116-728: Home Alone is a 1990 American comedy film directed by Chris Columbus and written and produced by John Hughes . The first film in the Home Alone franchise , the film stars Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, a young boy who defends his suburban Chicago home from a home invasion by a pair of robbers after his family accidentally leaves him behind on their Christmas vacation to Paris. The cast also features Joe Pesci , Daniel Stern , John Heard , and Catherine O'Hara . Hughes conceived Home Alone while on vacation, with Warner Bros. being originally intended to finance and distribute
232-483: A Bloom County story from 15 December 1981 through 24 December 1981 has Santa rejecting the demands of PETCO (Professional Elves Toy-Making and Craft Organization) for higher wages, a hot tub in the locker room, and "Aggressive recruitment of a wider gender spectrum of employee" ("short broads"), with the elves then going on strike. President Reagan steps in, fires all of Santa's helpers, and replaces them with out-of-work air traffic controllers (an obvious reference to
348-406: A Montgomery Ward copywriter, and immortalized in a 1949 song by Gene Autry . Elves had been portrayed as using assembly lines to produce toys early in the 20th century. That shift was reflected in the modern depiction of Santa's residence—now often humorously portrayed as a fully mechanized production and distribution facility, equipped with the latest manufacturing technology, and overseen by
464-723: A camp sensibility lay behind the successful Carry On films , while in America subversive independent film-maker John Waters made camp films for college audiences with his drag queen friends that eventually found a mainstream audience. The success of the American television show Saturday Night Live drove decades of cinema with racier content allowed on television drawing on the program's stars and characters, with bigger successes including Wayne's World , Mean Girls , Ghostbusters and Animal House . Parody and joke-based films continue to find audiences. While comedic films are among
580-433: A moving van on the way to Milwaukee . On Christmas Eve , Harry and Marv finally realize that only Kevin is in the McCallister home, and Kevin overhears them discussing plans to break into the house that night. Kevin starts to miss his family and asks the local Santa Claus impersonator if he could bring them back for Christmas. He goes to church and watches a choir perform, eventually re-encountering Marley, who disproves
696-510: A Nast creation. His Christmas image in the Harper's issue dated 29 December 1866 was a collage of engravings titled Santa Claus and His Works , which included the caption "Santa Claussville, N.P." A colour collection of Nast's pictures, published in 1869, had a poem also titled "Santa Claus and His Works" by George P. Webster , who wrote that Santa Claus's home was "near the North Pole, in
812-464: A bag full of gifts for children. The 1823 poem " A Visit from St. Nicholas " popularized this image in North America during the 19th century. Caricaturist and political cartoonist Thomas Nast also played a role in the creation of Santa's image. The traditional 1823 Christmas poem A Visit from St. Nicholas relates that Santa has: "a little round belly That shook when he laugh'd, like
928-460: A beatin', and gave the good ones toys." In Kyrgyzstan, a mountain peak was named after Santa Claus, after a Swedish company had suggested the location be a more efficient starting place for present-delivering journeys all over the world, than Lapland. In the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek , a Santa Claus Festival was held on 30 December 2007, with government officials attending. 2008 was officially declared
1044-473: A box set titled Home Alone: 25th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Christmas Edition . On September 15, 2020, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment and 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment released Home Alone on Ultra HD Blu-ray in time for its 30th anniversary in the United States. Home Alone grossed $ 285.8 million in the United States and Canada and $ 190.9 million in other countries for
1160-540: A child star. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes , Home Alone holds an approval rating of 66% based on 116 reviews, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, " Home Alone ' s uneven but frequently funny premise stretched unreasonably thin is buoyed by Macaulay Culkin's cute performance and strong supporting stars." On Metacritic , the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100 based on nine critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave
1276-497: A culture where we've become so commercialized and hooked into manufactured icons. Santa is much more organic, integral, connected to the past, and therefore connected to the future. Norman Corwin 's 1938 comic radio play The Plot to Overthrow Christmas , set entirely in rhyme, details a conspiracy of the Devil Mephistopheles and damned figures of history to defeat the good will among men of Christmas, by sending
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#17327725644811392-523: A deep, hearty laugh , frequently rendered in Christmas literature as "ho, ho, ho!" This image originated in North America during the 19th century, influenced by Dutch immigrants who brought the legend of Sinterklaas ("Saint Nicholas") to 17th-century New Amsterdam (present-day New York City ), and has been maintained and reinforced through song, radio, television, children's books, family Christmas traditions , films, and advertising. Saint Nicholas
1508-420: A gameplay session of The Pagemaster with James Rolfe and Mike Matei in the days following that episode's release. On December 19, 2018, Culkin again reprised his role as McCallister in a 60-second advertisement for Google Assistant titled Home Alone Again, which parodies the original film. The commercial contains shot-for-shot remakes of several scenes from the film in which McCallister uses several of
1624-684: A great genial man in a green coat lined with fur who takes Scrooge through the bustling streets of London on the current Christmas morning, sprinkling the essence of Christmas onto the happy populace. In the Netherlands and Belgium, the character of Santa Claus competes with that of Sinterklaas , based on Saint Nicolas. Santa Claus is known as de Kerstman in Dutch ("the Christmas man") and Père Noël ("Father Christmas") in French. For children in
1740-457: A memo arguing that the budget could not be cut any further. Unconvinced, Warner shut down production the next day, but it quickly resumed when Fox took up Hughes on his offer. The final budget grew to $ 18 million. Hughes had asked Patrick Read Johnson to direct, but he was committed to directing Spaced Invaders (1990). He turned to Chris Columbus , who had left National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) before shooting started because of
1856-408: A multi-car pileup on the expressway, and just crack up laughing ... There were so many setups and narrowly missed moments of disaster, but to my knowledge, no one got hurt." Columbus initially hoped to have Bruce Broughton score the film, and early posters listed him as the composer. However, Broughton was busy with The Rescuers Down Under (1990), and he had to cancel at the last minute. Columbus
1972-458: A personality clash with starring actor Chevy Chase , who Columbus said treated him "like dirt". Hughes gave him the scripts for both Home Alone and Reach the Rock (1998); Columbus chose to direct Home Alone , as he found it funnier and liked the Christmas theme. Columbus did an uncredited rewrite of the script; among his contributions was the character of Old Man Marley, which he created to give
2088-432: A pipe in a green winter coat. Irving's book was a parody of the Dutch culture of New York, and much of this portrait is his joking invention. Irving's interpretation of Santa Claus was part of a broader movement to tone down the increasingly wild Christmas celebrations of the era, which included aggressive home invasions under the guise of wassailing , substantial premarital sex (leading to shotgun weddings in areas where
2204-489: A reindeer sleigh, bringing rewards to children. Some modern ideas of Santa Claus seemingly became canon after the anonymous publication of the poem A Visit From St. Nicholas (better known today as The Night Before Christmas ) in the Troy, New York , Sentinel on 23 December 1823; Clement Clarke Moore later claimed authorship, though some scholars argue that Henry Livingston, Jr. (who died nine years before Moore's claim)
2320-531: A scene where a character who is obsessed with the Home Alone films demonstrates how, in real life, it would be deadly for someone to be hit in the face with a paint can swung from a distance. The season 13 episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia "Charlie's Home Alone" is intended to be a direct parody of the first Home Alone film. In the episode, Charlie Kelly is accidentally forgotten while
2436-471: A separate genre, but rather, provides a better understanding of the film. Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas , Saint Nick , Father Christmas , Kris Kringle , or Santa ) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Christmas Eve . He is said to accomplish this with
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#17327725644812552-488: A serial killer who murdered his own family with a snow shovel. The McCallister home is soon stalked by the "Wet Bandits", Harry and Marv, a pair of burglars who have been breaking into other vacant houses in the neighborhood. Kevin tricks them into thinking that his family is still home, forcing them to postpone their plans to rob the McCallister house. Kate realizes mid-flight that Kevin was left behind. Upon arrival in Paris,
2668-453: A tagline that acknowledges this popularity: "Christmas without him? It's absolutely impossible!" . The movie is also highly popular in Romania , being played by Pro TV since 1995, except 2021 when the movie was played by Antena 1 . In 2014, over 2.7 million Romanians watched the movie on Pro TV. Julio Macat , the film's cinematographer, considers Home Alone his favorite film out of all
2784-473: A three-story single-family house located at 671 Lincoln Avenue in the North Shore village of Winnetka, Illinois , where many of Hughes' previous films had also been shot, but at different houses. The only interiors of the house used for filming that made it to the finished film were the main staircase, basement, attic and most of the first floor landing, while all the other interiors of the house (including
2900-490: A worldwide total of $ 476.7 million, against a production budget of $ 18 million. In its opening weekend, Home Alone grossed $ 17 million from 1,202 theaters, averaging $ 14,211 per site and just 6% of the final total and added screens over the next six weeks, with a peak screen count of 2,174 during its eighth weekend at the start of January 1991. Home Alone was the number-one film at the box office for 12 consecutive weeks, from its release weekend of November 16–18, 1990, through
3016-562: Is a film genre that emphasizes humor . These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending , with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the oldest genres in film, and it is derived from classical comedy in theatre . Some of the earliest silent films were slapstick comedies , which often relied on visual depictions, such as sight gags and pratfalls, so they could be enjoyed without requiring sound. To provide drama and excitement to silent movies, live music
3132-418: Is about a young boy who is home alone with his elderly grandfather and has to fend off a home invader dressed up as Santa Claus , has been noted for its plot similarities to Home Alone . 3615 code Père Noël director René Manzor threatened the producers of Home Alone with legal action on the grounds of plagiarism , alleging that Home Alone was a remake of his film. 3615 code Père Noël was not released in
3248-418: Is announced as "The most Mighty and Loyal Friend of Children, His Supreme Highness – Santa Claus". Images of Santa Claus were conveyed through Haddon Sundblom 's depiction of him for The Coca-Cola Company 's Christmas advertising in the 1930s. The image spawned urban legends that Santa Claus was invented by The Coca-Cola Company or that Santa wears red and white because they are the colours used to promote
3364-447: Is pulling our strings as though he'd never learn to do anything else". Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film three out of five and praised Culkin's "vivid screen presence, almost incandescent with confidence". However, he criticised his acting, calling it "a bit broad and mannered". Ali Barclay of the BBC wrote, "Culkin walks a fine line between annoyance and endearment throughout
3480-515: Is the 25th of December, owes much to Odin, the old blue-hooded, cloaked, white-bearded Giftbringer of the north, who rode the midwinter sky on his eight-footed steed Sleipnir, visiting his people with gifts. Odin, transformed into Father Christmas, then Santa Claus, prospered with St Nicholas and the Christchild , became a leading player on the Christmas stage." In northern Europe, the Yule goat
3596-513: Is usually called "Krishkinkle", but in New York he is "St. Nicholas" or "Santa Claus". The author quotes Moore's poem in its entirety, saying that its descriptions apply to Krishkinkle too. As the years passed, Santa Claus evolved into a large, heavyset person. One of the first artists to define Santa Claus's modern image was Thomas Nast , a German-born American cartoonist of the 19th century who immortalized Santa Claus with an illustration for
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3712-402: The 1981 air traffic controllers' strike ), resulting in a riot before Santa vindictively rehires them in humiliating new positions such as his reindeer. In the 2001 The Sopranos episode, " To Save Us All from Satan's Power ", Paulie Gualtieri says he "Used to think Santa and Mrs. Claus were running a sweatshop over there. The original elves were ugly, traveled with Santa to throw bad kids
3828-529: The Christkind as the bringer of gifts. But Nicholas remained popular as gifts bearer for the people. Father Christmas dates back as far as 16th century in England during the reign of Henry VIII , when he was pictured as a large man in green or scarlet robes lined with fur. He typified the spirit of good cheer at Christmas , bringing peace, joy, good food and wine and revelry. As England no longer kept
3944-599: The Eastern Orthodox Church is kept on 7 January. L. Frank Baum 's The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus , a children's book , was published in 1902. Much of Santa Claus's mythos was not firmly established at the time, leaving Baum to give his "Neclaus" (Necile's Little One) a variety of immortal support, a home in the Laughing Valley of Hohaho, and ten reindeer—who could not fly, but leapt in enormous, flight-like bounds. Claus's immortality
4060-531: The English and later British colonies of North America , and later in the United States, British and Dutch versions of the gift-giver merged further. For example, in Washington Irving 's History of New York (1809), Sinterklaas was Anglicized into "Santa Claus" (a name first used in the U.S. press in 1773) but lost his bishop's apparel, and was at first pictured as a thick-bellied Dutch sailor with
4176-725: The First Crusade and placed in Venice , where a church to St. Nicholas, the patron of sailors, was built on the San Nicolò al Lido . St. Nicholas' vandalized sarcophagus can still be seen in the St. Nicholas Church in Myra. This tradition was confirmed in two important scientific investigations of the relics in Bari and Venice , which revealed that the relics in the two Italian cities belong to
4292-485: The Puritans , waning in power and firmly opposed to Christmas, still held some influence) and public displays of sexual deviancy; the celebrations of the era were derided by both upper-class merchants and Christian purists. In 1821, the book A New-year's present, to the little ones from five to twelve was published in New York. It contained " Old Santeclaus with Much Delight ", an anonymous poem describing Santeclaus on
4408-834: The Wild Hunt , frequently attested as being led by the god Odin (Wodan), bearing (among many names ) the names Jólnir , meaning "Yule figure", and Langbarðr , meaning "long-beard", in Old Norse . Wodan's role during the Yuletide period has been theorized as having influenced concepts of St. Nicholas and Santa Claus in a variety of facets, including his long white beard and his gray horse for nightly rides (compare Odin's horse Sleipnir ) or his reindeer in North American tradition. Folklorist Margaret Baker maintains that "the appearance of Santa Claus or Father Christmas, whose day
4524-579: The best Christmas films . In 2023, Home Alone was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". A sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York , was released in 1992. The McCallister family is preparing to spend Christmas in Paris , gathering at Kate and Peter's home in a Chicago suburb on
4640-557: The feast day of Saint Nicholas on 6 December, the Father Christmas celebration was moved to 25 December to coincide with Christmas Day. The Victorian revival of Christmas included Father Christmas as the emblem of good cheer. His physical appearance was variable, with one image being John Leech's illustration of the " Ghost of Christmas Present " in Charles Dickens 's festive story A Christmas Carol (1843), as
4756-432: The film within a film , Angels with Filthy Souls (the title of which parodies the 1938 crime film Angels with Dirty Faces ), shooting took only one day, on the final "test day" prior to the official start of principal photography. To create the illusion that the film was an authentic 1940s gangster film , the scene was filmed on black-and-white negative film, and Johnny's office featured props from that era. Like much of
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4872-567: The 1963 children's book How Mrs. Santa Claus Saved Christmas , by Phyllis McGinley , helped standardize and establish the character and role of Mrs. Claus in the US. Seabury Quinn 's 1948 novel Roads draws from historical legends to tell the story of Santa and the origins of Christmas. Other modern additions to the "story" of Santa include Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer , the 9th and lead reindeer created in 1939 by Robert L. May ,
4988-486: The 3 January 1863 issue of Harper's Weekly in which Santa was dressed in an American flag , and had a puppet with the name " Jeff " written on it, reflecting its Civil War context. Nast was inspired by the Belsnickel , part of the folklure in southwestern Germany, where he was born. In this drawing, Santa is also in a sleigh pulled by reindeers. The story that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole may also have been
5104-538: The Charles W. Howard Santa School, the oldest continuously run such school in the world. In some images from the early 20th century, Santa was depicted as personally making his toys by hand in a small workshop like a craftsman. Eventually, the idea emerged that he had numerous elves responsible for making the toys, but the toys were still handmade by each individual elf working in the traditional manner. The 1956 popular song by George Melachrino , "Mrs. Santa Claus", and
5220-659: The Coca-Cola brand. Coca-Cola's competitor Pepsi-Cola used similar Santa Claus paintings in its advertisements in the 1940s and 1950s. Historically, Coca-Cola was not the first soft drink company to utilize the modern image of Santa Claus in its advertising— White Rock Beverages had used a Santa figure in monochrome advertisements for mineral water in 1915, and in 1923–25, the same company used colour images of Santa Claus in adverts for drink mixers. Earlier, Santa Claus had appeared dressed in red and white and essentially in his current form on several covers of Puck magazine in
5336-478: The English figure of Father Christmas , and they are both now popularly regarded as the same person. Santa is generally depicted as a portly, jolly, white- bearded man, often with spectacles , wearing a red coat with white fur collar and cuffs, white-fur-cuffed red trousers, a red hat trimmed with white fur, a black leather belt and boots, carrying a bag full of gifts for children. He is popularly associated with
5452-702: The French speaking region, while the sinister Schmutzli accompanies Samichlaus in the Swiss German region. Schmutzli carries a twig broom to spank the naughty children. Prior to Christianization, the Germanic peoples (including the English) celebrated a midwinter event called Yule (Old English geola or giuli ). With the Christianization of Germanic Europe, numerous traditions were absorbed from Yuletide celebrations into modern Christmas, such as
5568-667: The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany), he is usually portrayed as a bearded bishop in canonical robes. In 1087, while the Greek Christian inhabitants of Myra were subjugated by the newly arrived Muslim Seljuq dynasty , and soon after their Greek Orthodox church had been declared to be in schism by the Catholic church (1054 AD), a group of merchants from the Italian city of Bari removed
5684-777: The Netherlands, Sinterklaas remains the predominant gift-giver in December; 36% of the Dutch only give presents on Sinterklaas evening or the day itself, 6 December, while Christmas, 25 December, is used by another 21% to give presents. Some 26% of the Dutch population gives presents on both days. In Belgium, presents are offered exclusively to children on 6 December, and on Christmas Day all ages may receive presents. Saint Nicolas/Sinterklaas' assistants are called " Pieten " (in Dutch) or " Père Fouettard " (in French), and they are not elves. In Switzerland, Père Fouettard accompanies Père Noël in
5800-546: The Roman emperor Nero to the North Pole to assassinate Santa Claus. Through a battle of wits, Santa saves himself by winning Nero over to the joys of Christmas, and gives him a Stradivarius violin. The play was re-produced in 1940 and 1944. Many television commercials, comic strips and other media depict this as a sort of humorous business, with Santa's elves acting as a sometimes mischievously disgruntled workforce, cracking jokes and pulling pranks on their boss. For instance,
5916-489: The United States and Canada , behind only Star Wars ($ 322 million at the time) and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ($ 399 million at the time), according to the home video box. Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold over 67.7 million tickets in the United States. It was also the highest-grossing Christmas film until it was surpassed by Dr. Seuss' The Grinch in 2018. The film made Culkin
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#17327725644816032-545: The United States and Canada, children may leave a glass of milk and a plate of cookies intended for Santa; in Britain, Australia and New Zealand, sherry or beer, and mince pies are left instead. In Denmark, Norway and Sweden, it is common for children to leave him rice porridge with sugar and cinnamon instead. In Ireland it is popular to leave Guinness or milk, along with Christmas pudding or mince pies. In Hungary, St. Nicolaus (Mikulás) or Father Winter (Télapó) comes on
6148-580: The United States during its original theatrical run in January 1990 and did not become widely available there until 2018. The music video for Snoop Dogg 's 1994 song " Gin and Juice " opens with a gag where, after a teenaged Snoop's parents have left him to watch the house in their absence, he places his hands to his face and yells in the manner of Kevin McCallister in the first film, while a title comes on screen reading "Home Boy Alone". In December 2015, Culkin reprised his role as an adult Kevin McCallister in
6264-555: The Year of Santa Claus in the country. The events are seen as moves to boost tourism in Kyrgyzstan. The Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of Santa Clauses is held by Thrissur , Kerala , India where on 27 December 2014, 18,112 Santas overtook the previous record. Derry City, Northern Ireland had held the record since 9 September 2007, when a total of 12,965 people dressed up as Santa or Santa's helpers. Prior to that,
6380-399: The aforementioned rooms) were duplicated on a sound stage to allow more room for equipment and crew. These sets were built in the then-disused gym of New Trier High School 's west campus, previously used by Hughes for Uncle Buck and Ferris Bueller's Day Off , where the production company had already set up its offices. 671 Lincoln Avenue later became a tourist attraction. The tree house in
6496-451: The aid of Christmas elves , who make the toys in his workshop , and with the aid of flying reindeer who pull his sleigh through the air. The popular conception of Santa Claus originates from folklore traditions surrounding the 4th-century Christian bishop Saint Nicholas , the patron saint of children. Saint Nicholas became renowned for his reported generosity and secret gift-giving. The image of Santa Claus shares similarities with
6612-412: The assistance of a crew of movie special effects people" and criticized the plot as "so implausible that it makes it hard for [him] to really care about the plight of the kid [Kevin]". However, he praised Culkin's performance. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly magazine gave the film a "D" grade, criticizing the film for its "sadistic festival of adult-bashing". Gleiberman said that "[John] Hughes
6728-612: The back yard was built specifically for the film and dismantled after filming ended. Kevin runs away from his third encounter with Marley in Hubbard Woods Park in Winnetka. In addition, the scene where Kevin wades in his neighbor's flooded basement was shot at the empty swimming pool of the aforementioned campus of New Trier High School, with the American Airlines DC-10 first class cabin interiors done on
6844-555: The basketball courts. The church exteriors were shot at Trinity United Methodist Church in Wilmette, Illinois , while the interiors were shot at Grace Episcopal Church in Oak Park, Illinois . Filming also took place over four sixteen-hour days at O'Hare International Airport , which served for both itself and Orly Airport in Paris . John Candy filmed his cameo appearance for the film over the course of one day at Meigs Field . For
6960-427: The cartoon base, Santa has been voiced by several people, including Mickey Rooney , Jim Cummings , Mel Smith , Ricky Tomlinson , Jim Belushi , and Alec Baldwin . Santa has been described as a positive male cultural icon : Santa is really the only cultural icon we have who's male, does not carry a gun, and is all about peace, joy, giving, and caring for other people. That's part of the magic for me, especially in
7076-546: The character of Snakes in Angels with Filthy Souls . Pesci's use of "cartoon cursing", or menacing gibberish, garnered comparisons to Looney Tunes character Yosemite Sam . The film's stunts also created tension for the crew during shooting. Columbus said, "Every time the stunt guys did one of those stunts it wasn't funny. We'd watch it, and I would just pray that the guys were alive." Stunts were originally prepared with safety harnesses, but because of their visibility on camera,
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#17327725644817192-532: The children, which moved in the course of the Reformation and its opposition to the veneration of saints in many countries on 24 and 25 December. The custom of gifting to children at Christmas was propagated by Martin Luther as an alternative to the previous very popular gift custom on St. Nicholas, to focus the interest of the children to Christ instead of the veneration of saints. Martin Luther first suggested
7308-471: The church scene as "One of the best, most touching scenes [in the film]". Home Alone remains a highly popular Christmas movie in Poland , when it is played on Polsat every Christmas Eve. In 2010, Polsat did not play Home Alone , which caused over 90,000 people to protest on Facebook. In 2016, over 4.44 million Poles tuned in to Polsat to watch Home Alone . Since the 2010s, its TV trailers even include
7424-468: The damage Kevin has done to his bedroom. Credits adapted from American Film Institute . Writer and producer John Hughes conceived Home Alone while preparing to go on vacation. He said: "I was going away on vacation, and making a list of everything I didn't want to forget. I thought, 'Well, I'd better not forget my kids.' Then I thought, 'What if I left my 10-year-old son at home? What would he do? ' " Hughes wrote eight pages of notes that developed into
7540-482: The elves with Santa and Mrs. Claus as executives or managers. In 1912, actor Leedham Bantock became the first actor to be identified as having played Santa Claus in a film . Santa Claus , which he also directed, included scenes photographed in a limited, two-tone colour process and featured the use of detailed models. Since then many feature films have featured Santa Claus as a protagonist, including Miracle on 34th Street , The Santa Clause , and Elf . In
7656-459: The ending "very sweet" and praised the score from John Williams, calling it "fantastic". Christopher Hooton of The Independent also praised the film, calling the film-within-a-film Angels with Filthy Souls "a fond footnote in cinema history". Matt Talbot from Simcoe.com said that the Wet Bandits were "fantastic" and "never [got] old" on "repeat viewings". Michael Walsh of Nerdist noted
7772-484: The evening of 31 December to be opened on New Years Day. After the children have fallen asleep , parents play the role of Santa Claus and leave their gifts under the Christmas tree , which may be signed as being "from Santa Claus". Santa is generally depicted as a portly, jolly, white- bearded man, often with spectacles , wearing a red outfit consisting of jacket, trousers and hat all trimmed with white fur, accessorized with black leather belt and boots, and carrying
7888-501: The extended schedule. Daniel Roebuck was hired to replace him, but after two days of rehearsal, Columbus felt he was lacking chemistry with Pesci and brought back Stern. Roebuck later said that, although he was upset to be fired from the production, he now believed the experience was "a little blip of unimportance". Chris Farley auditioned for the role of the Santa Claus impersonator, but he failed to impress Columbus. John Candy
8004-572: The family discovers that all flights for the next two days are booked, and that the phone lines are still down back home in Chicago. Peter and the rest of the family stay at his brother Rob's apartment in Paris, while Kate stays at the airport. She cannot obtain a flight to Chicago and meets with Gus Polinski after arriving in Scranton, Pennsylvania . He is the lead member of a traveling polka band, and offers to let her travel with them from to Chicago in
8120-450: The film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale. Variety magazine praised the film for its cast. Jeanne Cooper of The Washington Post praised the film for its comedic approach. Hal Hinson, also of The Washington Post , praised Columbus's direction and Culkin's performance. Although Caryn James of The New York Times complained that the film's first half is "flat and unsurprising as its cute little premise suggests", she praised
8236-541: The film had earned 16x its debut weekend and ended up making a final gross of $ 285,761,243, the top-grossing film of its year in North America. The film is listed in the Guinness World Records as the highest-grossing live-action comedy ever and held the record until it was overtaken by The Hangover Part II in 2011. By the time the film had run its course in theaters, Home Alone was the third-highest-grossing film of all time worldwide , as well as in
8352-515: The film industry due to their popularity. In The Screenwriters Taxonomy (2017), Eric R. Williams contends that film genres are fundamentally based upon a film's atmosphere, character, and story, and therefore, the labels "drama" and "comedy" are too broad to be considered a genre. Instead, his taxonomy argues that comedy is a type of film that contains at least a dozen different sub-types. A number of hybrid genres have emerged, such as action comedy and romantic comedy . The first comedy film
8468-413: The film's final stunts were performed without them. Troy Brown and Leon Delaney were stuntmen for Pesci and Stern, respectively. An injury had occurred between Pesci and Culkin during one of the rehearsals for the scene in which Harry tries to bite off Kevin's finger; Culkin still has the scar. The tarantula that walks on Stern's face was real. Senta Moses , who played Tracy, recalled in 2020 that one of
8584-452: The film's reception was initially mixed, in later years reception has been generally positive, with praise for its cast, humor, and music. Home Alone grossed $ 476.7 million worldwide, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of 1990 . It made Culkin a child star, and was the highest-grossing live-action comedy for two decades. It was nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards . Home Alone has since been considered one of
8700-465: The film, most of the sequence was shot with low, wide angles that, according to journalist Darryn King, "capture the action as if a child were perceiving it". Originally, Ralph Foody was to play Snakes and Michael Guido was to play Johnny, but since Foody had recently undergone knee replacement surgery, he was unable to do the death scene where Snakes drops to his knees, leading to the roles being switched. Cinematographer Julio Macat recalled that Pesci
8816-435: The film. However, Warner Bros. shut down the production after it exceeded its assigned budget. 20th Century Fox assumed responsibilities following secret meetings with Hughes. Columbus and Culkin were hired soon afterwards. Filming took place between February and May 1990 on location across Illinois. Home Alone premiered in Chicago on November 10, 1990, and was theatrically released in the United States on November 16. While
8932-457: The film." He also called Home Alone "a film which manages to capture some of the best qualities of Christmas". Naomi Barnwell of Roobla said that " Home Alone has all the ingredients that make for a great kids' film". Adrian Turner of Radio Times commented, "[ Home Alone is] a celebration of enterprise that captured the heart and wickedness of every child on the planet." According to TV Guide , "[ Home Alone ]'s slapstick falls flat and only
9048-509: The first few years of the 20th century. The image of Santa Claus as a benevolent character became reinforced with its association with charity and philanthropy, particularly by organizations such as the Salvation Army . Volunteers dressed as Santa Claus typically became part of fundraising drives to aid needy families at Christmas time. In 1937, Charles W. Howard , who played Santa Claus in department stores and parades, established
9164-522: The houses that they broke into due to Marv's habit of flooding them. On Christmas Day, Kevin is initially disappointed to find that his family is still gone. However, Kate arrives home, and they reconcile. The rest of the family shortly arrive after waiting in Paris for a direct flight to Chicago. Kevin keeps silent about his encounter with Harry and Marv, although Peter finds Harry's knocked-out gold tooth. Kevin happily watches Marley reuniting with his son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter, while Buzz notices
9280-443: The ice and snow". The tale had become well known by the 1870s. A boy from Colorado writing to the children's magazine The Nursery in late 1874 said, "If we did not live so very far from the North Pole, I should ask Santa Claus to bring me a donkey." The idea of a wife for Santa Claus may have been the creation of American authors, beginning in the mid-19th century. In 1889, the poet Katharine Lee Bates popularized Mrs. Claus in
9396-537: The inaugural episode of the Jack Dishel web series DRYVRS in which a visibly disturbed McCallister recounts his experiences from the events of the first film and subsequently uses his signature tactics against a gunman. In response, Daniel Stern posted a short video reprising his role as Marv, released in conjunction with Stern's Reddit AMA , pleading for support from Harry against McCallister's traps. The 2016 Christmas-set horror film Better Watch Out includes
9512-487: The integrity of the adversarial relationship". On the set, Pesci and Stern both had difficulty refraining from cursing, which became annoying to Pesci, since Culkin was on set as well. In fact, the only curse words that made it into the film were "shit", accidentally said by Daniel Stern when his shoe fell through the pet door , and "hell", which was said by both Pesci and Stern after their characters encounter one another after going through Kevin's booby traps and by Johnny to
9628-519: The major bones of Nicholas's skeleton from his sarcophagus in the Greek church in Myra. Over the objection of the monks of Myra the sailors took the bones of St. Nicholas to Bari, where they are now enshrined in the Basilica di San Nicola . Sailors from Bari collected just half of Nicholas' skeleton, leaving all the minor fragments in the church sarcophagus. These were later taken by Venetian sailors during
9744-510: The most difficult scenes to shoot was the family's run through O'Hare International Airport to catch their flight. While it does not last long, it required several days to film. "There were thousands of extras, all expertly choreographed so none of us would be in danger running at full speed through the American Airlines terminal", she told The Hollywood Reporter . "And we ran at full speed . Sometimes we'd bump into each other, like
9860-754: The most popular with audiences at the box office, there is an 'historical bias against a close and serious consideration of comedy' when it comes to critical reception and conferring of awards, such as at the Academy Awards . Film writer Cailian Savage observes "Comedies have won Oscars, although they’ve usually been comedy-dramas, involved very depressing scenes, or appealed to stone-hearted drama lovers in some other way, such as Shakespeare in Love ." According to Williams' taxonomy , all film descriptions should contain their type (comedy or drama) combined with one (or more) sub-genres. This combination does not create
9976-450: The night before their departure. Kate and Peter's youngest son, Kevin, is ridiculed by his siblings and cousins due to his immaturity. Kevin inadvertently ruins the family dinner after a scuffle with his oldest brother Buzz, resulting in Kate sending him up to the attic. Kevin berates his mother for allowing the rest of the family to pick on him and wishes that his family would disappear. During
10092-455: The night of 5 December and the children get their gifts the next morning. They get sweets in a bag if they were good, and a golden coloured birch switch if not. On Christmas Eve "Little Jesus" comes and gives gifts for everyone. In Slovenia, Saint Nicholas (Miklavž) also brings small gifts for good children on the eve of 6 December. Božiček (Christmas Man) brings gifts on the eve of 25 December, and Dedek Mraz (Grandfather Frost) brings gifts in
10208-503: The night, heavy winds create a power outage, disabling the alarm clocks and causing the family to oversleep. In the confusion and rush to get to the airport, Kevin is accidentally left behind. Kevin wakes to find the house empty and the family cars still in the garage, unaware that they had rented vans to take them to the airport. Thinking that his wish came true, he is overjoyed with his newfound freedom. Later, Kevin becomes frightened by his next-door neighbor, "Old Man" Marley, rumored to be
10324-488: The old Dutch words for thunder and lightning, which were later changed to the more German sounding Donner and Blitzen). By 1845, "Kris Kringle" was a common variant of Santa in parts of the United States. A magazine article from 1853, describing American Christmas customs to British readers, refers to children hanging up their stockings on Christmas Eve for "a fabulous personage" whose name varies: in Pennsylvania he
10440-505: The opportunity. Columbus finally met with Culkin and agreed he was the right choice. After Robert De Niro and Jon Lovitz turned down the role of Harry, Joe Pesci accepted it. The role of Uncle Frank was written for Kelsey Grammer , but was given to Gerry Bamman when Grammer was unavailable. Daniel Stern was cast as Marv, but before shooting started, he was told that the production schedule had been extended from six weeks to eight. He dropped out after as he would not be paid more for
10556-410: The other end of the schedule, the crew had limited time to film the many nighttime scenes, since Culkin could not work any later than 10 p.m. due to his age. Pesci said in a 2022 interview with People of working with Culkin, "I intentionally limited my interactions with him to preserve the dynamic" and made sure not "to come across on the screen that we were in any way friendly" in order to "maintain
10672-515: The pain remains." Marielle Sabbag of Vocal wrote "Everything about [ Home Alone ] is beautiful and has a realistic quality." Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Times criticised the fact that "there is a reason why this film plays better as a trailer than as a full-length film". Home Alone gradually became a Christmas classic. It was praised for its quotable phrases, morals, traps, and main character. Hannah-Rose Yee of Stylist called
10788-420: The poem "Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride". "Is There a Santa Claus?" is the title of an iconic editorial by Francis Pharcellus Church in the 21 September 1897 edition of The New York Sun that became the most reprinted in the U.S. and included the famous reply, " Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus ". In Russia, Ded Moroz emerged as a Santa Claus figure around the late 19th century where Christmas for
10904-510: The product's functions. The concluding scene involves a command sequence intended to make the house look active, parodying the original Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree scene. The 2022 action comedy film Violent Night references Home Alone several times, and character Trudy Lightston attempts to emulate Kevin McCallister's fighting tactics against the burglars who take her family hostage. Comedy film The comedy film
11020-407: The project if Warner proved inflexible. According to executive producer Scott Rosenfelt, a copy of the script was "clandestinely" delivered to Fox, bypassing the legal restrictions that would have otherwise prevented Fox from seeing it until the project was in turnaround . Early in production, the budget grew to $ 14.7 million. Warner demanded that it be cut by $ 1.2 million; the producers responded with
11136-690: The projects he has shot. It was the favorite film of former U.S. President Gerald Ford . At the 12th Youth in Film Awards , Macaulay Culkin won Best Young Actor Starring in a Motion Picture. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards , one for Best Original Score , which was written by John Williams , and the other for Best Original Song for "Somewhere in My Memory", music by Williams and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse , but lost to Dances with Wolves and Dick Tracy respectively. The 1989 French horror thriller film 3615 code Père Noël , which
11252-600: The record was 3,921, which was set during the Santa Dash event in Liverpool City Centre in 2005. A gathering of Santas in 2009 in Bucharest, Romania attempted to top the world record, but failed with only 3,939 Santas. Santa Claus has been featured in many video games. The tradition of Santa Claus being said to enter dwellings through the chimney is shared by many European seasonal gift-givers. In
11368-437: The rest of "the gang" attend Super Bowl LII . Charlie mistakenly believes he must protect the bar by setting up traps, only for himself to accidentally activate said traps, nearly preventing from performing his Super Bowl "rituals". On December 15, 2018, Culkin made a guest appearance as himself in an episode of The Angry Video Game Nerd to review multiple video game adaptations of the first two Home Alone films, as well as
11484-617: The rumors about him. Marley points out his granddaughter in the choir and mentions he can only see her there since she is the daughter of his estranged son. Kevin suggests Marley should reconcile with his son. Kevin returns home and rigs the house with handmade booby traps . Harry and Marv break in, spring the traps, and suffer various injuries. Kevin calls the police and lures the duo into a vacant neighboring house that they had previously broken into. Harry and Marv ambush Kevin, but Marley intervenes and knocks them out with his shovel. The police arrive and arrest Harry and Marv, having identified all
11600-426: The sales, the film did not perform as well in the rental market. It was later released on DVD on October 5, 1999, as a basic package. The film was released on Blu-ray on December 2, 2008, titled Family Fun Edition , and was released alongside Home Alone 2: Lost in New York in a collection pack on October 5, 2010. The film was reissued again on DVD and Blu-ray on October 6, 2015, alongside all four of its sequels in
11716-459: The same skeleton. Saint Nicholas was later claimed as a patron saint of many diverse groups, from archers , sailors, and children to pawnbrokers . He is also the patron saint of both Amsterdam and Moscow . During the Middle Ages, often on the evening before his name day of 6 December, children were bestowed gifts in his honour. This date was earlier than the original day of gifts for
11832-500: The screenplay. Imagining that children are naturally most scared of robbers, Hughes also worked that aspect into the plot of the film. Home Alone was initially set to be financed and distributed by Warner Bros. Hughes promised that he could make the movie for less than $ 10 million, considerably less than most feature film production budgets of that era. Concerned that the film might exceed that amount, Hughes met secretly with 20th Century Fox before production to see if they would fund
11948-506: The second half for its slapstick humor. She also praised the dialogue between Kevin and Marley, as well as the film's final scenes. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 out of a 4-star rating. He compared the elaborate booby-traps in the film to Rube Goldberg machines , writing "they're the kinds of traps that any 8-year-old could devise, if he had a budget of tens of thousands of dollars and
12064-457: The story a more serious layer, as well as a more emotional, happier ending. Hughes suggested to Columbus that they cast Macaulay Culkin as Kevin, because of his experience while shooting Uncle Buck (1989). Columbus met with 200 other actors for the part, as he felt it was his "directorial responsibility". John Mulaney was asked to audition for the role of Kevin after being scouted in a children's sketch comedy group, but his parents refused
12180-512: The use of comedy film to make social statements by building their narratives around sensitive cultural, political or social issues. Such films include Dr Strangelove, or How I Learned to Love the Bomb , Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? and The Graduate . In America, the sexual revolution drove an appetite for comedies that celebrated and parodied changing social morals, including Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and Fanny Hill . In Britain,
12296-453: The weekend of February 1–3, 1991. It was removed from the top spot when Sleeping with the Enemy opened with $ 13 million. It remained in the top ten until the weekend of April 26, well past Easter weekend. It made two more appearances in the top ten (the weekend of May 31 – June 2 and the weekend of June 14–16) before finally falling out of the top ten. After over nine months into its run,
12412-414: Was L'Arroseur Arrosé (1895), directed and produced by film pioneer Louis Lumière . Less than a minute long, it shows a boy playing a prank on a gardener. The most notable comedy actors of the silent film era (1895–1927) were Charlie Chaplin , Harold Lloyd , and Buster Keaton , though they were able to make the transition into “ talkies ” after the 1920s. Film-makers in the 1960s skillfully employed
12528-570: Was a 4th-century Greek Christian bishop of Myra (now Demre ) in the region of Lycia in the Roman Empire , today in Turkey. Nicholas was known for his generous gifts to the poor, in particular presenting the three impoverished daughters of a pious Christian with dowries so that they would not have to become prostitutes. He was very religious from an early age and devoted his life entirely to Christianity. In continental Europe (more precisely
12644-640: Was an earlier bearer of gifts, which has to some degree become conflated with Santa Claus, for instance in the Finnish Joulupukki tradition. Early representations of the gift-giver from Church history and folklore, especially St Nicholas, merged with the English character Father Christmas to create the mythical character known to the rest of the English-speaking world as "Santa Claus" (a phonetic derivation of " Sinterklaas " in Dutch ). In
12760-454: Was available for only one day to film his scenes, which took 23 hours to shoot. He was paid only $ 414, since he did the film as a favor to Hughes. In return, he was the only actor Hughes allowed to go off-script; according to Columbus, all his dialogue was improvised. Principal photography took place from February 14, 1990, to May 8, 1990, over a course of 83 days on an $ 18.3 million budget. The house exterior scenes were filmed on location at
12876-670: Was earned, much like his title ("Santa"), decided by a vote of those naturally immortal. This work also established Claus's motives: a happy childhood among immortals. When Ak, Master Woodsman of the World, exposes him to the misery and poverty of children in the outside world, Santa strives to find a way to bring joy into the lives of all children, and eventually invents toys as a principal means. Santa later appears in The Road to Oz as an honored guest at Ozma's birthday party, stated to be famous and beloved enough for everyone to bow even before he
12992-441: Was given a wide release on November 16, 1990. Home Alone was first released by Fox Video on VHS and LaserDisc in the United States on August 22, 1991, their first video to go direct to sell-through rather than to the video rental market first. It sold 11 million copies, generating Fox revenue of $ 150 million making it, along with E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial , the highest-selling video of all time at that point. Due to
13108-530: Was later able to get in touch with Steven Spielberg , who helped him contact John Williams to produce the final score. Traditional Christmas songs, such as " O Holy Night " and " Carol of the Bells ", are featured prominently in the film, as well as the film's theme song "Somewhere in My Memory". The soundtrack was released by Sony Classical Records on cassette on December 4, 1990, and on CD on May 27, 2015. Home Alone premiered in Chicago on November 10, 1990. It
13224-447: Was more difficult to work with than Culkin. The older actor believed some of the dialogue was not of a quality commensurate with his acting ability. He also resented the early unit calls, since they prevented him from starting his day with nine holes of golf as he preferred to do. After he took the assistant director by the collar one day to complain about this, daily call times were moved back from 7 to 9 a.m. to accommodate his rounds. On
13340-417: Was played in sync with the action on the screen, on pianos, organs, and other instruments. When sound films became more prevalent during the 1920s, comedy films grew in popularity, as laughter could result from both burlesque situations but also from humorous dialogue . Comedy, compared with other film genres , places more focus on individual star actors, with many former stand-up comics transitioning to
13456-408: Was the author. St. Nick is described as being "chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf" with "a little round belly", that "shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly", in spite of which the "miniature sleigh" and "tiny reindeer" still indicate that he is physically diminutive. The reindeer were also named: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dunder and Blixem (Dunder and Blixem came from
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