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Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

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For the video game based on this film, see Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (video game).
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Theatrical release poster
Directed byChris Columbus
Written byJohn Hughes
Produced byJohn Hughes
StarringMacaulay Culkin
Joe Pesci
Daniel Stern
John Heard
Tim Curry
Brenda Fricker
Catherine O'Hara
CinematographyJulio Macat
Edited byRaja Gosnell
Music byJohn Williams
Production
company
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • November 20, 1992 (1992-11-20)
Running time
120 minutes
CountryTemplate:Film US
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million
Box office$358,994,850[1]

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is a 1992 American Christmas comedy film written and produced by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus. It is the second film in the Home Alone series and the direct sequel to Home Alone. The film stars Macaulay Culkin in the lead role as Kevin McCallister, while Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern reprise their roles as the Wet Bandits. Catherine O'Hara, John Heard, Devin Ratray, Kieran Culkin, Gerry Bamman, Tim Curry, Rob Schneider, Dana Ivey, and Brenda Fricker are also featured.

Eddie Bracken plays a minor role, while Ally Sheedy (who previously worked with Hughes in The Breakfast Club), Bob Eubanks, and Donald Trump make cameo appearances. The movie was filmed in Winnetka, Illinois, O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Miami and New York City (which was star Culkin's hometown at the time). Despite receiving mostly negative reviews from critics, the film became the second most successful film of 1992, earning over $173 million in revenue in the United States and over $358 million worldwide.

Home Alone 3 followed in 1997, and Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House followed in 2002. Culkin did not appear in either film nor did the rest of the cast.

Plot

The McCallister family prepares to spend Christmas in Miami, Florida. Ten-year-old Kevin, Peter and Kate's youngest son, sees Florida as contradictory to what he thinks an appropriate Christmas environment is, particularly noting the lack of Christmas trees. During the school Christmas concert, Kevin's older brother Buzz humiliates him during his solo, causing Kevin to retaliate. Kevin refuses to apologize for his actions, and, still angry with the family's decision to go to Florida, he storms up to the third floor bedroom of the house, where he wishes that he had his own money so he could go on his own vacation by himself. That evening, Peter unknowingly resets the family's alarm clock, which causes them to oversleep. In the confusion and rush to reach the airport on time, Kevin gets onto a flight to New York City, due to him loading his Talkboy with new batteries. The family does not realize they forgot Kevin until after they land in Florida. Meanwhile, in New York, Kevin tours the city and uses the Talkboy to check into the Plaza Hotel. However, he finds himself scared by the appearance of a woman tending to pigeons.

On Christmas Eve, Kevin tours the city in a limousine and visits Duncan's Toy Chest, a local toy store, where he meets the philanthropic owner, Mr. Duncan. There, Kevin discovers the proceeds from Christmas sales will be donated to a children's hospital. Mr. Duncan allows him to take a pair of ceramic turtledoves as a gift, instructing him to give one to another person as a sign of eternal friendship. Harry Lyme and Marv Merchants, formerly the Wet Bandits and now the Sticky Bandits, have escaped from prison and chase Kevin. He returns to the hotel, but Mr. Hector, the hotel concierge, confronts Kevin about the credit card, which came up as being stolen. Kevin flees to his hotel room, but is stopped by the bandits. They discuss plans of breaking into the toy store before Kevin escapes again and hides in the back of a hansom cab.

In Florida, the McCallisters discover that Kevin has been found using Peter's credit card in New York. The family flies to New York and confront the staff for letting Kevin escape, and Kate desperately tries to find Kevin, while the rest of the family is given a complimentary suite. Having noted earlier that his uncle Rob has a townhouse in New York, Kevin attempts to visit him; but the house is vacant and undergoing renovations. In Central Park, he comes across the pigeon lady, only to get his foot caught while attempting to escape. After she frees him, they watch, from a loft above Carnegie Hall, a local symphony orchestra perform. Kevin learns how her life has fallen apart and how she dealt with it by taking care of the pigeons in the park; he promises to be her friend.

After leaving the hall, Kevin heads back to the townhouse and sets up various booby-traps for the bandits in the townhouse, and then arrives at the toy store during the break-in, photographs the bandits ransacking the store, and throws a brick tied with a note to Mr. Duncan through the window to set off the store's alarm. The bandits follow him into the townhouse. After the two spring every trap in the house, Kevin flees to a phone booth and dials 911. The bandits catch Kevin when he slips on a patch of ice and take him to Central Park to kill him. The pigeon lady sneaks up behind them and throws birdseed on them while Kevin sets off fireworks he had bought earlier to signal the police. Shortly after, the bandits are arrested. At the toy store, Mr. Duncan finds Kevin's note and realizes his role in stopping the bandits.

Kate comes across two police officers in Times Square, and remembers Kevin's fondness for Christmas trees. Kevin makes a wish at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. He then sees Kate, and the two meet and reconcile. A truckload of gifts from the toy store comes to the Plaza Hotel on Christmas Day in the morning as a reward to Kevin's family for him foiling of the robbery. Buzz suggests that had it not been for Kevin getting on the wrong flight, they would not be in the suite with the Christmas tree and free gifts in the first place, and allows Kevin to open up the first present as a sign of reconciliation. During the festivities, however, Kevin goes to Central Park to give the pigeon lady a turtledove, reaffirming his promise. At the hotel, Cedric delivers Kevin's room service bill, totaling $967.43, to Buzz. Buzz shows the bill to Peter, who interrupts Kevin by calling out, "KEVIN! YOU SPENT $967 ON ROOM SERVICE?!", at which point Kevin runs back and the film ends.

Cast

Soundtrack

Track listing

  1. "All Alone On Christmas" (4:14) (Darlene Love)
  2. "A Holly Jolly Christmas" (2:14) (Alan Jackson)
  3. "Somewhere in My Memory" (3:58) (Bette Midler, composed by John Williams, lyrics by Leslie Bricusse)
  4. "My Christmas Tree" (2:35) (Home Alone Children's Choir, composed by Alan Menken, lyrics by Jack Feldman)
  5. "Sleigh Ride" (3:44) (TLC)
  6. "Silver Bells" (4:15) (Atlantic Starr)
  7. "Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas" (2:40) (John Williams)
  8. "Jingle Bell Rock" (2:09) (Bobby Helms)
  9. "Cool Jerk (Christmas Mix)" (2:39) (The Capitols)
  10. "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (2:14) (Johnny Mathis)
  11. "Christmas Star" (3:16) (John Williams)
  12. "O Come All Ye Faithful" (3:26) (Lisa Fischer)

Score album

In addition, a CD with excerpts from the score by John Williams was issued in 1992.[2] The track listing is as follows:

  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)

Special edition album

On the film's tenth anniversary, Varèse Sarabande released a two-disc special edition soundtrack, containing the previously noted cues along with additional compositions that were left out from the final film.[3]

The complete track listing is as follows:[3]

Disc One

  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) (Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse) (2:05)
  10. A Day in the City (: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) O Come, All Ye Faithful / O Little Town of Bethlehem / Silent Night

Disc Two

  1. Christmas Star - Preparing the Trap (Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse) (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 (Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse) (2:51)
  10. End Title (1:32)
  11. Holiday Flight (alternate) (2:32)
  12. Suite from “Angels with Filthy Souls II” (:56)
  13. Somewhere in My Memory (Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse) (3:57)
  14. Star of Bethlehem (Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse) (3:32)
  15. Christmas Star (Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse) (3:23)
  16. Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas (orchestra) (2:23)

Release

Box office

The film opened to $31.1 million from 2,222 theaters, averaging $14,008 per site.[4] While it started off better than Home Alone, the final box office gross was much less.[5] $173,585,516 was taken in the United States and a total of $358,994,850 worldwide.

Critical reception

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York received mainly negative reviews from film critics. 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."[6] Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 24% based on reviews from 25 critics.[7]

Home media

The film was released on VHS on July 28, 1993.

It was later released on DVD on October 5, 1999 as a basic package, with no special features other than theatrical trailers for the film and its sequels. A Blu-ray version was released on October 6, 2009, with no features included.

Tie-ins

As with the first Home Alone movie, video games based on the sequel were released by THQ for such systems as the Sega Mega Drive, 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.

The Talkboy handheld tape recorder that Kevin used in the film was actually a non-working prop. A huge letter-writing campaign by young fans of the film led Tiger Electronics to produce a fully functional retail version of the recorder in 1993, when the film was first released on home video. There was also an audiobook released by Harper Audio, which was read by Tim Curry.

As they had in the first film, American Airlines also had very prominent product-placement in Home Alone 2, with Kevin and his family completing their trip to Miami on an AA B767 (the first film's trip was on a DC-10).

Changes after 2001

Because the World Trade Center prominently featured at the beginning of the film, some TV companies made changes to the film when showing it on television after the 9/11 attacks in New York City. Fox cut the scene with the World Trade Center out entirely when they showed the film on TV later that year.

The scene with the World Trade Center was not cut out of the 2009 DVD re-release of the film.

Angels with Even Filthier Souls

Angels with Even Filthier Souls is a fictional gangster film that appears within Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. It is a sequel to the fictional Angels with Filthy Souls, which Kevin McCallister watches in the original Home Alone; he uses both films for similar purposes.

The only shown part of Filthier is when a woman named "Susie" appears and confesses to "Johnny" that she was having an affair and asks for forgiveness; but Johnny ends up shooting her. While being chased by Mr. Hector and the staff in the Plaza, Kevin plays a home video of it to trick the staff into thinking that there is an armed, dangerous man in the room.

References

  1. ^ http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=main&id=homealone2.htm
  2. ^ SoundtrackNet : Home Alone II: Lost In New York Soundtrack
  3. ^ a b varesesarbande.com [dead link‍]
  4. ^ "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York - Weekend Box Office Results". Retrieved 2007-11-12.
  5. ^ "Home Alone Weekend Box Office Results". Retrieved 2007-12-24.
  6. ^ Ebert, Roger (11-20-92). "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York". rogerebert.com. Retrieved 8-10-2011. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  7. ^ Home Alone 2: Lost in New York at Rotten Tomatoes
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