Info

• Scarlett As: Molly Pruitt
• Other Cast: Alex D. Linz, Olek Krupa, Rya Kihlstedt, Lenny von Dohlen and David Thornton
• Directed by: Raja Gosnell
• Written by: John Hughes
• Release Year: 1997
• Genre: Action | Comedy | Crime | Family
• Rating: PG (usa) / PG (uk)
• Filming locations: Evanston, Illinois, USA
• Production companies: Twentieth Century Fox | Hughes Entertainment

Sypnosis

Four high-tech industrial spies, Beaupre, Alice, Jernigan and Unger, steal a top-secret microchip, and, to fool customs, hide it in a remote-control toy car. Through a baggage mix-up at the airport, grumpy old Mrs.Hess gets the toy and gives it to her neighbor, 8-year-old Alex. Spies want to get the toy back before their clients get angry and decide to burglarize every house at Alex’s street to find the chip. But Alex is prepared for their visit…

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Trailer

Trivia & Facts

• Scarlett Johansson’s first major role.
• Scarlett Johansson revealed in a 2021 interview with People Magazine that she introduced the film to her then ten year old daughter Rose Dorothy during a day of watching 90’s movies to see if she would recognize her then-eleven year old mother, which she initially didn’t.
• Macaulay Culkin refused to do this film, simply because he’d grown tired of the role, and felt that there was nothing else he could’ve done with it.
• A rare positive review came from Chicago film critic Roger Ebert, who called it the best of all the Home Alone films, and that it was far better than the first one. It was also the only Home Alone movie he liked, since he gave the first two negative reviews. Gene Siskel nearly fell off his chair in disbelief at this remark. Ebert’s review appears on the front cover of the VHS and DVD releases of this movie.
• When Macaulay Culkin declined to reprise his role as Kevin for the third outing, John Hughes briefly considered writing the screenplay with Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern reprising their roles as burglars Harry and Marv, respectively, who target Kevin’s cousin Fuller (Macaulay’s real-life brother Kieran Culkin), and Fuller would be the main character, with Gerry Bamman and Terrie Snell reprising their roles and Fuller’s parents Frank and Leslie, respectively, who go on vacation and leave Fuller home alone, to defend himself against Marv and Harry. The idea was scrapped, as Pesci and Stern refused to reprise their roles, and wanted to pursue other projects, and Kieran felt he couldn’t follow in his brother’s footsteps as the lead. Hughes then wrote an entirely different screenplay with no characters from the first two films.
• Originally, it was planned to film Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) and Home Alone 3 back-to-back.
• This was the final film of John Hughes’ five-picture contract with 20th Century Fox to write, produce or direct, after the success of the original Home Alone (1990). He wrote and produced Driving Me Crazy (1991), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Baby’s Day Out (1994), Miracle on 34th Street (1994), and this movie.
• The film is completely independent of the first two movies. There is no mention of Kevin, nor the McCallisters. The only link to Home Alone (1990) or Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), is the Chicago suburbs, where the original film takes place, a certain way in which Mr. Jernigan got hit by a crowbar, and a portion of John Williams’ score during the beginning credits. Marv and Harry were not mentioned either.
• At one stage, the script was considered being filmed as a television pilot, but in the end, the studio decided to go ahead and make it as a feature film. The reverse would later happen with Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House (2002), which was originally intended to be a stand-alone television movie, but was restructured during production, to serve as a pilot for a television series that ultimately never went ahead.
• This was the last film of the series to be released theatrically. Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House (2002), Home Alone: Holiday Heist (2012) and Home Sweet Home Alone (2021) were all direct-to-video movies (exclusively on Disney Plus in the case of the last film).
• This is the only Home Alone film not set during the Christmas period. This is evident when Jernigan is questioning the cab driver about Mrs. Hess and he says “You had a fare from the airport around 1620 hours January 8th…” Other evidence of the film taking place after Christmas are that of Karen Pruitt storing Christmas ornaments in the attic and several scenes showing school day.
• When Peter Beaupre learns that Alex took the chip from the toy car, he gets angry and starts yelling at the boy in Polish: ‘Zmiazdze cie jak karalucha!’ which means “I’m gonna crush you like a cockroach!
• The first film of the series which was not directed by Chris Columbus, nor featured music by John Williams.
• The directorial debut of Raja Gosnell, who previously edited Home Alone (1990) and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992). Writer/producer John Hughes had approached Chris Columbus to direct the third installment once again, but Columbus declined, suggesting it should be directed by a filmmaker making his directorial debut, as the original Home Alone (1990) was the first film where he received public recognition as a director and he also didn’t feel comfortable working with an entirely new cast.
• Over 100 kids tried out for the role of Alex. Alex D. Linz beat out Philip Petrie, who he’d also beaten out for the part of Sammy in One Fine Day (1996).
• Alex D. Linz was the same age as his character (eight years old) when this film was released, unlike Macaulay Culkin, who played an eight year old child named Kevin in the original Home Alone (1990), but he was actually ten years old at the time of its release.
• The scene where Alice hits Jerrigan with a field hockey stick is similar to Home Alone (1990), where Marv hits Harry with a crowbar. They both say “Don’t move” to their partner. Alice intended to hit a rat while Marv intended to hit a tarantula.
• One of the agents reveals that Beaupre has been targeted by the FBI for seven years, meaning that he had been wanted since the release of the original Home Alone (1990).
• The only product placements the first two films share with this one is the use of American Airlines, and Zenith televisions.
• First Home Alone film to have both a female villain and a foreign villain. What also makes them very unique is that they are the first pair of villains to be in a relationship, before Marv Murchins and his wife Vera in Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House (2002).

Box office

• Budget: $32,000,000 (estimated)
• Opening weekend US & Canada: $5,085,482
• Gross US & Canada: $30,882,515
• Gross worldwide: $79,082,515

Goofs

• Just after Beaupre cuts the line at the front door, books can be seen on the ground before the trunk comes down on him and Unger.
• When Alex’s father gives him a toy car, when he picks it up he is holding it so the package is facing himself, but in the next shot the package faces Alex.
• The laundry basket knocked over by Peter Beaupre falls off a counter and lands upside-down on top of laundry. The basket comes to a complete stop. In the next scene, the laundry basket is no longer upside-down nor is it positioned upon the clothing.
• After Earl Unger slid down the stairs, he leans on a table and he finds a mouse trap on his hand. Before that happens, there is a shot of the entire table, but there is no set mouse trap.
• At the airport, Mr. Beaupre checks the monitors for all departing flights and the current time reads 4:14pm. When he tell his crew that they’re going to Chicago, the current time reads 10:00am.
• Alex, dressed in a red tartan shirt, is dodging from window to window keeping a watch on Beaupre who’s on the doorstep with a dog. The next moment with no time to put it on he’s got a blue anorak on and is outside.
• When Alice and Jernigan enter the bedroom, Alice steps on a pump, inflating a beach ball under a toy monkey. When Alice removes the bedspread, the ball is gone.
• When Alex’s dad is getting ready to leave for his business trip Alex says that dad’s beeper number is on the second button and mom’s is on the first one, but the first time he calls the police,mom’s beeper number is on 4 and 1 is dad’s work.
• When Beaupre grabs the toy car, rips it open, and throws the car parts to the ground, the car parts switch places with each other three times between shots.
• The hubcaps of the Taurus wagon change from multi-spoked at the beginning of the movie to 3-spoked near the end.

Quotes

Molly: [pushing the office door closed to stop Agent Stuckey] The ‘it’ you’re referring to, is my little brother!

Alex: [Inspecting his body in the mirror, seeing it covered in chicken pox spots] Oh no. I hope they’re not…
[He pulls down his trousers to inspect his behind in the mirror, then screams]
Molly: Alex slammed the toilet seat down on his thing again!

Tech specs

• Runtime: 1h 42m(102 min)
• Color: Color
• Sound mix: SDDSDolby Digital
• Aspect ratio: 1.85 : 1