As this year marks the 25th year of the classic “Home Alone” movie featuring then 10-year-old Macaulay Culkin, playing the role of eight-year-old Kevin McCallister, the film is set to be re-released to theaters next month.
In order to celebrate the history and pay tribute to the success of the movie, Fathom Events and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will release “Home Alone” again in select theaters in the US on November 8 and November 11.
This will give a number of American families, particularly those who were still kids back then and are now with their own respective family, to make a trip down memory lane while enjoying the movie with their kids, who will be seeing it for the first time in cinemas.
While there are plenty of memorable scenes in the movie, particularly during the time when Kevin was defending their house against the wet bandits Harry, played by Joe Pesci, and Marv, played by Daniel Stern, Director Chris Columbus says that Macaulay’s hands-on-face screen scream is the movie’s iconic moment.
He said that people come to him on the street even until today and they do that scream pose. He just laughs at it because it has been so long already, like 25 years long.
A box-office haymaker
Apart from propelling the career of then child actor Macaulay Culkin to superstardom, “Home Alone” actually topped the box office for 12 consecutive weeks when it was released in 1990. The movie actually went on to become the top-grossing film of that year, having earned $286 million in the box office, details USA Today.
Columbus recalls that he knew that he had something special going while shooting Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister, who was accidentally forgotten during his family’s wild and crazy vacation departure.
According to Columbus, the scream which occurred when Kevin applied bracing aftershave was a Culkin-inspired magic. He said that it was in the script, but Macaulay delivered it so well. The director said that they all assumed Mac would put the shaving lotion on and remove his hands but the child actor held the pose like Edvard Munich’s painting called “The Scream” and they really had to stop themselves from laughing and blowing the first take.
A holiday comedy
“Home Alone” is actually a holiday comedy that skyrocketed Macaulay Culkin to fame with a big help from a fun script by John Hughes and kid-friendly director Chris Columbus, notes Slashfilm.
It was also a movie that literally turned Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern into a couple of punching bags and become the butt of all jokes, as far as the viewers are concerned.
The movie has become a classic that many people actually watched it over and over again especially during the holiday season because it is a family comedy that holds up really well and it is really a chock full of classic lines and some pretty stellar slapstick comedy.
While it is possible that most American families have seen the movie in the video, the full-length cinema feature of “Home Alone” will include a live special introduction that will be exclusive to cinema audiences.
Although both Fathom Events and Twentieth Century Fox have yet to make a confirmation about the introduction segment, it is most likely that they will usher in the stars who were featured in the movie 25 years ago and would likely be led by Macaulay Culkin, who is now a 35-year-old musician for the rock band The Pizza Underground.”
It is also expected that other stars will also be joining Macaulay Culkin on the live stage during the introduction and it may include Catherine O’Hara, John Heard, John Candy, Joe Pesci, and Daniel Stern.
Accordingly, Fathom Events will make “Home Alone” available in 600 theaters nationwide through Fathom’s Digital Broadcast Network.