinberg) and one of the two Sticky Bandits, Marv (played by French Stewart). Kevin's parents have divorced, and he lives with his mother. He decides to go spend Christmas with his dad and his rich girlfriend, Natalie, but finds himself having to deal with his old nemesis Marv, and his new sidekick and wife, Vera (played by Missi Pyle). It was released to Region 1 DVD on October 20, 2003. Filming began on July 29 in Melbourne. Home Alone 4 is the only film in the series that was not released in theaters.

[edit] Principal cast and characters

Character and Actor/Actress	Film and Year
	Home Alone (1990)	Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (1992)	Home Alone 3 (1997)	Home Alone 4: Taking Back The House (2002)
Kevin McCallister	Macaulay Culkin			Mike Weinberg
Marv Merchants	Daniel Stern			French Stewart
Harry Lyme	Joe Pesci
Kate McCallister	Catherine O'Hara			Clare Carey
Peter McCallister	John Heard			Jason Beghe
Buzz McCallister	Devin Ratray			Gideon Jacobs
Megan McCallister	Hillary Wolf			Chelsea Russo
Linnie McCallister	Angela Goethals	Maureen Elizabeth Shay
Jeff McCallister	Michael C. Maronna
Old Man Marley	Roberts Blossom
Gus Polinski	John Candy
Mr. Hector		Tim Curry
Pigeon Lady		Brenda Fricker
Alex Pruitt			Alex D. Linz
Peter Beaupre			Olek Krupa
Alice Rivens			Rya Kihlstedt
Burton Jernigan			Lenny von Dohlen
Earl Unger			David Thornton
Mrs. Hess			Marian Seldes
Vera Merchants				Missi Pyle
Natalie				Joanna Going
Mr. Prescott				Erick Avari
Molly Merchants				Barbara Babcock

[edit] Video Games

[edit] Home Alone (1991)

Home Alone was released in 1991 on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Sega Game Gear, Amiga, MS-DOS, Nintendo Entertainment System, and Game Boy. The purpose of the game is to escape the Wet Bandits while bringing all the McCallister's fortunes from the house down to the safe room in the basement. Once all items have been sent down the chute to the basement Kevin must make it past rats, bats, and ghosts he encounters in the basement, then fight the spider king so he can make it to the safe room to lock away all his families riches.
In the Home Alone game for the PC, the player must set up traps to hurt the Wet Bandits. In the Home Alone title for the NES, the player must avoid being caught by the Wet Bandits for 20 minutes. During this time, he can set various traps using items around the house, each with a different corresponding strength and allowing the Bandit tripping them to be knocked unconscious longer. Kevin can also hide behind certain parts of the house, but only for two consecutive turns; any other concurrent passings will result in a game over. Each version of the game is an example of the trap-em-up genre, which also includes games like Heiankyo Alien, Space Panic, and Lode Runner. The Home Alone Genesis and Game Gear titles take a different approach from the story; while the plot still revolves around Kevin’s battle with the Wet Bandits, he instead must protect several houses in his neighborhood while waiting 20 minutes for the police to arrive (40 on higher difficulties). During the game, the Wet Bandits drive around the neighborhood in their non-descript van until they decide to enter the house. Kevin can travel by sled (in a top-view format) to the various houses and do battle with the Bandits as they proceed to rob whatever house they are in (in a 2D platform/side scroller format). When this happens, Kevin must fight them off with different weapons and guns in order to fill up an empty Pain Meter; when he does so, he will have saved that particular house and cause the Bandits to retreat. During this time, however, another meter will be filled depending on how much the Bandits have stolen, and if Kevin is unsuccessful in stopping them (thereby filling that particular meter), the house will become “frozen” and he will be unable to reenter the house again. If all the houses end up frozen, the game is over. Kevin starts with a simple BB gun, but he also finds different items he can combine to make various firearms that do different effects depending on the ammunition (glue, snow, light bulbs, sound waves, coals, etc.) and gun type (rifle: flies the farthest and fastest; bazooka: flies slower and at a shorter distance; launch: fires the weapon at a small, short arc; mortar: fires the weapon at a high, but short arc.) Each gun has a specific amount of ammunition, but collecting other ammo items after the completion of certain guns will refill the ammo supply. Should Kevin enter a house before the Bandits, he can lay down several traps throughout the house (keeping with the game’s movie tie-in theme) to help increase the Pain Meter and make protecting the house easier. If any of the Bandits end up capturing Kevin, he will he strung up on a wall while they continue robbing the house, but he can fidget and drop from the wall to continue defending the house. The game starts with one difficulty level, but a harder one can be unlocked. In the hard difficulty, Kevin must wait for 40 minutes for the police to arrive and the bandits’ van will drive faster from house to house, but he will be able to create newer and more powerful guns to fight them off.

[edit] Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992-1993)

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York was released on the Super NES, NES, and Game Boy in 1992, and the PC, Sega Genesis, and NES in 1993. Though it is based on the film in terms of plot and additional dialogue, the game was different from the film. The NES port uses sound effects from the early 1990s Simpsons games; Bart vs. the Space Mutants for example. The Super NES version, while boasting a soundtrack with the Super NES traditionally realistic sounding instrument synth, suffered due to slightly post-8-bit graphics and sound effects, as well as a disjointed feel of incontinuity between stages.
The NES version has four different levels, the first of which is the Plaza Hotel. Kevin races through various floors and rooms collecting power-ups and avoiding the hotel staff, crazy guests and runaway vacuum cleaners and suitcases. Before he can escape, however, he has to deal with two bosses: the ever-persistent House Detective and the Master Chef. The next level takes place in Central Park, and is similar to the Plaza Hotel: Kevin collects his goodies while avoiding rats, bats and assorted thugs.
The third level takes place in Kevin's uncle's three-story Townhouse. This time Kevin has to avoid Harry and Marv, and sets up several booby-traps to keep the Sticky Bandits (Marv changes their name in the film) at bay. While doing so, Kevin must also find keys that will allow him to escape to the next floor, and ultimately the Rooftop. Once he's on the roof, Kevin escapes to the streets of New York with the Bandits hot on his tail, until he reaches the giant Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. It's here where he gets help from the Pigeon Lady to defeat Harry and Marv, have them sent back to jail, and finally reunite with his family. The game got negative reciption from Electronic Gaming Monthly ^[3].

[edit] Home Alone (2006)

Home Alone '06, was released in Europe only. The aim of the game is to go through five areas and dispose of the burglars while locking all the doors and windows to stop more getting in. The player is able to collect and use tools to close the entrances, and traps to catch the burglars. Unless the player locks all the entrances on the level, however, defeating a burglar simply means another takes his place. Home Alone '06 was released on the PlayStation 2.

[edit] Gross Revenues

Film	Release date	Box office revenue			Box office ranking		Budget	Reference
		United States	Foreign	Worldwide	All time domestic	All time worldwide
Home Alone	November 16, 1990	$285,761,243	$190,923,432	$476,684,675	#38 #36(A)	#68	$18,000,000	[4]
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York	November 20, 1992	$173,585,516	$185,409,334	$358,994,850	#137 #138(A)	#151	$20,000,000	[5][6]
Home Alone 3	December 12, 1997	$30,882,515	$48,200,000	$79,082,515	#1,807		$32,000,000	[7]
Total		$490,229,274	$424,532,766	$914,762,040			$70,000,000
List indicator(s) (A) indicates the adjusted totals based on current ticket prices (calculated by Box Office Mojo).

[edit] References