"I think it should be left alone": Home Alone director on why a reboot would be a "mistake"

As the Christmas classic Home Alone nears its 35th anniversary this year, director Chris Columbus has no desire to reboot the iconic franchise, saying that he doesn't want to ruin what made the original film so special.

"I think Home Alone really exists as, not as this timepiece, but it was this very special moment, and you can't really recapture that," said Columbus in an interview with Entertainment Tonight. "I think it's a mistake to try to go back and recapture something we did 35 years ago. I think it should be left alone."

Home Alone, which stars Macaulay Culkin as an 8-year-old boy who fights off a pair of robbers after his family accidentally leaves him home during Christmas break, was both a critical hit and a box office success at the time of release. However, the 1990 movie has only grown in popularity over the decades and is regarded as one of the best Christmas movies ever made.

Two years later, Columbus did reunite the cast one last time for Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, which proved to be another hit and was the third top-grossing movie of 1992. However, the director says that it only worked as it was made right after the original, and no one had aged. A handful of Home Alone movies from different directors and with different cast members have followed over the years, but none have managed to come close to the first movie's success.

In 2021, Disney attempted to reboot the franchise with Home Sweet Home Alone. The movie follows Jojo Rabbit star Archie Yates as a young boy who gets left home alone when his family jets off to Japan at Christmas time. However, the straight-to-streaming film failed to strike a chord with fans and sits at 15% on Rotten Tomatoes.

With this in mind, it looks like Columbus is right in not wanting to mess with something so special. But that doesn't stop other filmmakers and studios, as more childhood classics such as The Goonies, The Gremlins, and even Harry Potter are facing remakes over the next few years.

On the other hand, it looks like some movies can be revisited. Freakier Friday, which is essentially a sequel to a remake, has won most Freaky Friday fans over. Welcoming back Lindsey Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, Freakier Friday sits at 76% on Rotten Tomatoes, which isn't too much of a drop from Freaky Friday’s 88% score. Plus, the sequel's audience score is almost double the first's.

Home Alone is available to stream on Disney Plus. For more, check out our guide to the best movies on Disney Plus, and keep up with upcoming Disney movies.