Home Alone 3

Home Alone 3 is a 1997 American family comedy film written and produced by John Hughes. It is the third film in the Home Alone franchise and the first not to feature actor Macaulay Culkin and the cast from the previous films, nor director Chris Columbus and composer John Williams. It is also the final film in the Home Alone franchise to receive a theatrical release. The film is directed by Raja Gosnell (in his directorial debut), who served as the editor of both original films. It stars Alex D. Linz as Alex Pruitt, an 8-year-old child prodigy who defends his home from a dangerous band of criminals working for an infamous terrorist organization.

Home Alone 3
Theatrical release poster
Directed byRaja Gosnell
Produced by
Screenplay byJohn Hughes
Story byHilton A. Green
Starring
Music byNick Glennie-Smith
CinematographyJulio Macat
Edited by
Production
company
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • December 12, 1997 (1997-12-12)
Running time
102 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$32 million[1]
Box office$79.1 million[1]

The film was followed by a made-for-television sequel, Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House, in 2002.

Plot

Peter Beaupre, Alice Ribbons, Burton Jernigan, and Earl Unger are four internationally wanted spies working for a North Korean terrorist organization. After stealing a $10 million missile-cloaking microchip, the spies put it inside a remote control car to sneak it past security at the airport. However, a luggage mix-up causes an elderly woman named Mrs. Hess to inadvertently take the spies' bag containing the car before returning home to Chicago. The four spies arrive in Chicago and systematically search every house in Hess's suburban neighborhood to find the chip.

8-year-old Alex Pruitt is given the remote control car by Hess for shoveling her driveway, but she lectures him for scratching in public. He returns home and discovers that he has chickenpox and must stay out of school. The next day, Alex discovers the spies while spying on his neighbors. After two failed attempts at reporting them, Alex attaches a camera to the remote control car and uses it to spy on them, leading to the spies 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 Air Force Recruitment Center about the chip while asking if they can forward the information about the chip to the right authorities.

The spies finally realize 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 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 and rescue Hess.

Meanwhile, FBI agents arrive at Alex's siblings' school after being tipped off. Alex's family brings the agents and the police to their house, where they arrest Alice, Jernigan, and Unger. However, Beaupre flees to the snow fort in the backyard. The parrot drives the remote control car into the snow 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, Agent Stuckey and Hess celebrate with Jack returning home from a business trip, while Alex's house is being repaired. The spies are shown to have contracted Alex's chickenpox during their mugshots.

Cast
  • Alex D. Linz as Alex Pruitt, an 8-year-old boy.
  • Haviland Morris as Karen Pruitt, the mother of Alex.
  • Olek Krupa as Peter Beaupre, the leader of the international spies.
  • Rya Kihlstedt as Alice Ribbons, a member of the international spies.
  • Lenny Von Dohlen as Burton Jernigan, a member of the international spies.
  • David Thornton as Earl Unger, a member of the international spies.
  • Kevin Kilner as Jack Pruitt, the father of Alex.
  • 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 whose 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.[2] The idea for a third Home Alone movie was revived in the mid-1990s; early drafts called for Macaulay Culkin to return as a 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.[2] 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.[3]

Music
Home Alone 3: Music from the Motion Picture
Soundtrack album by
Various artists
ReleasedDecember 12, 1997
LabelFox Music
Home Alone chronology
Home Alone 2
(1992)		 Home Alone 3
(1997)
Track listing
No.TitleArtist(s)Length
1."My Town"Cartoon Boyfriend3:18
2."All I Wanted Was a Skateboard"Super Deluxe2:34
3."I Want It All"Dance Hall Crashers3:19
4."Almost Grown"Chuck Berry2:20
5."School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes the Bell)"Chuck Berry2:42
6."Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" (version not in the film)Jim Croce3:01
7."Green-Eyed Lady" (version not in the film)Sugarloaf3:40
8."Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!"Dean Martin1:57
9."Home Again"Oingo Boingo5:26
10."Nite Prowler"The Deuce Coupes1:46
11."Tall Cool One"The Wailers2:35
12."Home Alone 3 Suite"Nick Glennie-Smith8:01

Release

Home media

Home Alone 3 was released on VHS and Laserdisc[4] on June 2, 1998, and on DVD on October 5, 1999, 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.[1]

Critical response

Home Alone 3 holds an approval rating of 29% at Rotten Tomatoes based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 4.4/10. The 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."[5] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[6]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a positive review of 3 out of 4 stars, and said that he found it to be "fresh, very funny, and better than the first two."[7]

Accolades

The film was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Remake or Sequel, losing to Speed 2: Cruise Control.[8]

Other media

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
  1. "Home Alone 3 (1997)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
  2. "What Ever Happened To Alex D. Linz, The Kid From 'Home Alone 3'?". uproxx.com. January 14, 2016.
  3. Petrikin, Chris (February 18, 1998). "Fox renamed that toon". Variety. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
  4. "Home Alone 3". LDDB. March 30, 2015. Retrieved November 14, 2019.
  5. "Home Alone 3 (1997)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
  6. "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
  7. Ebert, Roger (December 12, 1997). "Home Alone 3". RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved December 8, 2016.
  8. "Razzies.com - Home of the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation". web.archive.org. April 26, 2012.
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