Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Chris Columbus
Produced by	John Hughes
Written by	John Hughes
Based on	Characters by John Hughes
Starring	Macaulay Culkin Joe Pesci Daniel Stern John Heard Tim Curry Brenda Fricker Catherine O'Hara
Music by	John Williams
Cinematography	Julio Macat
Edited by	Raja Gosnell
Production company	Hughes Entertainment
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	November 20, 1992 (1992-11-20)
Running time	120 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$20 million[2]
Box office	$359 million[3]

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is a 1992 American Christmas comedy film written and produced by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus. It is the second film in the Home Alone series and the sequel to Home Alone. Macaulay Culkin reprises his role as Kevin McCallister, while Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern reprise their roles as Harry and Marv. Catherine O'Hara, John Heard, Rob Schneider, Tim Curry, Dana Ivey, and Brenda Fricker are also featured.

In the film, taking place one year after the events of Home Alone, Kevin and his family decide to take a trip to Florida, but Kevin accidentally boards the wrong plane and ends up in New York City. He tries to make do with what he has, such as using his father's credit card to stay at the Plaza Hotel, but is soon confronted by the recently-escaped Wet Bandits. Using his wits to survive and befriending unlikely locals, Kevin must outrun and out-prank his old enemies again, while his family tries desperately to find him.

Principal photography took place from December 9, 1991 to May 1, 1992;^[4][5] the film was shot in Winnetka, Illinois; O'Hare International Airport in Chicago; Evanston, Illinois; and New York City. The film became the second most financially successful film of 1992, earning over $173 million in revenue in the United States and $359 million worldwide against a budget of $20 million. The film is also notable for featuring a cameo from Donald Trump, who had owned the Plaza Hotel at the time of the film's production.^[6] Along with the original Home Alone film, Home Alone 2 is often considered a classic holiday film, and often ranks highly among top-rated Christmas Film lists.^[7]

A further sequel featuring a new cast and characters, Home Alone 3, followed five years later in 1997.

Plot[edit]

The McCallister family is preparing to spend Christmas in Miami, and gathers at Peter and Kate's Chicago home. Peter and Kate's youngest son, Kevin, sees Florida as contradictory to Christmas, due to its lack of Christmas trees. Later, at a school pageant, Kevin's brother Buzz pulls a prank against him, causing Kevin to retaliate and ruin the pageant. Buzz half-heartedly apologizes, but Kevin berates his family before storming to the attic, wishing to have his own vacation alone. Because Peter had accidentally unplugged the alarm clock, the family oversleeps again. At the airport, Kevin stops to replace the batteries in his Talkboy with new ones from Peter's bag. Losing sight of his family, Kevin inadvertently boards a flight to New York City after mistakenly following a man dressed like Peter. Upon arrival in New York City, Kevin decides to tour the city. While there, Kevin meets a homeless woman tending pigeons in Central Park, which frightens him. Kevin goes to the Plaza Hotel, where he uses Peter's credit card to check in. Meanwhile, Harry and Marv, now calling themselves the "Sticky Bandits", have travelled to New York after escaping during a prison riot.

On Christmas Eve, Kevin visits a toy store where he meets its philanthropic owner, Mr. Duncan. Kevin learns that the proceeds from the store's Christmas sales will be donated to a children's hospital, and provides a donation. As a token of appreciation, Mr. Duncan offers Kevin a pair of ceramic turtledoves as a gift, instructing him to give one to another person as a sign of eternal friendship. After encountering Harry and Marv, Kevin runs away, and returns to the Plaza. The hotel's concierge, Mr. Hector, confronts Kevin about the credit card, which has been reported stolen. Kevin flees the hotel after evading the staff but is ambushed by Harry and Marv, who brag about their plan to break into the toy store at midnight, just before Kevin manages to escape.

After landing at Miami International Airport, the rest of the family discovers that Kevin is missing. After tracking the whereabouts of the credit card, they fly to New York. Meanwhile, Kevin goes to his uncle Rob's townhouse, only to find the house vacant and undergoing renovations while Rob and his family are in Paris. In Central Park, he again encounters and befriends the pigeon lady. They go to Carnegie Hall, where the pigeon lady explains how her life collapsed when her lover left her. Kevin encourages her to trust people again, and promises to be her friend. After considering the pigeon lady's advice that he perform a good deed to make up for his misdeeds, he decides to prevent Harry and Marv from robbing the toy store.

Having rigged the townhouse with booby traps, Kevin arrives at the store during Harry and Marv's robbery, takes their picture, and breaks a window, triggering the alarm. He then lures them to the townhouse, where they spring the traps and suffer various injuries. While the duo searches for Kevin outside of the townhouse, he calls the police, and lures them into Central Park, where they capture him. Before they can shoot him, the pigeon lady intervenes and incapacitates them with birdseed. Kevin then sets off fireworks to signal the police, who arrive shortly after to arrest Harry and Marv, finding Kevin's evidence against them. At the toy store, Mr. Duncan finds a note from Kevin, explaining the robbery.

Remembering his fondness for Christmas trees, Kate finds Kevin making a wish at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, and they reconcile. On Christmas Day, a truckload of gifts arrive at the McCallisters' hotel room from the toy store as a reward for Kevin foiling the robbery. Kevin reconciles with the rest of his family, and goes to Central Park to give the pigeon lady the second turtledove, cementing their friendship. Buzz receives the bill for Kevin's stay and shows it to Peter, who suddenly yells "Kevin, you spent $967 on room service?!" at which point Kevin runs back to the hotel.

Cast[edit]

Release[edit]

Marketing[edit]

Numerous video games based on Home Alone 2 were released by THQ for such systems as the Sega Genesis, the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy and personal computers, mostly in late 1992. A separate hand-held game was released by Tiger Electronics. Numerous board games were also released, some based around play cards, while another was a close emulation of the classic Mouse Trap.^[8][9]

The Talkboy cassette recorder was produced as a tie-in for the movie by Tiger Electronics based on specifications provided by John Hughes and the movie studio, and sold particularly well after the film was released on home video.^[10]

American Airlines again had product placement in the film with the McCallisters making their trip on the airline's two Boeing 767-200s. In the first film, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 was used. For the release of the first two films on home video, the airline became a sponsor.^{[clarification needed]}.

Coca-Cola products make several appearances in the film, including in scenes when Kevin rides a limousine and when Kevin's cousin Fuller wakes up at the Plaza Hotel. Notably, Pepsi products appeared in the first Home Alone film instead.

Box office[edit]

Home Alone 2 opened to $31.1 million from 2,222 theaters, averaging $14,008 per site.^[11] While it started off better than Home Alone, the final box office gross was much less.^[12] $173.6 million was taken in the United States and a total of $359 million worldwide.^[3] The film was released in the United Kingdom on December 11, 1992, and topped the country's box office that weekend.^[13]

Critical response[edit]

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 30% based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 3.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "A change of venue -- and more sentimentality and violence -- can't obscure the fact that Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is a less inspired facsimile of its predecessor."^[14] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.^[15]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two out of four stars and stated that "cartoon violence is only funny in cartoons. Most of the live-action attempts to duplicate animation have failed, because when flesh-and-blood figures hit the pavement, we can almost hear the bones crunch, and it isn't funny."^[16]

Home media[edit]

The film was first released on VHS and Laserdisc on July 27, 1993. It was re-released in 1997 along with Home Alone on VHS. It was later released on DVD on October 5, 1999 as a basic package, with no special features other than theatrical trailers for the film and its predecessor and successor. The film was released on Blu-ray in 2009 with no special features, and was released alongside Home Alone in a collection pack the following year. The film was reissued again on DVD and Blu-ray in 2013 and 2015.

Music[edit]

John Williams returned from the first installment to score Home Alone 2. While the film featured the first film's theme song "Somewhere in My Memory", it also contained its own theme entitled "Christmas Star". Two soundtrack albums of the film were released on November 20, 1992, with one featuring Williams' score and the other featuring contemporary Christmas songs featured in the film. Ten years later, a 2-disc Deluxe Edition of the film score soundtrack was released.

Score[edit]

Original Score

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – Original Score is a 1992 soundtrack composed by John Williams, who also scored the first installment in the franchise. While the soundtrack is mostly a repeat of the first film's material,^[17] there are a few new prominent themes such as "Christmas Star" and "Plaza Hotel and Duncan's Toy Store". Ultimately, the soundtrack fell out of print.

1. "Somewhere in My Memory" (3:49)


2. "Home Alone" (2:01)


3. "We Overslept Again" (2:46)


4. "Christmas Star" (3:18)


5. "Arrival in New York" (1:41)


6. "Plaza Hotel and Duncan's Toy Store" (3:45)


7. "Concierge and Race to the Room" (2:04)


8. "Star of Bethlehem" (3:28)


9. "The Thieves Return" (4:35)


10. "Appearance of Pigeon Lady" (3:19)


11. "Christmas at Carnegie Hall" ("O Come All Ye Faithful" / "O Little Town of Bethlehem" / "Silent Night") (5:02)


12. "Into the Park" (3:49)


13. "Haunted Brownstone" (3:01)


14. "Christmas Star and Preparing the Trap" (4:17)


15. "To the Plaza Presto" (3:22)


16. "Reunion at Rockefeller Center" (2:36)


17. "Kevin's Booby Traps" (3:41)


18. "Finale" (3:55)


19. "Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas" (2:51)

Soundtrack[edit]

Original Soundtrack Album

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[18]

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – Original Soundtrack Album is a 1992 soundtrack album that contains music from or inspired by Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. The album eventually was discontinued and later re-released as Home Alone Christmas in 1997 by Sony BMG with an alternative track listing. Both versions feature tracks of John Williams' score, though the tracks are of different songs between the original album and its re-release.

Original Soundtrack Album track listing

1. "All Alone on Christmas" (4:14) (Darlene Love)


2. "A Holly Jolly Christmas" (2:14) (Alan Jackson)


3. "Somewhere in My Memory" (3:58) (Bette Midler, composed by John Williams, lyrics by Leslie Bricusse)


4. "My Christmas Tree" (2:35) (Home Alone Children's Choir, composed by Alan Menken, lyrics by Jack Feldman)


5. "Sleigh Ride" (3:44) (TLC)


6. "Silver Bells" (4:15) (Atlantic Starr)


7. "Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas" (2:40) (John Williams)


8. "Jingle Bell Rock" (2:09) (Bobby Helms)


9. "Cool Jerk (Christmas Mix)" (2:39) (The Capitols)


10. "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" (2:14) (Johnny Mathis)


11. "Christmas Star" (3:16) (John Williams)


12. "O Come All Ye Faithful" (3:26) (Lisa Fischer)

Home Alone Christmas track listing

1. "All Alone on Christmas" (Darlene Love)


2. "A Holly Jolly Christmas" (Alan Jackson)


3. "My Christmas Tree" (The Fox Albert Choir)


4. "Somewhere in My Memory" (John Williams)


5. "Silver Bells" (Atlantic Starr)


6. "Sleigh Ride" (TLC)


7. "Christmas All Over Again" (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)


8. "Please Come Home for Christmas" (Southside Johnny Lyon)


9. "Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas" (John Williams)


10. "Carol of the Bells" (John Williams)


11. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (Mel Torme)


12. "O Come All Ye Faithful" (Lisa Fischer)

The Deluxe Edition

On the film's tenth anniversary, Varèse Sarabande released a two-disc special edition soundtrack entitled Home Alone 2: Lost in New York – The Deluxe Edition. The soundtrack contains John Williams' cues found on the previous releases as well as additional compositions that were left out from the final film. This release is also known for resolving a mastering error that caused the music to be inaccurately pitched.^[19][20]

Disc One

1. Home Alone (Main Title) (2:07)


2. This Year's Wish (1:47)


3. We Overslept Again / Holiday Flight (3:19)


4. Separate Vacations*(1:58)


5. Arrival in New York**(2:59)


6. The Thieves Return (3:28)


7. Plaza Hotel (3:04)


8. Concierge (1:31)


9. Distant Goodnights (Christmas Star) (Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse) (2:05)


10. A Day in the City (:59)


11. Duncan's Toy Store (2:41)


12. Turtle Doves (1:29)


13. To the Plaza, Presto (3:27)


14. Race to the Room / Hot Pursuit (4:08)


15. Haunted Brownstone (3:02)


16. Appearance of the Pigeon Lady (3:21)


17. Christmas at Carnegie Hall (5:15) O Come, All Ye Faithful / O Little Town of Bethlehem / Silent Night
    

Disc Two

1. Christmas Star - Preparing the Trap (Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse) (4:22)


2. Another Christmas in the Trenches (2:33)


3. Running Through Town (1:16)


4. Luring the Thieves*(4:02)


5. Kevin's Booby Traps (7:23)


6. Down the Rope / Into the Park (5:06)


7. Reunion at Rockefeller Center / It's Christmas (5:21)


8. Finale (2:00)


9. We Wish You a Merry Christmas (Traditional) and Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas (Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse) (2:51)


10. End Title (1:32)


11. Holiday Flight (alternate) (2:32)


12. Suite from "Angels with Filthy Souls II" (:56)


13. 
    Somewhere in My Memory (Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse) (3:57)


14. Star of Bethlehem (Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse) (3:32)


15. 
    Christmas Star (Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse) (3:23)


16. Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas (orchestra) (2:23)

Novelization[edit]

Home Alone 2 was novelized by Todd Strasser and published by Scholastic in 1992 to coincide with the film. It has an ISBN of 0-590-45717-9. An audiobook version was also released read by Tim Curry (who played the concierge in the film).

As in the novelization of the first film the McCallisters live in Oak Park, Illinois and the crooks are named as Harry Lime and Marv Merchants.

In the beginning of the novelization, a prologue, which ends up being Marv's nightmare in prison, he and Harry sneak away from the cops and return to Kevin's house to seek revenge on Kevin. Kevin bolts into the garage with Marv and Harry in hot pursuit. Harry and Marv end up triggering extra traps that Kevin had set up in the garage. Kevin watches as Marv ends up triggering a trap where a running lawnmower falls on his head (This was a trap featured in Home Alone 3).

Sequels[edit]

A second sequel, Home Alone 3, followed in 1997. Two additional television movie sequels, Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House and Home Alone: The Holiday Heist, would follow in 2002 and 2012, respectively.

See also[edit]

• List of films featuring fictional films

References[edit]

External links[edit]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

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  Home Alone 2: Lost in New York on IMDb


• 
  Home Alone 2: Lost in New York at the TCM Movie Database
  


• 
  Home Alone 2: Lost in New York at AllMovie
  


• 
  Home Alone 2: Lost in New York at Rotten Tomatoes
  


• Movie Locations Guide.com - Maps and directions to Home Alone 2 Filming Locations