Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

For the video game, see Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (video game).

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Chris Columbus
Written by	John Hughes
Based on	Characters by John Hughes
Produced by	John Hughes
Starring	Macaulay Culkin Joe Pesci Daniel Stern John Heard Tim Curry Brenda Fricker Catherine O'Hara
Cinematography	Julio Macat
Edited by	Raja Gosnell
Music by	John Williams
Production company	Hughes Entertainment
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	November 20, 1992 (1992-11-20)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$28 million
Box office	$359 million

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is a 1992 American Christmas comedy film directed by Chris Columbus and written and produced by John Hughes. The sequel to the 1990 film Home Alone and the second film in the Home Alone franchise, the film stars Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard, Tim Curry, Brenda Fricker, and Catherine O'Hara. It follows Kevin McCallister (Culkin), as he is separated from his family on their holiday vacation in Florida, this time in New York City.

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: Lost in New York was theatrically released in the United States by 20th Century Fox on November 20, 1992. It received mixed reviews from critics, with praise for the performances, but criticism for its darker tone, use of violence and similarities to the first film. The film grossed over $359 million worldwide, becoming the third highest-grossing film of 1992. A sequel with a new cast, Home Alone 3, was released in 1997.

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is the last Home Alone movie to feature the cast from the first film. However, Devin Ratray reprised his role as Buzz McCallister in the sixth film in the franchise, Home Sweet Home Alone.

Plot

The McCallister family is preparing to spend Christmas in Miami, and gathers at Peter and Kate's Chicago home. Their youngest son, Kevin, views Florida as contradictory to Christmas, due to its tropical climate and lack of Christmas trees. At a school pageant, during Kevin's solo, his older brother Buzz pranks him; Kevin retaliates by pushing him, which causes all the singers to fall and so ruins the pageant. At home, Buzz makes a false apology, which the family accepts, berating Kevin when he says he retaliated for Buzz humiliating him. Kevin insults his family for believing his brother's lies and for spending Christmas in a tropical climate, and storms off to the attic, wishing to have his own vacation alone. When the family accidentally oversleeps, they rush to the airport, only to be sure Kevin is with them. At the airport, Kevin loses pace with his family while holding his father's bag. Kevin follows a man with an identical coat to Peter's, thinking he is with his dad. Kevin accidentally follows the man onto a flight to New York City. Upon arriving, Kevin decides to tour the city and in Central Park, Kevin is frightened by a stern-looking homeless woman tending to pigeons. He then goes to the Plaza Hotel and uses Peter's credit card to check in. The Wet Bandits, who escaped from prison during a riot, have also arrived in New York.

On Christmas Eve, Kevin visits a toy store where he meets its philanthropic owner, Mr. Duncan. Kevin donates cash after learning that the proceeds from the store's Christmas sales will be donated to a children's hospital. As a token of appreciation, Mr. Duncan offers Kevin a pair of ceramic turtledoves as a gift, instructing him to give one to another person as a gesture of eternal friendship. At the Plaza, the concierge confronts Kevin about the stolen credit card. Kevin escapes via the service exit, only to be met by the Wet Bandits. Marv boasts about the plan to rob Duncan's toy store and kill him, but Kevin escapes after an encounter with a passerby.

Earlier, upon landing in Miami, the McCallister family discover that Kevin is missing and file a police report. After the police trace Peter's credit card, the family flies immediately to New York. Meanwhile, Kevin goes to his uncle's townhouse, only to find it vacant and undergoing renovations. In Central Park, Kevin encounters and eventually befriends the pigeon lady. They go to Carnegie Hall, where she explains how her life collapsed when her lover left her; Kevin encourages her to trust people again. After considering her advice that he perform a good deed to make up for his misdeeds, he decides to prevent Harry and Marv from robbing the toy store, motivated after seeing a young child patient in a window at the children's wing of the Beth Israel Hospital and recalling Mr. Duncan's words about the donation money.

Having rigged the townhouse with booby traps, Kevin visits the toy store during Harry and Marv's robbery, takes their picture, and breaks the store's window to set off the alarm. He then lures them to the townhouse, where they spring the traps and suffer various injuries. While the duo searches for Kevin outside of the townhouse, he calls the police using a payphone, and leads Harry and Marv into Central Park, where they capture him after he falls on ice. As Harry holds Kevin at gunpoint, the pigeon lady intervenes, tossing a bucket of birdseed onto Harry and Marv, attracting a massive flock of pigeons that incapacitate them. Kevin then sets off fireworks to signal the police, who scare off the pigeons with a gunshot and arrest Harry and Marv, with Kevin providing enough evidence against them to lock them up for good. At the toy store, Mr. Duncan finds a note from Kevin, explaining the robbery. The family arrives in New York, and Kate, remembering Kevin's fondness for Christmas trees, finds him making a wish at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.

On Christmas morning, a truckload of free gifts arrives at the McCallisters' hotel room, sent from a grateful Mr. Duncan for foiling the robbery. Kevin reconciles with his family, and goes to Central Park to give the pigeon lady the second turtledove, cementing their friendship.

Cast

• Macaulay Culkin as Kevin, a rambunctious 10-year-old boy with a penchant for creating harmful inventions
• Joe Pesci as Harry, a short, hot-tempered thief
• Daniel Stern as Marv, a tall, dim-witted thief
• Catherine O'Hara as Kate, Kevin's mother
• John Heard as Peter, Kevin's father
• Devin Ratray as Buzz, Kevin's oldest brother who often gets him into trouble even though he instigates trouble with Kevin.
• Hillary Wolf as Megan, Kevin's oldest sister
• Maureen Elisabeth Shay as Linnie, Kevin's older sister; she was previously portrayed by Angela Goethals in the first film
• Michael C. Maronna as Jeff, Kevin's older brother
• Gerry Bamman as Uncle Frank, Kevin's uncle and Peter's older brother
• Terrie Snell as Aunt Leslie, Kevin's aunt
• Jedidiah Cohen as Rod, Kevin's older cousin and the older son of Frank and Leslie
• 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
• Kieran Culkin as Fuller, Kevin's youngest cousin and the younger son of Frank and Leslie
• Anna Slotky as Brooke, Kevin's younger cousin and the youngest daughter of Frank and Leslie
• Tim Curry as Mr. Hector (credited as "Concierge"), the concierge at the Plaza Hotel who is suspicious of Kevin
• Brenda Fricker as the 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
• Eddie Bracken as Mr. Duncan, the proprietor of Duncan's Toy Chest
• Dana Ivey as Hester Stone (credited as "Desk Clerk"), the desk clerk at the Plaza Hotel
• Rob Schneider as Cedric (credited as "Bellman"), the bellhop at the Plaza Hotel
• Leigh Zimmerman as Fashion Model
• Ralph Foody as Johnny (credited as "Gangster"), a gangster from the fictional film Angels with Even Filthier Souls, a sequel to Angels with Filthy Souls from the previous film
• 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
• Donald Trump as himself, owner of the Plaza Hotel

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. In May 1991, Culkin was paid $4.5 million plus 5 percent of the film's gross to appear in the sequel, compared to $110,000 for the original. The production budget was $28 million.

Principal photography took place from December 9, 1991 to May 1, 1992, over a course of 144 days; the film was shot in Winnetka, Illinois; O'Hare International Airport in Chicago; Evanston, Illinois; and New York City. According to the director, Chris Columbus, Donald Trump, the owner of the Plaza Hotel at the time, allowed the crew to shoot scenes in the hotel lobby in exchange for a cameo in the film in addition to the standard fee for film productions. In 2021, Culkin endorsed a petition to edit out Trump's cameo, when he replied to a tweet asking to digitally replace Trump with an older rendition of Culkin.

Music

John Williams returned to score Home Alone 2. While the film featured the first film's theme song "Somewhere in My Memory", it also contained its own theme entitled "Christmas Star". Two soundtrack albums of the film were released on November 20, 1992, with one featuring Williams' score and the other featuring contemporary Christmas songs featured in the film. Ten years later, a 2-disc Deluxe Edition of the film score soundtrack was released.

Score

Original Score

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – Original Score
Film score by John Williams
Released	November 20, 1992
Genre	Film Score Musical
Length	63:20
Label	Arista Records, 20th Century Fox Film Scores
John Williams chronology
Far and Away (1992) Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – Original Score (1992) Jurassic Park (1993)
Home Alone chronology
Home Alone (1990) Home Alone 2 (1992) Home Alone 3 (1997)

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, 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.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Somewhere in My Memory"	3:49
2.	"Home Alone"	2:01
3.	"We Overslept Again"	2:46
4.	"Christmas Star"	3:18
5.	"Arrival in New York"	1:41
6.	"Plaza Hotel and Duncan's Toy Store"	3:45
7.	"Concierge and Race to the Room"	2:04
8.	"Star of Bethlehem"	3:28
9.	"The Thieves Return"	4:35
10.	"Appearance of Pigeon Lady"	3:19
11.	"Christmas at Carnegie Hall ("O Come All Ye Faithful" / "O Little Town of Bethlehem" / "Silent Night")"	5:02
12.	"Into the Park"	3:49
13.	"Haunted Brownstone"	3:01
14.	"Christmas Star and Preparing the Trap"	4:17
15.	"To the Plaza Presto"	3:22
16.	"Reunion at Rockefeller Center"	2:36
17.	"Kevin's Booby Traps"	3:41
18.	"Finale"	3:55
19.	"Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas"	2:51
Total length:		63:20

Soundtrack

Original Soundtrack Album

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – Original Soundtrack Album / Home Alone Christmas
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Released	November 20, 1992 (Original) September 16, 1997 (HAC)
Genre	Christmas, pop, rock and roll, R&B
Length	39:26
Label	Arista Records (Original) Sony BMG (HAC)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic

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 1997 by Sony BMG with an alternative track listing. Both versions feature tracks of John Williams' score, though the tracks are of different songs between the original album and its re-release.

Original Soundtrack Album track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Performer(s)	Length
1.	"All Alone on Christmas"	Steve Van Zandt	Darlene Love	4:14
2.	"A Holly Jolly Christmas"	Johnny Marks	Alan Jackson	2:14
3.	"Somewhere in My Memory"	Leslie Bricusse John Williams	Bette Midler	3:58
4.	"My Christmas Tree"	Alan Menken Jack Feldman	Home Alone Children's Choir	2:35
5.	"Sleigh Ride"	Leroy Anderson Mitchell Parish	TLC	3:44
6.	"Silver Bells"	Jay Livingston Ray Evans	Atlantic Starr	4:15
7.	"Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas"	Leslie Bricusse John Williams		2:40
8.	"Jingle Bell Rock"	Joe Beal Jim Boothe	Bobby Helms	2:09
9.	"Cool Jerk (Christmas Mix)"	Donald Storball	The Capitols	2:39
10.	"It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas"	Meredith Willson	Johnny Mathis	2:14
11.	"Christmas Star"	John Williams		3:16
12.	"O Come All Ye Faithful"	Frederick Oakeley John Francis Wade	Lisa Fischer	3:26
Total length:				39:26

Home Alone Christmas track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Performer(s)	Length
1.	"All Alone on Christmas"		Darlene Love	4:16
2.	"A Holly Jolly Christmas"		Alan Jackson	2:15
3.	"My Christmas Tree"		The Fox Albert Choir	2:36
4.	"Somewhere in My Memory"		John Williams	3:50
5.	"Silver Bells"		Atlantic Starr	4:15
6.	"Sleigh Ride"		TLC	3:45
7.	"Christmas All Over Again"	Tom Petty	Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers	4:15
8.	"Please Come Home for Christmas"	Charles Brown Gene Redd	Southside Johnny Lyon	2:42
9.	"Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas"			2:41
10.	"Carol of the Bells"	Mykola Leontovych	John Williams	1:26
11.	"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"	Hugh Martin Ralph Blane	Mel Torme	3:06
12.	"O Come All Ye Faithful"		Lisa Fischer	3:26
Total length:				38:22

The Deluxe Edition

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – The Deluxe Edition
Soundtrack album by John Williams
Released	November 15, 2002
Genre	Classical
Length	1:39:49
Label	Varèse Sarabande Fox Music

On the film's tenth anniversary, Varèse Sarabande and Fox Music released a two-disc special edition soundtrack entitled Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – The Deluxe Edition. The soundtrack contains John Williams' 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.

All lyrics are written by Leslie Bricusse

Disc 1

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Home Alone (Main Title)"	2:07
2.	"This Year's Wish"	1:47
3.	"We Overslept Again / Holiday Flight"	3:19
4.	"Separate Vacations"	1:58
5.	"Arrival in New York"	2:59
6.	"The Thieves Return"	3:28
7.	"Plaza Hotel"	3:04
8.	"Concierge"	1:31
9.	"Distant Goodnights (Christmas Star)"	2:05
10.	"A Day in the City"	0:59
11.	"Duncan's Toy Store"	2:41
12.	"Turtle Doves"	1:29
13.	"To the Plaza, Presto"	3:27
14.	"Race to the Room / Hot Pursuit"	4:08
15.	"Haunted Brownstone"	3:02
16.	"Appearance of the Pigeon Lady"	3:21
17.	"Christmas at Carnegie Hall"	5:15

All lyrics are written by Leslie Bricusse

Disc 2

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Christmas Star – Preparing the Trap"	4:22
2.	"Another Christmas in the Trenches"	2:33
3.	"Running Through Town"	1:16
4.	"Luring the Thieves"	4:02
5.	"Kevin's Booby Traps"	7:23
6.	"Down the Rope / Into the Park"	5:06
7.	"Reunion at Rockefeller Center / It's Christmas"	5:21
8.	"Finale"	2:00
9.	"We Wish You a Merry Christmas (Traditional) and Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas"	2:51
10.	"End Title"	1:32
11.	"Holiday Flight (Alternate)"	2:32
12.	"Suite from "Angels with Filthy Souls II""	0:56
13.	"Somewhere in My Memory"	3:57
14.	"Star of Bethlehem"	3:32
15.	"Christmas Star"	3:23
16.	"Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas"	2:23

Release

Marketing

Numerous video games based on Home Alone 2 were released by THQ for such systems as the Sega Genesis, the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy and personal computers, mostly in late 1992. A separate hand-held game was released by Tiger Electronics. Numerous board games were also released, some based around play cards, while another was a close emulation of the classic Mouse Trap.

The Talkboy cassette recorder was produced as a tie-in for the movie by Tiger Electronics based on specifications provided by John Hughes and the movie studio, and sold particularly well after the film was released on home video. Additional promotional partners included American Airlines in which the McCallisters make their trip on the airline's two Boeing 767-200s, The Coca-Cola Company, Jack in the Box, Hardee's, and Roy Rogers Restaurants.

Home media

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. The film was released on Blu-ray on October 6, 2009 with no special features, and was released alongside Home Alone in a collection pack on October 5, 2010. 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.

Reception

Box office

Home Alone 2 opened with $31.1 million from 2,222 theaters, averaging $14,008 per site. It broke the short-lived record held by Bram Stoker's Dracula for having the largest November opening weekend. The film went on to hold this record until 1994 when it was taken by Interview with the Vampire. 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. It started off better than Home Alone, grossing $100 million in 24 days compared to 33 days for the original. 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, compared to $476 million for the first film. The film was released in the United Kingdom on December 11, 1992, and topped the country's box office that weekend. The film is the third highest-grossing film released in 1992 behind The Bodyguard and Aladdin. In the United States and Canada, it grossed more than The Bodyguard and ranked second.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes the film 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." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". 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.

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." Kenneth Turan, reviewing for the Los Angeles Times, claims "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." 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." He further criticized the violence by invoking that "Rather than laughs, it provokes gasps of sympathy and amazement, even among the children in the audience. The pleasures here are entirely cruel, with an unhealthy concentration on the suffering of the victims, on the thudding impact of various objects against their heads, on their howls of agony."

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." Reviewing for Time, 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."

Other media

Sequels

See also: Home Alone 3, Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House, Home Alone: The Holiday Heist, and Home Sweet Home Alone

A third film with a new cast, Home Alone 3, followed in 1997. Two television movies, Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House and Home Alone: The Holiday Heist, aired in 2002 and 2012, respectively. Home Sweet Home Alone, the sixth film in the series, was released 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. 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).

See also

• List of Christmas films
• List of films featuring fictional films

External links

• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York at IMDb
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York at the TCM Movie Database
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York at AllMovie