Home Alone director says the classic franchise has some "really bad sequels": "They've completely f**ked it up"

Home Alone director Chris Columbus has pinpointed the exact moment he felt the classic franchise started to go downhill.

While speaking during a screening at the Academy Museum (via The Hollywood Reporter), Columbus says the scourge of "really bad sequels" in the home invasion series started with Home Alone 3.

While he didn't namecheck any other movies, Columbus – who also directed Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – may have also had Home Alone 4 (2002), Home Alone: The Holiday Heist (2012), and Home Sweet Home Alone (2021) in mind when passing down his judgment.

"It's been revisited with really bad sequels," Columbus said. "Sorry to insult anybody, but they've completely fucked it up. It started with Home Alone 3 and then it just went downhill from there; Home Alone 3 is sort of the best of the bunch of the bad movies."

For the director, part of the blame lies in wirework, which he feels gives the series' trademark pratfalls and slapstick an inauthentic feeling and a "false sense of the stunt."

Previously, star Macaulay Culkin had the perfect idea for a legacy sequel – involving Kevin returning with a son of his own.

"I'm working really hard and I'm not really paying enough attention and the kid is kind of getting miffed at me and then I get locked out. He won't let me in… and he's the one setting traps for me," Culkin said during a leg of the A Nostalgic Night with Macaulay Culkin tour (H/T Variety).

Culkin is next set to appear in Fallout season 2. For more, check out the Fallout season 2 release schedule and a look at the Fallout season 2 timeline.