Chris Columbus Says Home Alone Franchise Was Ruined by “Really Bad” Sequels

by

Everyone loves the original Home Alone movies, but the director of the first two films doesn’t feel the same way about the sequels. Chris Columbus recently made it clear he doesn’t think the later films are very good, which has understandably upset many fans who have been discussing the quality of the Home Alone sequels for years.

At an event held at the Academy Museum, director Chris Columbus discussed the impact of the ‘Home Alone’ movies and explained when he thinks the series started to lose its way. He believes the decline began after the films stopped focusing on Kevin McCallister and the simple, effective storytelling that made the first two installments successful.

Chris Columbus Says the Decline Started With Home Alone 3

John Hughes, the director of Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, was very direct with his disapproval. He believed the problems began with the third movie and continued with all subsequent films.

Chris Columbus, the director of the original Home Alone, feels the sequels haven’t lived up to the first film. He bluntly stated that the franchise “completely messed up” after Home Alone 3, which he considers the best of the subsequent, less successful movies. He apologized if his comments were offensive, but was honest about his disappointment with the direction the series took.

Though Home Alone 3 tried to restart the series with a new kid and new villains, it didn’t capture the heart or realistic feel of the first two movies. Later sequels drifted even further from what made the original films so popular.

Why the Physical Comedy No Longer Worked

Chris Columbus, director of the original Home Alone, felt that the later sequels became less effective because they used too much wirework and overly-planned stunts. He believed the humor in the first films worked because the physical comedy, even when over-the-top, felt believable and genuinely painful.

Columbus felt the show became less exciting once falls were obviously aided by wires and comedic gags relied on things feeling weightless. The stunts stopped being clever and original, and instead felt like exaggerated, unrealistic versions of what they used to be.

This change in approach explains why later Home Alone movies like the 2002, 2012, and 2021 installments didn’t resonate with viewers as much as the original.

Later Sequels Missed the Point of the Original Films

The success of Home Alone wasn’t just about the funny booby traps; it was rooted in the genuine emotion underneath all the chaos. Kevin McCallister wasn’t simply a clever kid; he was a frightened child who had to become independent very quickly. Unfortunately, the later Home Alone movies moved away from that heartfelt core, focusing instead on bigger, more outlandish gags and less developed characters.

The new films looked like the originals, but lacked the emotional depth that made the first ones so beloved. For many fans, the director’s recent statements simply validate their long-held feelings about the series.

Macaulay Culkin’s Legacy Sequel Idea Shows a Different Approach

It’s notable that Columbus’s criticism differs greatly from an earlier idea proposed by Macaulay Culkin. Culkin had envisioned a new sequel that would reinvent the story instead of simply retreading old ground.

Culkin imagined an adult Kevin McCallister as a busy dad who accidentally locks himself out and discovers his son has a knack for creating incredibly detailed traps, just like he did as a child. This isn’t a remake of the original, but a new story exploring how the roles have reversed between father and son.

Although it’s just a thought experiment, this concept is interesting because it suggests characters would continue to develop – something the sequels haven’t really done.

A Cautionary Tale for Hollywood’s Obsession With Legacy IP

Columbus’s honest opinions come at a time when Hollywood is heavily relying on old, familiar stories, often with less success than before. The recent discussion about making more Home Alone sequels is a good example of a bigger issue: studios are continuing franchises without really understanding what made people love them originally.

Chris Columbus believes the original Home Alone film should have remained a standalone classic, as the sequels didn’t live up to the quality of the first and ultimately diminished its legacy. He feels it was time to stop after the initial success.

Read More

2025-12-16 17:57