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Home Aloneis considered one of the best Christmas films of all time. The film, a brainchild of the late film producer John Hughes, was helmed by Chris Columbus. As they began filming on Valentine’s Day in 1990, the challenge in front of theHarry Potterdirector was to infuse the movie with a Christmas spirit. The crew faced this task head-on, and the film’s iconic ‘money shot’ came about in a miraculous way, almost as if the heavens provided a Christmas miracle.
Home Aloneboasted a talented cast including Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, Catherine O’Hara, and Macaulay Culkin, who rose to fame as a child star. The film almost faced cancellation when Warner Bros. dropped the film after it surpassed its assigned budget of $10 million.
Also Read:An Illegal Backdoor Deal Against WB Made ‘Home Alone’ Possible After Studio Cruelly Shut Down Film Over $1 Million
The Christmas Miracle That GaveHome AloneIts Money Shot
John Hughes faced budget constraints forHome Aloneafter Warner Bros. insisted on a $10 million budget. When the film crossed that mark early in production, WB shut down the production of the film. However, Hughes, having secretly met with 20th Century Fox, secured their support and resumed production. The budget constraints became a glaring matter when the film wanted to land its ‘money shot’ showing a snowy Christmas.
In the episode dedicated toHome Alonein the Netflix documentaryThe Movies That Made Us, the crew recounted their concerns about creating snow for the film with limited funds. They were filming the scenes in February in Chicago, and the crew recalled a warm climate with no natural snow on the ground. Although they planned to use fake snow made from potato flakes, one crucial scene couldn’t be faked.
The scene, where the mom comes home, required a perfect snowfall outside the McCallister home. They began worrying about the budget if they had to recreate the entire scene with fake snow. However, a true Christmas miracle unfolded as Chicago experienced heavy snowfall at that time.
Jackie Bucksbaum, the location manager on the film, shared the crew’s excitement in the documentary, noting,“Our beepers started going off, saying, ‘We’re moving to the McCallister house first thing in the morning. Make it happen.’”The production seized the opportunity to film the most important scene only on the second day of shooting, thanks to the unexpected snowfall. Bucksbaum added,“The money shot, that’s what it was.”
While the miracle elevated the film’s visual appeal, it also created certain challenges for the crew. The potato flakes used for fake snow began to rot as the natural snow melted, emitting an unpleasant odor on set.
Also Read:Home Alone: How Rich Are the McCallisters? – Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Finally Answers One Burning Question After 33 Years
The Majority Of TheHome AloneBudget Went To Building The Set
Jackie Bucksbaum scoured the streets of Chicago to locate the ideal setting for the McCallister house. However, when she found the perfect house featured in the movie, another problem popped up. The crew realized they couldn’t film inside the house due to insufficient space for all their equipment. The crew ultimately decided to build the interior set inside the gym of a school, where the crew had set up their offices in Chicago.
Executive producer Scott Rosenfelt revealed that the gym was big enough to build an entire house. Production designer John Muto and the team undertook the task of creating separate sets for each of the interior rooms. Rosenfelt shared in the documentary:
“We walked into this gym and we were like, it’s got a grid in the ceiling and it’s big enough and we could build a house in here. The next thing we knew, we built all the sets in the school.”
Also Read:Home Alone: How WB Lost Nearly $500M to Save a Paltry $5M Budget That Studio Is Going to Regret Till The End of Time
The final budget of the film stood at $18 million. Despite being initially dropped by Warner Bros.,Home Aloneturned out to be one of the studio’s biggest regrets as it grossed $476.7 million at the box office. The film became the second highest-grossing film of 1990, trailing only behindGhost.Home Aloneis now available for streaming on Disney+.
Hashim Asraff
Senior Writer
Articles Published :3018
Hashim Asraff is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, with over 2,800 articles published on celebrity culture, comic book movies, and major TV franchises. With a background in Sociology and a keen interest in pop culture, Hashim brings a unique lens to breaking news stories, character deep-dives, film rankings, and fan-driven perspectives.His coverage often includes the MCU, DCU, hit network shows, and celebrity profiles, giving readers a rich blend of entertainment and analysis. A longtime fan of crime and investigative series, Hashim has watched thousands of episodes of NCIS, Criminal Minds, Law & Order: SVU, Bones, Blue Bloods, and The RookieA passionate storyteller and wordsmith, Hashim has also worked as a ghostwriter and managed multiple social media handles. He brought his writing expertise to FandomWire to also pursue his lifelong love for cinema and television.
