File this one under ‘Stating the Obvious’, but as we approach the 35th anniversary of Home Alone, director Chris Columbus has revealed that any attempts to remake the classic blockbuster comedy would be a big mistake.
The Harry Potter helmer and most recently Nosferatu producer was speaking with Entertainment Tonight about the possibility of rebooting his 1990 classic, which was written by iconic screenwriter John Hughes (The Breakfast Club) and grossed $476 million at the worldwide box-office.
Columbus revealed that the only thing that should be left alone is the idea of a remake, saying “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 added “I think it’s a mistake to try and go back and recapture something we did 35 years ago. I think it should be left alone.”
Disney ignored this advice in 2021 with their Disney+ movie Home Sweet Home Alone, which starred Archie Yates (JoJo Rabbit) as the abandoned adolescent, opposite Ellie Kemper, Rob Delaney, Aisling Bea and Kenan Thompson. It’s fair to say that it wasn’t very well received.
The original on the other hand is considered a Christmas classic, and starred Macaulay Culkin as 8-year-old Kevin McCallister, a precocious child accidently left behind when his huge family fly out to Paris for this Christmas vacation, leaving him to fend for himself when two criminals (Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern) target his house. A number of inferior sequels were released, with only 1992 sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York coming close to the original.
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