Christmas Movie Classics: Home Alone

It’s just impossible not to include this in our Christmas Movie Classics series – yes there is Die Hard, yes there is Bridget Jones, yes there is Edward Scissorhands and if you’re that way inclined – Elf, but Christmas is all about the children and this movie encapsulates that perfectly. Even though Kevin McCallister’s parents didn’t think Christmas was all about all of their kids!

The first one was the best so we’re going to talk about that, outside of the well-loved though flawed plot that doesn’t really need a retelling (boy left behind at the airport, realises he’s free and can do whatever he likes, has to hold up two burglars whilst at home alone and has a load of fun whilst doing it). One of our favourite bits is the film within a film ‘Angels with Filthy Souls’, where Kevin watches a man with a gun mow down his girlfriend in a television broadcast of a black and white 1940s gangster movie. In case you were wondering why you hadn’t seen that film yourself, that would be because the Home Alone team made it especially for their film, shooting it in just one day using authentic props from the era and with black and white negative film to make it as a true to the time as possible.

You may or may not be surprised to note that this storyline produced the highest grossing live action comedy film in the US of all time (when adjusted for inflation) – until The Hangover Part II came about in 2011. An even bigger shock horror! The family friendly Christmas movie recouped its $17 million budget in its opening weekend, and spawned a franchise of four sequels. It also had a major impact on all involved – Macauley Culkin was so young whilst filing that he could only work till 10pm (a big problem with all the night time scenes) and many believe he might have peaked too soon, and the house that was used was sold for $1.585 million in March 2012!

Merry Christmas, ya’ filthy animals!


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