Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

Original Score

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,[12] 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.

Original Soundtrack Album

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[13]

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

Home Alone Christmas track listing

The Deluxe Edition

On the film's tenth anniversary, Varèse Sarabande 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.[14][15]

All lyrics are written by Leslie Bricusse.

All lyrics are written by Leslie Bricusse.

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.[16][17]

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.[18][19] 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.[20]

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.[21] The film was released on Blu-ray on October 6, 2009 with no special features,[22] and was released alongside Home Alone in a collection pack on October 5, 2010.[23] 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.[24]

Home Alone 2 opened to $31.1 million from 2,222 theaters, averaging $14,008 per site.[25] While it started off better than Home Alone, grossing $100 million in 24 days compared to 33 days for the original,[26] the final box office gross was lower with $173.6 million in the United States and Canada and a worldwide total of $359 million,[3] compared to $476 million for the first film.[27] The film was released in the United Kingdom on December 11, 1992, and topped the country's box office that weekend.[28] The film is the third highest-grossing film released in 1992 behind The Bodyguard and Aladdin.[29] In the United States and Canada, it grossed more than The Bodyguard and ranked second.[30]

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 34% based on 56 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."[31] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.[32]

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."[33] 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."[34] 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."[35]

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."[36] 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."[37]

A second sequel, Home Alone 3, with a new cast followed in 1997. Two additional television movie sequels, Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House and Home Alone: The Holiday Heist, would follow in 2002 and 2012, respectively.

Home Alone 2 was novelized by Todd Strasser and published by Scholastic in 1992 to coincide with the film. The "point" version, which have 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 Merchants. 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).