Home Alone 3

Home Alone 3
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Raja Gosnell
Written by	John Hughes
Produced by	John Hughes Hilton Green
Starring	Alex D. Linz Olek Krupa Haviland Morris David Thornton Scarlett Johansson Lenny Von Dohlen Marian Seldes Rya Kihlstedt
Cinematography	Julio Macat
Edited by	Bruce Green Malcolm Campbell
Music by	Nick Glennie-Smith
Production company	Hughes Entertainment
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	December 12, 1997 (1997-12-12)
Running time	102 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$32 million
Box office	$79.1 million

Home Alone 3 is a 1997 American crime comedy film directed by Raja Gosnell in his directorial debut, written and co-produced by John Hughes. It stars Alex D. Linz, Olek Krupa, Haviland Morris, David Thornton, Scarlett Johansson, Lenny Von Dohlen, Marian Seldes, and Rya Kihlstedt. The story follows Alex Pruitt, an 8-year-old boy who defends his home from a dangerous group of international criminals working for a North Korean terrorist organization. It is the third film in the Home Alone franchise.

The film received generally negative reviews. 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 working for a Hong Kong–based terrorist organization linked to North Korea. In Silicon Valley, they steal a $10 million missile-cloaking microchip and hide it inside a remote-controlled toy car to get the chip past security at San Francisco International Airport. However, a Chicago-bound elderly passenger named Mrs. Hess inadvertently takes the criminals' bag containing the car, mistaking it for her identical bag. The criminals manage to identify Hess and locate her home address, planning to systematically search every house in Hess's suburban neighborhood to find the chip. Meanwhile, FBI Agent Stuckey, who has been after Beaupre for seven years, and his partner Rogers, are alerted to the stolen chip and begin their investigation.

Hess gives eight-year-old Alex Pruitt the toy car as payment for shoveling her driveway. He returns home only to discover that he has chicken pox. The next day, while staying home from school, Alex spies on his neighbors only to discover the criminals' operation and calls the police. When the authorities dismiss this as a false alarm, Alex attaches a camera to the car and uses it to spy on them, leading to the criminals chasing it when they see it. Wondering what they want with the toy car, Alex opens it and discovers the stolen chip. He calls the local U.S. Air Force recruitment center about the discovery and asks if they can forward the information about the chip to the authorities.

The criminals realize that Alex has been watching them and decide to break into the Pruitt house. Alex rigs the house with handmade booby traps with help from his pet rat Doris and his brother Stan's parrot. The criminals break in and suffer various injuries from the traps. While the group pursues Alex around the house, he flees and rescues Hess, who has been taped to a chair in her garage by Ribbons. Beaupre ambushes Alex, but the latter uses a bubble gun resembling a Glock to scare him off.

Stuckey, several agents, and the police later arrive and arrest Ribbons, Jernigan, and Unger, having received a tip from the recruitment center. However, Beaupre hides in the backyard in a makeshift snow fort. Stan's parrot discovers him 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 lights the fireworks, alerting the authorities to Beaupre's location.

That evening, as the Pruitt house is being repaired, the Pruitts, Mrs. Hess, and Stuckey hold a dinner party for Alex, with his father, Jack, returning home from a business trip. At the police department, the criminals are shown to have contracted Alex's chicken pox during their mugshots.

Cast

• Alex D. Linz as Alex, an eight-year-old boy
• Olek Krupa as Beaupre, the leader of the international criminals
• Rya Kihlstedt as Alice, a member of the international criminals
• Lenny Von Dohlen as Jernigan, a member of the international criminals
• David Thornton as Unger, a member of the international criminals
• Haviland Morris as Karen, Alex's mother
• Kevin Kilner as Jack, Alex's father
• Marian Seldes as Mrs. Hess, the Pruitt's elderly neighbor
• Seth Smith as Stan, Alex's older brother
• Scarlett Johansson as Molly, Alex's older sister
• Christopher Curry as Agent Stuckey, an FBI agent who has been after Beaupre for seven years
• Baxter Harris as police captain
• James Saito as the Chinese mob boss, a unit leader of the terrorist organization
• Neil Flynn as a police officer
• Pat Healy as Agent Rogers, an FBI Agent working alongside Stuckey

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. 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 Kevin McCallister as a teenager. However, by 1994, Culkin had taken a hiatus from acting. As a result, the idea was reworked, centering on a new cast of characters.

It was filmed in Chicago and Evanston, Illinois, with the airport scenes at 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.

Music

Home Alone 3: Music from the Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by Various artists
Released	December 12, 1997
Label	Hollywood
Home Alone chronology
Home Alone 2 (1992) Home Alone 3 (1997)

Track listing

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 Alone 3 was released on VHS and Laserdisc 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.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 35% of 26 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.6/10. The website's 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." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

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."

Accolades

The film was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Remake or Sequel, losing to Speed 2: Cruise Control.

Novelization

A novelization based on the screenplay was written by Todd Strasser and published by Scholastic in 1997 to coincide with the film.

External links

• Home Alone 3 at IMDb
• Home Alone 3 at Box Office Mojo
• Home Alone 3 at Rotten Tomatoes
• Home Alone 3 at the TCM Movie Database