Editing Home Alone 3

{{Short description|1997 film by Raja Gosnell}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| image          = Home Alone 3 film.jpg
| alt            = A boy equipped with various tools and a backpack stands in front a house door, with a parrot and a mouse (both wearing helmets) sitting on his shoulders. Four criminals appear at the small windows on the side of the door; the first is electrocuted, the second is covered in frost, the third is covered in mud, and the fourth has black paint around his eyes.
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Raja Gosnell]]
| writer         = [[John Hughes (filmmaker)|John Hughes]]
| producer       = {{Plainlist|
* John Hughes
* [[Hilton A. Green|Hilton Green]]
}}
| starring       = {{Plainlist|<!--Per poster billing-->
* [[Alex D. Linz]]
* [[Haviland Morris]]
}}
| cinematography = [[Julio Macat]]
| editing        = {{Plainlist|
* [[Bruce Green]]
* Malcolm Campbell
* [[David Rennie (film editor)|David Rennie]]
}}
| music          = [[Nick Glennie-Smith]]
| studio         = {{Plainlist|
* [[Fox Family Films]]<ref name="VarietyFoxRenamedToon"/>
* [[Hughes Entertainment]]
}}
| distributor    = [[20th Century Fox]]
| released       = {{film date|1997|12|12}}
| runtime        = 102 minutes<ref name="BOM"/>
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = $32 million<ref name="BOM"/>
| gross          = $79.1 million<ref name="BOM">{{cite web | url = http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=homealone3.htm | title = Home Alone 3 (1997) | work = [[Box Office Mojo]] |access-date=April 9, 2018}}</ref>
}}

'''''Home Alone 3''''' is a 1997 American [[crime comedy film]] directed by [[Raja Gosnell]] in his [[List of directorial debuts|directorial debut]], and written and produced by [[John Hughes (filmmaker)|John Hughes]]. It is the third installment in the [[Home Alone (franchise)|''Home Alone'' franchise]], and the first not to feature the primary cast, director [[Chris Columbus (filmmaker)|Chris Columbus]], nor composer [[John Williams]] from previous installments. Starring [[Alex D. Linz]] and [[Haviland Morris]], the story follows Alex Pruitt, an 8-year-old boy who defends his home from a dangerous group of international criminals working for a North Korean terrorist organization.

''Home Alone 3'' was released on December 12, 1997, by [[20th Century Fox]]. The film was a box-office success, but received negative reviews from critics, who compared it unfavorably to the previous entries in the series. It was followed by a [[television film|made-for-television]] standalone sequel, ''[[Home Alone 4]]'', in 2002, which features no returning cast or crew members; it features characters from the first two films, albeit portrayed by different actors.

==Plot==
<!-- Per WP:FILMPLOT, plot summaries for feature films should be between 400 and 700 words. -->
Peter Beaupre, Alice Ribbons, Burton Jernigan, and Earl Unger are four internationally wanted criminals working for a [[Hong Kong]]–based terrorist organization linked to North Korea. In Silicon Valley, California, they steal a $10 million missile-cloaking [[Integrated circuit|microchip]] and hide it inside a radio-controlled car to get the chip past security at [[San Francisco International Airport]]. However, a passenger named Mrs. Hess inadvertently takes the criminals' bag containing the car, mistaking it for her identical bag. The criminals arrive in Chicago and systematically search every house in Hess's suburban neighborhood to find the chip.

Eight-year-old Alex Pruitt is given the toy car by Hess as payment for shoveling her driveway. He returns home and discovers that he has [[chicken pox]] and must stay home from school. The next day, Alex discovers the criminals while spying on his neighbors and calls the police, but they are unable to help. Alex attaches a camera to the car and uses it to spy on them, leading to the criminals chasing it when they see it. Wondering what they want with the toy car, Alex opens it and discovers the stolen chip. He calls the local U.S. Air Force Recruitment Center about the discovery and asks if they can forward the information about the chip to the authorities.

The criminals realize that Alex has been watching them and decide to break into the Pruitt house. Alex rigs the house with handmade [[booby traps]] with help from his pet rat Doris and his brother Stan's parrot. The criminals break in, spring the traps, and suffer various injuries. While the group pursue Alex around the house, he flees and rescues Hess, who has been taped to a chair in her garage by Alice. Beaupre ambushes Alex, but the latter uses a bubble gun resembling a [[Glock]] to scare him off.

[[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] agents and the police later arrive and arrest Alice, Jernigan, and Unger, having received a tip from the recruitment center. However, Beaupre hides in a makeshift [[snow fort]] in the backyard. Stan's parrot discovers him and threatens to light fireworks, which are lined around the inside. Beaupre offers a cracker in exchange for silence, but the parrot demands two. Since Beaupre has only one, the parrot lights the fireworks, alerting the authorities to Beaupre's location.

That evening, the Pruitts, Mrs. Hess, and the authorities hold a celebration for Alex as the Pruitt house is being repaired, with Alex's father Jack returning home from a business trip. At the police department, the criminals are shown to have contracted Alex's chicken pox during their mugshots.

==Cast==
{{cast listing|
* [[Alex D. Linz]] as Alex, an eight-year-old boy
* [[Aleksander Krupa|Olek Krupa]] as Beaupre, the leader of the international criminals
* [[Rya Kihlstedt]] as Alice, a member of the international criminals
* [[Lenny Von Dohlen]] as Jernigan, a member of the international criminals
* [[David Thornton (actor)|David Thornton]] as Unger, a member of the international criminals
* [[Haviland Morris]] as Karen, Alex's mother
* [[Kevin Kilner]] as Jack, Alex's father
* [[Marian Seldes]] as Mrs. Hess, the Pruitt's elderly neighbor 
* Seth Smith as Stan, Alex's older brother
* [[Scarlett Johansson]] as Molly, Alex's older sister
* [[Christopher Curry (actor)|Christopher Curry]] as Agent Stuckey, an FBI agent who has been after Beaupre for seven years
* Baxter Harris as police captain 
* [[James Saito]] as the mob boss, a unit leader of the terrorist organization
* [[Neil Flynn]] as a police officer
* [[Pat Healy (actor)|Pat Healy]] as Agent Rogers, an FBI Agent working alongside Stuckey
}}

==Production==
{{Anchor|Development}}
''Home Alone 3'' was [[Pitch (filmmaking)|pitched]] at the same time as ''[[Home Alone 2: Lost in New York]]'' (1992), and both films were meant to be produced simultaneously; however, those plans fell through.<ref name=boot>{{cite web|url=https://uproxx.com/movies/alex-linz-home-alone-3-now/|title=What Ever Happened To Alex D. Linz, The Kid From 'Home Alone 3'?|publisher=uproxx.com|date=January 14, 2016}}</ref> The idea for a third ''Home Alone'' movie was revived in the mid-1990s; early drafts called for [[Macaulay Culkin]] to reprise the role of Kevin McCallister as a teenager. However, by 1994, Culkin had taken a hiatus from acting. As a result, the idea was reworked, centering on a new cast of characters.<ref name=boot/>

{{Anchor|Filming}}
It was filmed in [[Chicago]] and [[Evanston, Illinois]], with the airport scenes at the beginning of the film being shot at two different [[concourse]]s at [[O'Hare International Airport]].{{cn|date=December 2024}}

Principal photography began on December 2, 1996, and filming concluded on March 22, 1997.{{cn|date=December 2024}}

[[Fox Family Films]] was the division of [[20th Century Fox]] responsible for the production on the film.<ref name="VarietyFoxRenamedToon">{{cite news |last=Petrikin |first=Chris |title=Fox renamed that toon |url=https://variety.com/1998/film/news/fox-renamed-that-toon-1117467902/ |access-date=March 31, 2018 |work=Variety |date=February 18, 1998 }}</ref>

==Music==
{{Infobox album
| name       = Home Alone 3: Music from the Motion Picture
| type       = Soundtrack
| artist     = Various artists
| cover      =
| caption    =
| alt        =
| released   = December 12, 1997
| recorded   =
| venue      =
| studio     =
| genre      =
| length     =
| label      = [[Hollywood Records|Hollywood]]
| producer   =
| prev_title =
| prev_year  =
| next_title =
| next_year  =
| misc       = {{Extra chronology
 | artist     = [[Home Alone (franchise)|Home Alone]]
 | type       = film score
 | prev_title = [[Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (soundtrack)|Home Alone 2]]
 | prev_year  = 1992
 | title      = Home Alone 3

 | year       = 1997
 | next_title =
 | next_year  =
}}
}}
{{Track listing
| headline = Track listing
| extra_column = Artist(s)
| title1   = My Town
| extra1   = Cartoon Boyfriend
| length1  = 3:18
| title2   = All I Wanted Was a Skateboard
| extra2   = [[Super Deluxe (band)|Super Deluxe]]
| length2  = 2:34
| title3   = I Want It All
| extra3   = [[Dance Hall Crashers]]
| length3  = 3:19
| title4   = [[Almost Grown (song)|Almost Grown]]
| extra4   = [[Chuck Berry]]
| length4  = 2:20
| title5   = [[School Days (Chuck Berry song)|School Day (Ring! Ring! Goes the Bell)]]
| extra5   = Chuck Berry
| length5  = 2:42
| title6   = [[Bad, Bad Leroy Brown]]
| extra6   = [[Jim Croce]]
| length6  = 3:01
| note6    = version not in the film
| title7   = [[Green-Eyed Lady]]
| extra7   = [[Sugarloaf (band)|Sugarloaf]]
| length7  = 3:40
| note7    = version not in the film
| title8   = [[Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!]]
| extra8   = [[Dean Martin]]
| length8  = 1:57
| title9   = Home Again
| extra9   = [[Oingo Boingo]]
| length9  = 5:26
| title10  = Nite Prowler
| extra10  = The Deuce Coupes
| length10 = 1:46
| title11  = Tall Cool One
| extra11  = [[The Fabulous Wailers|The Wailers]]
| length11 = 2:35
| title12  = ''Home Alone 3'' Suite
| extra12  = [[Nick Glennie-Smith]]
| length12 = 8:01
}}

==Release==
{{Anchor|Video|DVD}}
''Home Alone 3'' was released theatrically on December 12, 1997, by 20th Century Fox. The film later released on [[VHS]] and [[Laserdisc]] on June 2, 1998, and on [[DVD]] on November 3, 1998, which was later reissued in December 2007 (and, as part of ''Home Alone'' multi-packs, in 2006 and 2008).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/08390/0276385/Home-Alone-3|title=Home Alone 3|date=March 30, 2015|website=LDDB|access-date=November 14, 2019}}</ref> While the DVD presents the film in its original Widescreen format (1.85:1), it is presented in a non-anamorphic 4:3 matte.{{cn|date=December 2024}}

==Reception==
===Box office===
The film grossed $79,082,515 worldwide, against an estimated budget of $32 million.<ref name="BOM"/>

===Critical response===
{{Rotten Tomatoes prose|35|4.6|26|Macaulay Culkin's precocious charisma is sorely missed in this hollow sequel, which doubles down on the broad comedy while lacking all the hallmarks that made the original a classic.|access-date=March 6, 2025|ref=y}}{{cbignore}} {{cbignore}} Audiences polled by [[CinemaScore]] gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.<ref name="CinemaScore">{{cite web |url=https://cinemascore.com |title=CinemaScore |work=cinemascore.com}}</ref>

[[Roger Ebert]] of the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and said that he found it to be "fresh, very funny, and better than the first two."<ref>{{cite web|last=Ebert |first=Roger |url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/home-alone-3-1997 |title=Home Alone 3 |publisher=Ebert Digital LLC |work=RogerEbert.com |author-link=Roger Ebert |date=December 12, 1997 |access-date=December 8, 2016}}</ref>

===Accolades===
''Home Alone 3'' was nominated for a [[Golden Raspberry Awards|Razzie]] for [[Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Remake, Rip-off or Sequel|Worst Remake or Sequel]] at the [[18th Golden Raspberry Awards]], losing to ''[[Speed 2: Cruise Control]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://razzies.com:80/asp/content/XcNewsPlus.asp?cmd=view&articleid=37|title=Razzies.com - Home of the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation|date=April 26, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426070620/http://razzies.com:80/asp/content/XcNewsPlus.asp?cmd=view&articleid=37|archive-date=April 26, 2012}}</ref>

==Novelization==
A [[novelization]] based on the screenplay was written by Todd Strasser and published by [[Scholastic Corporation|Scholastic]] in 1997 to coincide with the film.<ref>{{ISBN|0-590-95712-0}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{FilmLinks}}

{{Home Alone}}
{{Raja Gosnell}}
{{John Hughes}}
{{Portal bar|United States|Film|Comedy|Crime|1990s}}

[[Category:Home Alone (franchise)]]
[[Category:1997 films]]
[[Category:1997 children's films]]
[[Category:1997 crime comedy films]]
[[Category:1997 directorial debut films]]
[[Category:1990s American films]]
[[Category:1990s English-language films]]
[[Category:20th Century Fox films]]
[[Category:American crime comedy films]]
[[Category:American sequel films]]
[[Category:Films about children]]
[[Category:Films about the Federal Bureau of Investigation]]
[[Category:Films about home invasion]]
[[Category:Films about terrorism in the United States]]
[[Category:Films directed by Raja Gosnell]]
[[Category:Films produced by John Hughes (filmmaker)]]
[[Category:Films scored by Nick Glennie-Smith]]
[[Category:Films set in California]]
[[Category:Films set in Chicago]]
[[Category:Films shot in Chicago]]
[[Category:Films with archival recordings]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by John Hughes (filmmaker)]]
[[Category:North Korea in fiction]]
[[Category:English-language crime comedy films]]