Table of Content
Principal photography took place from December 9, 1991 to May 1, 1992, over a course of 144 days; the film was shot in Winnetka, Illinois; O'Hare International Airport in Chicago; Evanston, Illinois; and New York City. In 2021, Culkin endorsed a petition to edit out Trump's cameo, when he replied to a tweet asking to digitally replace Trump with an older rendition of Culkin. 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. 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 .
Kevin provides photographic and tape-recorded evidence against them, and Mr. Duncan recovers the donation money and finds a note from Kevin explaining why he broke the window. The family arrives in New York, and Kate, remembering Kevin's fondness for Christmas trees, finds him making a wish at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. Home Alone 2 opened with $31.1 million from 2,222 theaters, averaging $14,008 per site.
Sequels
Kevin rigs the townhouse with booby traps, catches Harry and Marv in the process of robbing the store, and breaks its front window to set off the burglar alarm. After taking their picture, he lures them to the townhouse where they repeatedly injure themselves in the traps. Kevin slips away, calls the police from a pay phone to alert them to the pair's presence, and flees toward Central Park. Harry and Marv catch him after he slips on ice and prepare to kill him, but the pigeon lady throws a bucket of birdseed onto them, attracting a massive flock of pigeons and incapacitating the pair until the police arrive to arrest them.
In May 1991, Culkin was paid $4.5 million plus 5 percent of the film's gross to appear in the sequel, compared to $110,000 for the original. Hughes finished writing the film by February 1991, after signing a six-picture deal with 20th Century Fox. Culkin's return was confirmed in May, and the rest of the cast was finalized soon after. Principal photography took place between December 1991 and May 1992, and was done on location in Illinois and New York, including at the Rockefeller Center and the original World Trade Center. 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. Numerous board games were also released, some based around play cards, while another was a close emulation of the classic Mouse Trap.
Box office
Earlier, upon landing in Miami, the McCallister family discover that Kevin is missing and file a police report. After the police trace Peter's credit card, the family flies immediately to New York. Meanwhile, Kevin goes to his uncle's townhouse, only to find it vacant and undergoing renovations. In Central Park, Kevin encounters and eventually befriends the pigeon lady, who takes him to Carnegie Hall. She explains how her life collapsed when her lover left her; Kevin encourages her to trust people again.
It started off better than Home Alone, grossing $100 million in 24 days compared to 33 days for the original. However the final box office gross was lower with $173.6 million in the United States and Canada and a worldwide total of $359 million, compared to $476 million for the first film. The film was released in the United Kingdom on December 11, 1992, and topped the country's box office that weekend. The film is the third-highest-grossing film released in 1992 behind The Bodyguard and Aladdin. In the United States and Canada, it grossed more than The Bodyguard and ranked second.
In other projects
On Christmas Eve, Kevin visits a toy store whose kindly owner, Mr. Duncan, plans to donate the day's sale proceeds to a children's hospital. After Kevin makes a donation, Mr. Duncan gives him a pair of ceramic turtledoves in thanks, instructing him to give one to another person as a gesture of eternal friendship. The concierge at the Plaza confronts Kevin about his use of Peter's credit card, now reported as stolen; Kevin flees the hotel but is caught by the Wet Bandits.
It broke the short-lived record set one week earlier by Bram Stoker's Dracula for having the largest November opening weekend. The film went on to hold this record until 1994 when it was taken by Interview with the Vampire. Additionally, it achieved the highest opening weekend for a Chris Columbus film and would hold that record until it was surpassed by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in 2001.
Cast
After considering her advice that he perform a good deed to make up for his misdeeds, and recalling Mr. Duncan's intent to donate to the hospital, he decides to prevent Harry and Marv from robbing the store. Kevin is with them, but he becomes separated from them while carrying Peter's bag and accidentally boards a flight to New York City. Upon arrival, he decides to tour the city, but becomes frightened by a homeless woman tending to pigeons in Central Park.
Marv mentions his and Harry's plan to rob the store before Kevin escapes in an encounter with a passerby. 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. In February 1991, the Los Angeles Times reported that John Hughes was to sign a six-picture deal with 20th Century Fox; among the projects was a sequel to Home Alone.
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 Murchins. The novel also takes place one year after the events of the first film, but the ages of Kevin and his siblings are given as being two years older than the first film. The McCallister family is preparing to spend Christmas in Miami, and gathers at Peter and Kate's Chicago home. Their youngest son, Kevin, views Florida as contradictory to Christmas, due to its tropical climate and lack of Christmas trees.
He uses Peter's credit card to check in at the Plaza Hotel, not knowing that the Wet Bandits have also reached the city after escaping from prison. On Christmas morning, a truckload of free gifts arrives at the McCallisters' hotel room, sent from a grateful Mr. Duncan for foiling the robbery. Kevin reconciles with his family, and goes to Central Park to give one of his turtledoves to the pigeon lady, cementing their friendship. At a school pageant, during Kevin's solo, his older brother Buzz pranks him; Kevin retaliates by pushing him, which causes the entire choir to fall, ruining the pageant. At home, Buzz makes a false apology, which the family accepts, berating Kevin when he says he retaliated for Buzz humiliating him. Kevin insults his family for believing Buzz's lies and for spending Christmas in a tropical climate, and storms off to the attic, wishing to have his own vacation alone.
