HOME ALONE Director Chris Columbus Says the Franchise Was Derailed by “Really Bad Sequels”
The Home Alone franchise is a holiday staple, but according to the filmmaker who helped define it, things went sideways pretty fast once the original creative team stepped away.
Chris Columbus, who directed Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, recently shared some blunt thoughts on where the series lost its way and he didn’t sugarcoat it.
Speaking during a screening at the Academy Museum, Columbus reflected on how the property has been repeatedly revived over the years and not always for the better. While he stopped short of naming every follow-up, his frustration was clear when he zeroed in on the turning point.
"It's been revisited with really bad sequels. Sorry to insult anybody, but they've completely f*cked it up. It started with Home Alone 3 and then it just went downhill from there; Home Alone 3 is sort of the best of the bunch of the bad movies."
Columbus only directed the first two films, both starring Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, and those remain the entries most fans revisit every December. After that, the franchise continued with Home Alone 3, Home Alone 4 in 2002, Home Alone: The Holiday Heist in 2012, and most recently Home Sweet Home Alone in 2021. None of them managed to recapture the same charm, magic, or staying power.
One of the key issues, in Columbus’ view, comes down to how the physical comedy was handled. The original films relied heavily on practical effects, real stunt work, and a sense of genuine pain that sold the slapstick.
Later installments leaned more into wirework and artificial setups, which he believes drained the impact and made the mayhem feel fake. That shift, according to Columbus, stripped away the authenticity that made Kevin’s traps so satisfying in the first place.
Interestingly, there has been at least one idea floated for a legacy sequel that fans actually responded to. Culkin previously shared his own pitch while on tour, flipping the concept in a way that keeps Kevin front and center while updating the dynamic.
"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. He won't let me in… and he's the one setting traps for me.”
It’s a simple hook, but one rooted in character rather than gimmicks, which is exactly what many feel the franchise has been missing. Whether that idea ever becomes a reality is another story, but for Columbus, Home Alone worked best when it was grounded, physical, and made with care, not endlessly recycled without understanding why the original connected.
Columbus seems to believe the biggest mistake was losing sight of what made Kevin McCallister’s misadventure feel real in the first place.
Via: THR