Hughes finished writing the film by February 1991, after signing a six-picture deal with 20th Century Fox. Culkin's return was confirmed in May and the rest of the cast was finalized soon after. Principal photography took place between December 1991 and May 1992, and was done on location in Illinois and New York, including at the Rockefeller Center and the original World Trade Center.
Home Alone 2 was theatrically released in the United States by 20th Century Fox on November 20, 1992. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the performances while criticizing its darker tone and violence, as well as its similarities to the first film. The film grossed over $359 million worldwide, becoming the third-highest-grossing film of 1992. Home Alone 2 is the only Home Alone sequel to feature the majority of the cast from the first film. Home Alone 3 (1997) featured a new cast and characters, and the television film Home Alone 4 (2002) sees returning characters from the first two entries, albeit with new cast members. Devin Ratray reprised his role as Buzz McCallister in the sixth film in the franchise, Home Sweet Home Alone.
Plot
In Chicago, the McCallister family prepares to spend Christmas in Miami. Peter and Kate's ten-year-old son Kevin, unhappy with the trip, complains that Florida lacks the Christmas atmosphere of snow and trees. During a school Christmas pageant, Kevin's older brother Buzz humiliates him in front of the audience. Kevin retaliates by shoving Buzz, causing a chain reaction that topples the choir and ruins the event. At home, a frustrated Kevin refuses to apologize and berates his family for believing Buzz's lies and for wanting to spend Christmas in Florida. He storms off to the attic, wishing he could spend the holiday alone.
During the night, Peter accidentally resets his alarm clock, causing the family to oversleep. In the ensuing chaotic rush through the airport, Kevin mistakenly boards a flight to New York City while carrying Peter's bag, which contains his wallet. Initially frightened upon arriving in New York, Kevin quickly realizes he has the freedom to celebrate Christmas his way. Kevin tricks the desk clerk at the Plaza Hotel into giving him a room using Peter's credit card, and then explores the city. During a walk in Central Park, he is frightened at the sight of a homeless woman surrounded by pigeons. Meanwhile, the McCallisters realize Kevin is missing and alert the police after arriving in Miami.
On Christmas Eve, Kevin visits a toy store where he meets its kindhearted owner Mr. Duncan. Kevin learns that the store's Christmas proceeds will be donated to a children's hospital. Duncan gifts Kevin a pair of ceramic turtledoves, symbolizing eternal friendship, and advises him to give one to someone special. Outside the store, Kevin encounters Harry and Marv, the burglars he thwarted the previous year.[a] The duo, recently escaped during a prison riot, threaten Kevin, who flees to the Plaza. However, when the concierge Mr. Hector confronts him about Peter's stolen credit card, Kevin escapes. He is captured by Harry and Marv, who reveal their plan to rob the toy store, but Kevin slips away.
The McCallisters travel to New York and stay at the Plaza while Kate begins searching the city for Kevin. Meanwhile, Kevin takes refuge in his uncle's empty townhouse, which is under renovation. In Central Park, he befriends the pigeon lady who shares how her life fell apart after being betrayed by someone she loved. Kevin encourages her to trust others again and takes her advice to perform a good deed to atone for his mischief by stopping Harry and Marv's robbery.
Rigging the townhouse with an array of booby traps, Kevin sets out to disrupt Harry and Marv's heist by triggering the toy store's alarm. He lures the duo to the townhouse, where they fall victim to his traps, suffering numerous injuries. Kevin calls the police and leads Harry and Marv to Central Park. However, he slips on ice, allowing the burglars to capture him. As they prepare to shoot Kevin, the pigeon lady intervenes, throwing birdseed on them and attracting a massive flock of pigeons. The distraction allows the police to arrive and arrest Harry and Marv.
At the toy store, Mr. Duncan finds a note from Kevin attached to a brick explaining his actions. Remembering Kevin's love of Christmas trees, Kate heads to the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, where she finds Kevin. They apologize to each other and reconcile.
On Christmas morning, a truckload of gifts from a grateful Mr. Duncan is delivered to the McCallisters' hotel room. After celebrating with his family, Kevin visits the pigeon lady in Central Park to give her one of the turtledoves as a token of friendship.
Tim Curry as Concierge / Mr. Hector,[5][7] the concierge at the Plaza Hotel who is suspicious of Kevin
Brenda Fricker as Pigeon Lady, an unnamed woman who lives in Central Park, spending her life feeding pigeons, who befriends Kevin while he is lost in New York
The McCallister cast also includes: Maureen Elisabeth Shay as Linnie, Kevin's older sister; Michael C. Maronna as Jeff, Kevin's older brother; Terrie Snell as Aunt Leslie, Kevin's aunt; Jedidiah Cohen as Rod, Kevin's older cousin; Senta Moses as Tracy, Kevin's older cousin and the eldest daughter of Frank and Leslie; Daiana Campeanu as Sondra, Kevin's older cousin and the second daughter of Frank and Leslie; Anna Slotky as Brooke, Kevin's younger cousin and the youngest daughter of Frank and Leslie.
Other cast includes Leigh Zimmerman as Fashion Model; Ralph Foody as Johnny (credited as "Gangster"), a gangster from the fictional film Angels with Even Filthier Souls; Clare Hoak as Gangster - "Dame", Johnny's girlfriend from the fictional film Angels with Even Filthier Souls; Monica Devereux as Hotel Operator; Bob Eubanks as Ding-Dang-Dong Host; Rip Taylor as Celeb #1; Jaye P. Morgan as Celeb #2; Jimmie Walker as Celeb #3; Ally Sheedy as New York Ticket Agent; Rod Sell as Officer Bennett; Ron Canada as Cop in Times Square; and Donald Trump as himself, owner of the Plaza Hotel who directs Kevin to the lobby
Production
In February 1991, the Los Angeles Times reported that John Hughes was to sign a six-picture deal with 20th Century Fox; among the projects was a sequel to Home Alone.[8] In May 1991, Culkin was paid $4.5 million plus 5 percent of the film's gross to appear in the sequel,[9] compared to $110,000 for the original. The production budget was $28 million.[3]
Principal photography took place from December 9, 1991, to May 1, 1992, over a course of 144 days;[10][11] the film was shot in Winnetka, Illinois; O'Hare International Airport in Chicago; Evanston, Illinois; Chicago; and New York City.[12] According to director Chris Columbus, Donald Trump, the owner of the Plaza Hotel at the time, allowed the crew to shoot scenes in the hotel lobby and one of its suites in exchange for a cameo in the film in addition to the standard fee for film productions.[13][14] Pesci suffered burns to his head while filming the scene in which Harry's hat is set on fire.[15]
Music
John Williams returned to score Home Alone 2, as well as other festive tracks. While the film featured the first film's theme song "Somewhere in My Memory", it also contained its own theme entitled "Christmas Star" (lyrics by Leslie Bricusse).[16] Two soundtrack albums of the film were released on November 20, 1992, with one featuring Williams' score and the other featuring pop music featured in the film.[17] Ten years later, a 2-disc Deluxe Edition of the film score soundtrack was released by Varèse Sarabande.[18]
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – Original Score is a 1992 soundtrack composed by John Williams, who also scored the first installment in the franchise. While the soundtrack is mostly a repeat of the first film's material,[19] there are a few new prominent themes such as "Christmas Star" and "Plaza Hotel and Duncan's Toy Store". Ultimately, the soundtrack fell out of print.
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – Original Soundtrack Album is a 1992 soundtrack album that contains music from or inspired by Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. The album eventually was discontinued and later re-released as Home Alone Christmas in 1993 with an alternative track listing. Both versions feature tracks of John Williams's score, though the tracks are of different songs between the original album and its re-release.
On the film's tenth anniversary, Varèse Sarabande released a two-disc special edition soundtrack entitled Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – The Deluxe Edition. The soundtrack contains John Williams's cues found on the previous releases as well as additional compositions that were left out from the final film. This release is also known for resolving a mastering error that caused the music to be inaccurately pitched.[21][22]
The film was first released by Fox Video on VHS and LaserDisc on July 27, 1993. It was later released on DVD on October 5, 1999, as a basic package.[29] The film was released on Blu-ray on October 6, 2009, with no special features,[30] and was released alongside Home Alone in a collection pack on October 5, 2010.[31] The film was reissued again on DVD and Blu-ray on October 6, 2015, alongside all five Home Alone franchise films, titled Home Alone: 25th Anniversary Ultimate Collector's Christmas Edition.[32]
Reception
Box office
Home Alone 2 opened with $31.1 million from 2,222 theaters, averaging $14,009 per site.[33][34] It broke the short-lived record set one week earlier by Bram Stoker's Dracula for having the largest November opening weekend.[35] The film went on to hold this record until 1994 when it was taken by Interview with the Vampire.[36] Additionally, it achieved the highest opening weekend for a Chris Columbus film and would hold that record until it was surpassed by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in 2001.[37] It started off better than Home Alone, grossing $100 million in 24 days compared to 33 days for the original.[1] However the final box office gross was lower with $173.6 million in the United States and Canada and a worldwide total of $359 million,[4] compared to $476 million for the first film.[38] The film was released in the United Kingdom on December 11, 1992, and topped the country's box office that weekend.[39] The film is the third-highest-grossing film released in 1992 behind The Bodyguard and Aladdin.[40] In the United States and Canada, it grossed more than The Bodyguard and ranked second.[41]
Critical response
Initial
On Rotten TomatoesHome Alone 2: Lost in New York has an approval rating of 35% based on 57 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "A change of venue – and more sentimentality and violence – can't obscure the fact that Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is a less inspired facsimile of its predecessor."[42] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[43] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, a grade lower than the "A" earned by its predecessor.[44][45]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two out of four stars and stated that "cartoon violence is only funny in cartoons. Most of the live-action attempts to duplicate animation have failed, because when flesh-and-blood figures hit the pavement, we can almost hear the bones crunch, and it isn't funny."[46]Kenneth Turan, reviewing for the Los Angeles Times, wrote: "Whatever was unforced and funny in the first film has become exaggerated here, whatever was slightly sentimental has been laid on with a trowel. The result, with some exceptions, plays like an over-elaborate parody of the first film, reminding us why we enjoyed it without being able to duplicate its appeal."[47]Dave Kehr of the Chicago Tribune wrote the sequel "plays like a coarsened, self-parodying version of the original, in which the fantasy elements have become grubbier and more materialistic, the sentimentality more treacly and aggressive, and the slapstick violence—already astonishingly intense in the first film—even more graphic and sadistic."[48] Brian Lowry of Variety noted the sequel's derivativeness when compared to the original film, but wrote the "action sequences are well-choreographed, if, perhaps, too mean-spirited even in light of their cartoonish nature".[49]
Janet Maslin for The New York Times acknowledged that "Home Alone 2 may be lazily conceived, but it is staged with a sense of occasion and a lot of holiday cheer. The return of Mr. Culkin in this role is irresistible, even if this utterly natural comic actor has been given little new to do. Mr. Pesci and Mr. Stern bring great gusto to their characters' stupidity, to the point where they are far funnier just walking and talking than they are being hurt."[50] Reviewing for Time magazine, Richard Schickel noted "Home Alone 2 precisely follows the formula that made its predecessor the biggest grossing comedy in human history. But no, it is not a drag, and it is not a rip-off. Look on it as a twice-told fairy tale." He praised Hughes and Chris Columbus and felt "the details of the situations are developed vividly and originally. And they are presented with an energy and a conviction that sequels usually lack."[51] Duane Byrge of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that while the "sequel is merely a superimposition of the original, kids will be delighted" by it. He further praised Culkin as "breezily winning", felt Pesci and Stern deserved combat medals, and Curry served as "a terrific foil for Kevin's pranks".[52]
Retrospective
During the 21st century, online reviewers have looked more favorably on the film. John Nugent of Empire magazine, in a 2022 article entitled 'Why Home Alone 2: Lost In New York Is Better Than Home Alone', argued that the film was "a sequel that effectively also functions as a remake, a film that recognises the greatness of what came before and wisely hews as close to that winning formula as possible." Nugent also opined that "by setting the final showdown in a house undergoing renovations, the filmmakers give themselves room to be more ambitious, wild, and far more brutal" and praised the work of stunt coordinator Freddie Hice since no CGI was used.[53] Also writing in 2022, Reid Goldberg of Collider noted: "A significant part of the film's appeal... is that it's unapologetic in taking everything they loved about the first film to a higher level."[54]
A third film with a new cast, Home Alone 3, followed in 1997. Two television movies, Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House, which features returning characters but with a different cast, and Home Alone: The Holiday Heist, aired in 2002 and 2012, respectively. Home Sweet Home Alone, the sixth film in the series which has Devin Ratray reprise his role as Buzz, was released on the streaming service Disney+ in 2021.
Novelization
Home Alone 2 was novelized by Todd Strasser and published by Scholastic in 1992 to coincide with the film. The "point" version, which has the same storyline, was also novelized by A.L. Singer. It has an ISBN of 0-590-45717-9. An audiobook version was also released read by Tim Curry (who played the concierge in the film).
As in the novelization of the first film, the McCallisters live in Oak Park, Illinois and the crooks are named as Harry Lime and Marv Murchins.[citation needed] The novel also takes place one year after the events of the first film, but the ages of Kevin and his siblings are given as being two years older than the first film.
In the beginning of the novelization, a prologue, which ends up being Marv's nightmare in prison, he and Harry sneak away from the cops and return to Kevin's house to seek revenge on Kevin. Kevin bolts into the garage with Marv and Harry in hot pursuit. Harry and Marv end up triggering extra traps that Kevin had set up in the garage. Kevin watches as Marv ends up triggering a trap where a running lawnmower falls on his head (this was a trap featured in Home Alone 3).[citation needed]
^"CinemaScore". Archived from the original on December 10, 2019. Retrieved January 4, 2021.
^Fraser, Jill Andresky (December 4, 1992). "Making the grade with filmgoers". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on October 10, 2022. Retrieved July 5, 2022. Despite the violence, women liked the film more than men did. Overall, Cinemascore gave the movie an "A-."
