Home Alone 3
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''Home Alone 3'' is a 1997 American
family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...
comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
directed by
Raja Gosnell Raja Raymond Gosnell (born December 9, 1958) is an American filmmaker and film editing, editor. He is best known for directing comedies including ''Never Been Kissed'', ''Big Momma's House'', and ''Scooby-Doo (film), Scooby-Doo''. As well as fam ...
in his directorial debut, produced by John Hughes, and starring
Alex D. Linz Alexander David Linz (born January 3, 1989) is an American former child actor who starred in several late 1990s and early 2000s films and television series. His film roles include ''Home Alone 3'' (1997) and ''Max Keeble's Big Move'' (2001). He ...
and
Haviland Morris Haviland Morris (born September 14, 1959) is an American film, television, and Broadway actress, who currently works in real estate. Early life Morris was born in Loch Arbour, New Jersey and spent much of her childhood in Hong Kong and Singapor ...
. 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 Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin (born Macaulay Carson Culkin; ) is an American actor. Often regarded as one of the most successful child actors of the 1990s, he was placed 2nd on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid-Stars". Culkin rose to prom ...
, director Chris Columbus, or composer
John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...
. It is also the final film in the ''Home Alone'' franchise to receive a theatrical release. 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 A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
sequel, ''
Home Alone 4 ''Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House'' is a 2002 American made-for-television Christmas family comedy film directed by Rod Daniel, which first aired on ABC on November 3, 2002, as the first episode of the forty-seventh season of ''The Wonderful ...
'', in 2002.


Plot

Peter Beaupre, Alice Ribbons, Burton Jernigan, and Earl Unger are four internationally wanted criminals who work for a
terrorist organization A number of national governments and two international organizations have created lists of organizations that they designate as terrorist. The following list of designated terrorist groups lists groups designated as terrorist by current and fo ...
. In
Silicon Valley, California Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo Cou ...
, they steal a $10 million missile-cloaking
microchip An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...
and hide it inside a remote control toy car to sneak it past security at
San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, south of Downtown San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middle E ...
. However, a luggage mix-up causes a
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
-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 Chickenpox, also known as varicella, is a highly contagious disease caused by the initial infection with varicella zoster virus (VZV). The disease results in a characteristic skin rash that forms small, itchy blisters, which eventually scab ...
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 The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...
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 trap A booby trap is a device or setup that is intended to kill, harm or surprise a human or another animal. It is triggered by the presence or actions of the victim and sometimes has some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it. The trap m ...
s 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 Glock is a brand of polymer- framed, short recoil-operated, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The firearm entered Austrian military and police service by 1982 after it was th ...
to scare him off. Meanwhile,
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
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 A snow fort or snow castle is a usually open-topped temporary structure made of snow walls that is usually used for recreational purposes. Snow forts are generally built by children as a playground game or winter pastime and are used as defensiv ...
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


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 Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin (born Macaulay Carson Culkin; ) is an American actor. Often regarded as one of the most successful child actors of the 1990s, he was placed 2nd on VH1's list of the "100 Greatest Kid-Stars". Culkin rose to prom ...
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. It was filmed in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
and
Evanston, Illinois Evanston ( ) is a city, suburb of Chicago. Located in Cook County, Illinois, United States, it is situated on the North Shore along Lake Michigan. Evanston is north of Downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, Wil ...
, with the airport scenes in the beginning of the film being shot at two different
concourse A concourse is a place where pathways or roads meet, such as in a hotel, a convention center, a railway station, an airport terminal, a hall, or other space. The term is not limited to places where there are literally pathways or roadways or t ...
s at
O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Chicago Loop, ...
. Principal photography began on December 2, 1996, and filming concluded on March 22, 1997. Fox Family Films was the division of
20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...
responsible for the production on the film.


Music


Release


Home media

''Home Alone 3'' was released on VHS and
Laserdisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...
on June 2, 1998, and on
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
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
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . 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." Audiences polled by
CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
of the ''
Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...
'' 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 The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements. Co-founded by UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John J. B. Wilson and Mo Murphy, ...
for Worst Remake or Sequel, losing to '' Speed 2: Cruise Control''.


Novelization

A
novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...
based on the screenplay was written by Todd Strasser and published by Scholastic in 1997 to coincide with the film.


References


External links

* * {{Portal bar, United States, Film, Comedy, 1990s Home Alone (franchise) 1997 films 1997 comedy films 1997 directorial debut films 1990s American films 1990s comedy films 1990s crime comedy films 1990s English-language films 1990s spy comedy films 20th Century Fox films American comedy films American crime comedy films American sequel films American spy comedy films Films about the Federal Bureau of Investigation Films about terrorism Films directed by Raja Gosnell Films produced by John Hughes (filmmaker) Films scored by Nick Glennie-Smith Films set in Chicago Films shot in Chicago Films with screenplays by John Hughes (filmmaker) Home invasions in film North Korea in fiction