Home Alone 3
Home Alone 3 is a 1997 American family comedy film directed by Raja Gosnell in his directorial debut, produced by John Hughes, and starring Alex D. Linz and Haviland Morris. The film tells the story of an 8-year-old boy who defends his home from a dangerous band of international criminals working for a terrorist organization. It is a stand-alone sequel to Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), the third film in the Home Alone franchise, and the first not to feature actor Macaulay Culkin, director Chris Columbus, or composer John Williams. It is also the final film in the Home Alone franchise to receive a theatrical release.
| Home Alone 3 | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Raja Gosnell |
| Screenplay by | John Hughes Hilton A. Green |
| Story by | Hilton A. Green |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Julio Macat |
| Edited by |
|
| Music by | Nick Glennie-Smith |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 102 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $32 million[2] |
| Box office | $79.1 million[2] |
The film was met with mixed reviews, with critics praising Linz's performance but criticizing the film's departure from the previous installments, including its themes and cast. Home Alone 3 was followed by a made-for-television sequel, Home Alone 4, in 2002.
Plot
Peter Beaupre, Alice Ribbons, Burton Jernigan, and Earl Unger are four internationally wanted criminals who work for a terrorist organization. In Silicon Valley, California, they steal a $10 million missile-cloaking microchip and hide it inside a remote control toy car to sneak it past security at San Francisco International Airport. However, a luggage mix-up causes a Chicago-bound elderly passenger named Mrs. Hess to inadvertently take the thieves' bag containing the car. The four thieves arrive in Chicago and systematically search every house in Mrs. Hess's suburban neighborhood to find the chip.
Eight-year-old Alex Pruitt is given the remote control car by Mrs. Hess for shoveling her driveway. He returns home and discovers that he has chickenpox and must stay out of school. The next day, Alex discovers the thieves while spying on his neighbors. After two failed attempts to have them apprehended, Alex attaches a camera to the remote control car and uses it to spy on them, leading to the thieves chasing it when they spot it. Wondering what they want with the toy car, Alex opens it and discovers the stolen chip. He informs the local U.S. Air Force Recruitment Center about the discovery and asks if they can forward the information about the chip to the right authorities.
The thieves finally deduce that Alex has been watching them and decide to break into his house. Alex rigs the house with booby traps with help from his pet rat Doris and his brother's loud-mouthed parrot. Beaupre, Alice, Jernigan and Unger break in, spring the traps, and suffer various injuries. While the four pursue Alex around the house, he flees and rescues Mrs. Hess, who has been duct taped to a chair in her garage by Alice. Beaupre ambushes Alex, but the latter uses a bubble gun resembling a Glock to scare him off.
Meanwhile, FBI agents and Chicago PD officers arrive at Alex's siblings' school after a tipoff from the recruitment center. Alex's family brings the agents and the police to their house, where they arrest Alice, Jernigan, and Unger. However, Beaupre hides in the snow fort in the backyard. The parrot drives the remote control car into the fort and threatens to light fireworks, which are lined around the inside. Beaupre offers a cracker in exchange for silence, but the parrot demands two. Since Beaupre has only one, the parrot then lights the fireworks and flees. Beaupre is discovered and arrested.
Later, the Pruitts, Hess, and the authorities hold a celebration for Alex as the Pruitt house is being repaired, with Jack returning home from a business trip. Beaupre's group are shown to have contracted Alex's chickenpox during their mugshots.
Cast
- Alex D. Linz as Alex Pruitt, an eight-year-old boy.
- Haviland Morris as Karen Pruitt, the mother of Alex.
- Olek Krupa as Peter Beaupre, the leader of the international criminals.
- Rya Kihlstedt as Alice Ribbons, the sole female member of the international criminals.
- Lenny Von Dohlen as Burton Jernigan, a member of the international criminals.
- David Thornton as Earl Unger, a member of the international criminals.
- Kevin Kilner as Jack Pruitt, the father of Alex.
- James Saito as the Mob Boss who Beapre's group answers to.
- Scarlett Johansson as Molly Pruitt, the older sister of Alex.
- Seth Smith as Stan Pruitt, the older brother of Alex.
- Marian Seldes as Mrs. Hess, an elderly lady who is the Pruitt family's neighbor.
- Christopher Curry as FBI Agent Stuckey, an FBI agent who has been after Beaupre.
- Baxter Harris as a Police Captain
- Neil Flynn, Nick Jantz, Tony Mockus Jr., and James Chisem as Police Officers
- Freeman Coffey as Recruiting Officer
- Adrianne Duncan as Flight Attendant
- Jennifer A. Daley as Police Photographer
- Darren T. Knaus as voice of the Parrot, a talking parrot owned by Stan.
Production
Home Alone 3 was pitched at the same time as Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and both films were meant to be produced simultaneously; however, those plans fell through.[3] The idea for a third Home Alone movie was revived in the mid-1990s; early drafts called for Macaulay Culkin to reprise the role of teenage Kevin McCallister. However, by 1994, Culkin was no longer acting. As a result, the idea was reworked, centering on a new cast of characters.[3]
It was filmed in Chicago and Evanston, Illinois, with the airport scenes in the beginning of the film being shot at two different concourses at O'Hare International Airport.
Principal photography began on December 2, 1996, and filming concluded on March 22, 1997.
Fox Family Films was the division of 20th Century Fox responsible for the production on the film.[4]
Music
| Home Alone 3: Music from the Motion Picture | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Various artists | ||||
| Released | December 12, 1997 | |||
| Label | Fox Music | |||
| Home Alone chronology | ||||
| ||||
| No. | Title | Artist(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "My Town" | Cartoon Boyfriend | 3:18 |
| 2. | "All I Wanted Was a Skateboard" | Super Deluxe | 2:34 |
| 3. | "I Want It All" | Dance Hall Crashers | 3:19 |
| 4. | "Almost Grown" | Chuck Berry | 2:20 |
| 5. | "School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes the Bell)" | Chuck Berry | 2:42 |
| 6. | "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" (version not in the film) | Jim Croce | 3:01 |
| 7. | "Green-Eyed Lady" (version not in the film) | Sugarloaf | 3:40 |
| 8. | "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" | Dean Martin | 1:57 |
| 9. | "Home Again" | Oingo Boingo | 5:26 |
| 10. | "Nite Prowler" | The Deuce Coupes | 1:46 |
| 11. | "Tall Cool One" | The Wailers | 2:35 |
| 12. | "Home Alone 3 Suite" | Nick Glennie-Smith | 8:01 |
Release
Home media
Home Alone 3 was released on VHS and Laserdisc[5] on June 2, 1998, and on DVD on November 3, 1998, which was later reissued in December 2007 (and, as part of Home Alone multi-packs, in 2006 and 2008). While the DVD presents the film in its original Widescreen format (1.85:1), it is presented in a non-anamorphic 4:3 matte.
Reception
Box office
The film grossed $79,082,515 worldwide.[2]
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 29% based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 4.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Macaulay Culkin's precocious charisma is sorely missed in this hollow sequel, which doubles down on the broad comedy while lacking all the hallmarks that made the original a classic."[6] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[7]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and said that he found it to be "fresh, very funny, and better than the first two."[8]
Accolades
The film was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Remake or Sequel, losing to Speed 2: Cruise Control.[9]
Novelization
A novelization based on the screenplay was written by Todd Strasser and published by Scholastic in 1997 to coincide with the film. ISBN 0-590-95712-0
References
- ^ Petrikin, Chris (February 18, 1998). "Fox renamed that toon". Variety. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
- ^ a b c d "Home Alone 3 (1997)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
- ^ a b "What Ever Happened To Alex D. Linz, The Kid From 'Home Alone 3'?". uproxx.com. January 14, 2016.
- ^ Petrikin, Chris (February 18, 1998). "Fox renamed that toon". Variety. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
- ^ "Home Alone 3". LDDB. March 30, 2015. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
- ^ "Home Alone 3 (1997)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 5, 2021.
- ^ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (December 12, 1997). "Home Alone 3". RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
- ^ . April 26, 2012. Archived from the original on April 26, 2012.