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Director Chris Columbus (left) opposes the idea of rebooting the original "Home Alone" (which starred Macaulay Culkin as the stranded 8-year-old Kevin McCallister, left home by himself during Christmas vacation).
Hollywood loves a reboot. And now that 35 years have passed since the release of the holiday-themed mega-hit comedy “Home Alone,” some industry types are hinting that the time has arrived for a remake.
But don’t expect Chris Columbus, who directed the original 1990 blockbuster and its first sequel, “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” (1992), to climb aboard the reboot bandwagon.
The Oscar nominee recently told “Entertainment Tonight” that he’s against the idea. “I think ’Home Alone’ really exists as, not as this timepiece, but it was this very special moment, and you can’t really recapture that,“ he said. ”I think it’s a mistake to try to go back and recapture something we did 35 years ago. It should be left alone.”
The “Home Alone” franchise rolled on without Columbus and with other child actors for “Home Alone 3” (1997), “Home Alone 4” (2002), “Home Alone: The Holiday Heist” (2012) and “Home Sweet Home Alone” (2021).
In the last decade, actor Ryan Reynolds was signed to produce an R-rated reboot of the original film, which was titled “Stoned Alone,” but the project hasn’t moved forward since.
Columbus spoke out in August after “Home Alone” star Macaulay Culkin talked to fans about reprising his role as Kevin McCallister, saying that he would consider returning to the franchise if someone made it worth his while. He also claims he was offered a role in one of the more recent made-for-cable/TV sequels, “Home Alone: The Holiday Heist” (2012) and “Home Sweet Home Alone” (2021).
Meanwhile, Columbus was against the latter two projects as well, especially “Home Sweet Home Alone,” a made-for-cable remake produced by Disney for its DisneyPlus platform.
"Nobody got in touch with me about it [“Home Sweet Home Alone”], and it’s a waste of time, as far as I’m concerned,“ he said. ”What’s the point? I’m a firm believer that you don’t remake films that have had the longevity of ’Home Alone.’ You’re not going to create lightning in a bottle again. It’s just not going to happen. So why do it? It’s like doing a paint-by-numbers version of a Disney animated film — a live-action version of that. What’s the point? It’s been done. Do your own thing. Even if you fail miserably, at least you have come up with something original."
But if you need a little Christmas, members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Nicholas Buc, and joined by the Deerfield Singers, will perform a live-to-picture production of “Home Alone in Concert” on Dec. 12-14.
