Home Alone 2: Lost in New York came just two years after the smash hit original. In the short space of time between filming both movies, Macaulay Culkin had become a megastar, meaning the sequel was bound for triumph. Grossing $359 million worldwide against a $28 million budget, it was the #2 highest-grossing film domestically in the U.S. for the year.
Along with the original classic, Home Alone 2 remains a staple of the Christmas period. Not only that but it finds new generations of fans with each passing year. Whether you’ve recently discovered this festive flick or watched it more times than you can count, there are plenty of behind the scenes facts and easter eggs to dive into.
Macaulay Culkin’s Record-Breaking Salary
For 1990’s Home Alone, Macaulay Culkin was paid an impressive $100,000 for his role as the mischievous yet loveable Kevin McCallister. His salary for Home Alone 2 blew that right out of the water, earning 45 times his original amount at $4.5 million. This made him the highest paid child star of all time at the time of filming. Reportedly, his father negotiated the contract. In this negotiation was the deal that Culkin would go on to star in The Good Son straight after, with a salary demand of $5 million. The Good Son was released the following year and saw Culkin transform from mischief to pure evil, playing a psychotic young boy who attempts to corrupt his younger cousin, played by Elijah Wood.
The Burn Out
After the huge success of Home Alone 2, producers were keen to get another outing moving asap. However, after waiting for Culkin to make his mind up, he ultimately decided against it. By 1994, he felt burnt out from making a total of 13 movies in a 7-year period. Not only that, he appeared in various television shows too. So, the project was scrapped for a while until production decided to go a new route and bring in a fresh young star. Home Alone 3 was released in 1997 and told the tale of Alex Pruitt (Alex D. Linz), an 8-year-old boy who must fend off four international criminals who are seeking a top-secret microchip in his toy car.
Joe Pesci’s Home Alone 2 Injury
Pesky burglar Harry (Joe Pesci) got his fair share of beatings and lashings from Kevin’s booby traps across both movies. In the first film, he got his head set on fire but lived to burgle another day. In Home Alone 2, he falls for the same trick again, only this time he has no snow around to put out the flames. Instead, he dunks his head into a toilet, unaware that it is full of the highly flammable kerosene. Turns out, this scene didn’t go to plan and Pesci sustained “serious burns” to the top of his head.
The Story Behind the Donald Trump Cameo
At the time, Donald Trump appearing in a movie seemed strange. Today, it’s even stranger. However, the story of how it supposedly happened is the strangest aspect of all. Donald Trump owned the Plaza Hotel at the time and allowed filming in the lobby in exchange for a fee and a cameo, with director Chris Columbus saying Trump basically “bullied” his way into the movie. Trump denied these claims in 2023.
Columbus originally hoped to cut the cameo from the film, but it wound up making the final cut. However, in 2014, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation cut the scene out of television broadcasts. Then in 2021, a petition was made to remove Trump from the film altogether, a rally Culkin himself got behind.
Pesci’s Tough Love
During the filming of the first Home Alone movie, Joe Pesci went method and ignored Culkin on set to create some tension and genuine fear. While filming Home Alone 2, he kept his scheme going. After filming one particular scene, Culkin asked Pesci why he never smiled, and Pesci told him to shut up, saying “He’s pampered a lot by a lot of people, but not me, and I think he likes that.”
Duncan’s Toy Chest
Duncan’s Toy Chest is the catalyst for Kevin taking on the “wet bandits” again. When he learns of their plans to rob the store and its profits meant for a children’s hospital, he sets out to stop them and lead them back to his aunt and uncle’s abandoned house where bobby traps await. The store is based on the massive F.A.O. Schwarz toy store in Manhattan, the same store Tom Hanks goes to in the 1988 movie, Big.
Winter Wonderland
There is a classic Christmas feel to Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Of course, it is set at Christmas time, but filming took place months after Christmas, during the winter of 1991-1992 in New York City. The production faced both challenges and unexpected luck from the harsh weather conditions of the iconic city. The cold temperatures were so severe that several cameras actually froze during production. In an ironic twist of fate, director Chris Columbus recalled that the production had spent a considerable amount of money on artificial snow for the Central Park scenes, only to have New York City hit with a real blizzard that provided them with plenty of natural snow.
The Real Plaza Hotel
The iconic swimming pool scene was actually shot at the Four Seasons in Chicago, Illinois, because the Plaza Hotel doesn’t have a swimming pool on-site. Despite this geographical liberty, the Plaza Hotel continues to capitalize on its Home Alone 2 fame decades later. The hotel offers a special package for fans that includes a limousine ride reminiscent of Kevin’s iconic journey through Manhattan. Guests can start their experience with an exciting four-hour private limousine ride around New York City to visit the famous filming locations from the movie, recreating Kevin’s solo adventure through the city.
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