Kenan Thompson, Chris Parnell, and Ally Maki have been cast in the upcoming Disney+ Home Alone reboot. The first Home Alone movie was released in 1990, starring a young Macaulay Culkin in the lead role of Kevin McAllister. Kevin is an 8-year-old boy who is accidentally left home alone when his family goes on vacation, and is forced into an all-out war with a pair of robbers trying to break in. The movie was a huge box office hit, and led to a whole franchise, including Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, in which Culkin reprised his role as Kevin.
The Disney+ reboot was first announced last year by then-CEO of Disney Bob Iger. However, the reboot will feature all new characters and an all new storyline. The new movie centers on a young boy named Max, who has stolen a porcelain doll, and a couple, Pam and Hunter, who is fighting with Max to get the doll back. Production for the Home Alone reboot, along with many other upcoming Disney films, had been halted due to the coronavirus pandemic. Now, new information about the film's cast has been revealed.
The Disinsider reported that Kenan Thompson, Chris Parnell, and Ally Maki have joined the cast of the Disney+ Home Alone reboot. Thompson will play Gavin, Parnell will play Uncle Stu, and Maki will play Mei. No other details about their characters were revealed. They join Jojo Rabbit's Archie Yates, who will play the lead role of Max, as well as Ellie Kemper and Rob Delaney, who play the couple feuding with young Max.
Also starring in the movie is Thompson's fellow Saturday Night Live cast member Mikey Day, Aisling Bea, Pete Holmes, and Timothy Simons. Day also co-wrote the script with Streeter Seidell, a writer at SNL. Dan Mazer will be directing the movie. Mazer previously directed the 2016 comedy Dirty Grandpa.
The Disney+ Home Alone reboot, which currently doesn't have a title, does show promise with a talented comedic cast. Disney+ has already seen hits with The Mandalorian and the recently released filmed version of Hamilton. That said, its original movies, like Lady and the Tramp, Noelle, and Stargirl haven't made nearly as big of a splash. Like many other streaming services, Disney+ hasn't revealed official data, but it seems unlikely these original films performed anywhere near as well as Hamilton.
Still, the Home Alone franchise does have a strong fanbase with the first two films going down in history as classics, especially during the holidays. However, the following three Home Alone sequels, which did not feature the original cast, were not critical and commercial successes. So it's unclear if the Disney+ Home Alone reboot will be able to capture the magic that made Culkin's films work, or if it will become another forgettable entry in the series. Hopefully this new Home Alone movie marks a fresh start for the franchise.
Source: The Disinsider