Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

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 by	Chris Columbus
Produced by	John Hughes
Written by	John Hughes
Starring	Macaulay Culkin Joe Pesci Daniel Stern John Heard Tim Curry Brenda Fricker Catherine O'Hara
Music by	John Williams
Cinematography	Julio Macat
Editing by	Raja Gosnell
Studio	Hughes Entertainment
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	November 20, 1992 (1992-11-20)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$20 million
Box office	$358,994,850

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is a 1992 American Christmas family 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 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, Tim Curry and Brenda Fricker are also featured.

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). The exterior of Duncan's Toy Chest in New York City, was filmed outside of a downtown Chicago office building located at 209 South La Salle Street. Despite receiving mostly mixed 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, Home Alone 4 followed in 2002 and Home Alone: The Holiday Heist followed in 2012. 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 Christmas because of 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. During the night, Peter unknowingly resets the alarm clock and causes the family to oversleep. Meanwhile, a piece of newspaper is blown into the house's main door, revealing that the Wet Bandits, Harry Lyme and Marv Merchants, have escaped from detainment. In the confusion and rush to reach the airport on time, Kevin gets onto a flight to New York City, carrying Peter's bag containing his wallet and a large amount of money; the family does not realize it until after they land in Florida. In New York, Kevin tours the city and tricks the staff at the Plaza Hotel into giving him a room with Peter's credit card. During a visit to Central Park, Kevin is scared by the appearance of a woman tending to pigeons.

On Christmas Eve, Kevin tours the city in a limousine and visits a toy store where he meets its philanthropic owner, Mr. Duncan. Kevin learns that the proceeds from Christmas sales will be donated to a children's hospital. Duncan gives Kevin a pair of ceramic turtledoves as a gift, instructing him to give one to another person as a sign of eternal friendship. After encountering the Wet Bandits, Kevin is chased to the hotel. Mr. Hector, the hotel concierge, confronts Kevin about the credit card which has been reported stolen. Kevin flees, but is captured by the Wet Bandits. They discuss plans for robbing the toy store that night, before Kevin manages to escape.

The McCallisters travel to New York after locating the stolen credit card and Kate searches the city for Kevin. Meanwhile, Kevin goes to his Uncle Rob's townhouse. After arriving he finds the house vacant and undergoing renovations and that his uncle and his family are in Paris. In Central Park, he comes across the pigeon lady. When Kevin gets his foot caught while running away, she frees him. The pair observe a local orchestra performance together and Kevin learns how her life has fallen apart and how she dealt with it by taking care of the pigeons in the park. Kevin vows to the pigeon lady that he will be her friend.

Kevin later returns to the townhouse and rigs it with various booby traps. Kevin arrives at the toy store during Harry and Marv's break in, throws a brick through the window to set off the store's alarm, and leads the pair to the townhouse. After the two spring numerous traps, Kevin calls the police. The Wet Bandits catch Kevin and take him to Central Park. The pigeon lady incapacitates the bandits with her pigeons and Kevin sets off fireworks he had bought earlier to signal the police. Harry and Marv are arrested, while at the toy store, Mr. Duncan finds a note from Kevin attached to the brick explaining what had happened.

Meanwhile, Kate remembers Kevin's fondness for Christmas trees. Kevin makes a wish at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. Kate finds him there and the two reconcile. On Christmas morning, a truckload of gifts arrive at the McCallister's hotel room from the toy store. Kevin and Buzz make peace and Buzz allows him to open up the first present. Kevin goes to Central Park to give the pigeon lady the second turtledove. At the hotel, Buzz receives the bill for Kevin's stay. Kevin hears Peter call out "Kevin, you spent $967 on room service", at which point he runs off.

Cast

• Macaulay Culkin as Kevin McCallister: The ten-year-old youngest son of the McCallister family.
• Joe Pesci as Harry Lyme: The short leader of the Wet Bandits.
• Daniel Stern as Marvin "Marv" Merchants: The tall one of the Wet Bandits.
• John Heard as Peter McCallister: Kevin's father.
• Tim Curry as Mr. Hector: A concierge at the Plaza Hotel.
• Brenda Fricker as Pigeon Lady: A lady who tends to pigeons in Central Park.
• Catherine O'Hara as Kate McCallister: Kevin's mother.

The cast also includes: Eddie Bracken as Mr. Duncan, owner of the Duncan's Toy Chest toy store; Rob Schneider as Cedric, the Plaza Hotel's bellhop; Dana Ivey as Mrs. Stone, the Plaza's desk clerk; Devin Ratray as Buzz McCallister and Mike Maronna as Jeff McCallister, Kevin's brothers; Hillary Wolf as Megan McCallister and Maureen Elisabeth Shay as Linnie McCallister, Kevin's sisters; Gerry Bamman as Frank McCallister, Kevin's uncle; and Terrie Snell as Leslie McCallister, Kevin's aunt. Kevin's cousins are portrayed by Jedidiah Cohen as Rod McCallister, Senta Moses as Tracy McCallister, Daiana Campeanu as Sondra McCallister, Kieran Culkin as Fuller McCallister, and Anna Slotky as Brooke McCallister.

Music

Main article: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (soundtrack)

John Williams returned from the first installment 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.

Distribution

Marketing

Several video games based on Home Alone 2 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. 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 used by Kevin in the film was originally a non-working prop during shooting. It was later released due to a popular letter writing campaign by fans along with the film by Tiger Electronics (currently under Hasbro).

American Airlines had product placement in the film with the McCallisters making their trip on the airline's two Boeing 767s. The airline became part of the film's release on home video.

Home media

The film was released on VHS in 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 predecessor and successor. The film was released on Blu-ray Disc in 2009 with no special features, and was released alongside Home Alone in a collection pack the following year.

Reception

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York received 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." Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 24% based on reviews from 25 critics. However, Owen Gielberman of Entertainment Weekly magazine gave it a positive review.

Box office

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

External links

• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York at the Internet Movie Database
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York at AllRovi
• Home Alone 2: Lost in New York at Rotten Tomatoes
• Movie Locations Guide.com - Maps and directions to Home Alone 2 Filming Locations