Disney+ is launching a Home Alone reboot featuring Archie Yates, Ellie Kemper and Rob Delaney. This Home Alone reboot has the potential to be a massive hit like its predecessors. It's one the first new original movies to be announced since Disney+ was launched. Disney+ surpassed 10 million subscribers on its first day. It's even threatening the streaming giant Netflix, which is currently at risk of losing 10 million of its own subscribers. Many of the nostalgic 90s kids who scrambled to subscribe to Disney+ for its Disney Channel classics will likely be anticipating this 90s movie reboot.
The original Home Alone was released in theaters in 1990 and deemed a box office hit after making $476.7 million worldwide. The story centered around a young boy named Kevin McCallister, played by Macaulay Culkin, whose family accidentally forgets about him and leaves him home alone when they go on vacation to Paris. Two robbers, played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, try to break into his house, leaving Kevin as the only one who can stop them and save the day. Sequel Home Alone 2: Lost in New York followed Kevin again, this time being stranded in New York City while pursued by the same robber duo.
According to Variety, the Kevin that Home Alone fans all know and love won't be appearing in the reboot. Instead, Yates will play a new character who finds himself in a similar situation to Kevin. Kemper and Delaney will play new characters as well, though not Yates' character's mom and dad. While it is not confirmed, it is likely that Kemper and Delaney's characters will play some role in Yates' character being abandoned at home. None of the original Home Alone cast is set to return at the moment. The entire creative team is getting a shake up too, with a different director and writers from the original film.
Yates is an up and coming child actor who got his big break in the Golden Globe-nominated film Jojo Rabbit. Kemper's first big role was Erin Hannon on The Office. Her latest projects include starring as the title role in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, voicing Kate in The Secret Lives of Pets 2, and Gloria in last year's edition of Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear's All in the Family and The Jeffersons, making her no stranger to sequels and reboots. Delaney's career is also currently on the rise. After his lead role in Catastrophe, he went on to act in Hobbs & Shaw, Last Christmas and Bombshell, all of which came out in 2019.
Parents who enjoyed the original Home Alone when it was out will be eager to introduce their kids to the franchise through the reboot. However, with this trend of reboots, remakes, and reunions, will the Home Alone reboot be able to stand out on its own? Disney+ alone plans on releasing Cheaper by the Dozen, Night at the Museum, Father of the Bride and The Parent Trap remakes. The fate of all of these remakes and reboots, including Home Alone, will be in the hands of the Disney+ subscribers.
Source: Variety