What’s one more legacy sequel? Macaulay Culkin, who famously played Kevin McCallister in the first two Home Alone movies, says he “wouldn’t be completely allergic” to returning for a third true Home Alone sequel (we’ll pretend the others never happened).
While Culkin’s days of playing a precocious kid are long behind him, the 45-year-old actor has an elevator pitch ready if anyone is listening. Surprisingly, it’s an idea with as much heart as hijinks.
The Home Alone Sequel Elevator Pitch
Culkin’s idea for a Home Alone sequel almost writes itself.
“I’m either a widower or a divorcee,” he explains. “I’m raising a kid and all that stuff. 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. [Kevin’s son] won’t let me in… and he’s the one setting traps for me.”
Kevin in Home Alone – Disney+
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One can imagine that any child — boy or girl — raised by Kevin McCallister would be deviously creative. Casting would be key, as none of the Home Alone follow-ups without Culkin ever captured the same magic.
However, if audiences are ready to see an adult Kevin taking the punishment he so gleefully dished out 35 years ago, and Culkin is willing to suffer it, this Home Alone sequel could have potential.
Harry gets his hear burned in Home Alone – Disney+
Culkin has also thought beyond the movies’ trademark slapstick humor. “The house is some sort of metaphor for our relationship,” he adds. Getting back in the house would symbolize an effort to “get let back into son’s heart kind of deal.” If the original Home Alone was “Die Hard for kids,” it sounds like Culkin would like his sequel to be something a little meatier.
Remakes, Reboots, and Sequels
Variety notes that 1990’s Home Alone was the second-highest-grossing film of the year, pulling in $476 million worldwide and making Culkin one of the biggest child stars of the decade. Two years later, he returned for Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, where he appeared with a helpful future president (much to director Chris Columbus’s chagrin). Both films were written by John Hughes, who passed away in 2009 at age 59.
Donald Trump appears in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – Disney+
Since then, there have been three attempts to revive the series, none of which brought back Culkin or Columbus. Earlier this year, when discussing a Home Alone sequel or reboot, Columbus told 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.”
That attitude doesn’t seem to extend to Columbus’s other Christmas classic, Gremlins. Earlier this month it was announced that Gremlins 3 was officially greenlit at Warner Bros. with Columbus and Steven Spielberg returning. The movie is currently set to arrive in theaters on November 19, 2027.
With nostalgia for the ’80s and ’90s running high, and more legacy sequels are on the way, a Home Alone sequel doesn’t seem impossible. While it would potentially destroy the fan theory that the Saw movies are unofficial sequels, perhaps that’s for the best.
Harry and Marve in Home Alone 2 – Disney+
Whether or not they use Culkin’s idea, or go in a different direction, if anyone at Disney (which owns the Home Alone franchise since acquiring 20th Century Fox) wants to make a sequel, there may not be a better time to do it.
What do you think of Macaulay Culkin’s Home Alone sequel idea? Would you watch it? Let us know in the comments!
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no thanks. i get what he’s saying, and on paper it isn’t bad, but i feel it would do a disservice to the original two films. legacy sequels are more miss than hit. the only reason a christmas story christmas somewhat worked is because they focused on the old man, ralphie’s dad, for most of it. this idea he pitched makes his son out to be a little sob.
No. The idea immediately falls apart due to realizing the Traps can’t be to violent, otherwise it would scar the Dad and be full on attempted Mūrder.
The first Movie had Nails in feet, and a Blowtorch. That stuff wouldn’t be forgiven between a Boy and his Father.
They could do it where at first his kid is just messing with him, but then real burglars happen to come and he has to make real traps.
I initially liked Culkins pitch but the more I think of it, the less I do. I don’t think Kevin, of all people, having been left home alone twice, would be anything but protective of and close to his child. If anything he’d be too clingy and the kid uses traps to teach him to keep his distance a little and that everything is okay. That’d work better and the traps could be more playful. Otherwise if following Culkins idea, Kevin is just another dead beat dad. And we have enough of those in current day product as is.
Could just be that he is busy and needs to be reminded what is important.
I have been saying for a while that he should come back an make a third where his kid is left home alone.